Bengali daal - a thin lentil soup, served over rice. Rice and dried lentils are one of the cheapest things you can buy in my country (& probably worldwide) - and this recipe uses very limited ingredients. The spices it uses - Indian bay leaf and kalo jeera - are not expensive in Bengal, and pretty basic/versatile, used in all sorts of dishes. But they’re also optional - only daal, salt, water and green chillies are mandatory for making a decent daal!

a really simple ground meat and noodle casserole, my go to when I don’t want to spend much effort cooking. Good for about 3-4 servings.

• 2 packages of kraft dinner (or macaroni noodles). Boil these in a pot until they are done. Strain the water, add these to a large bowl.
• 1 pound of ground meat (beef, chicken, or turkey all work). Season the meat as it cooks, I usually add salt, ground pepper, paprika, rosemary, a splash of vinegar or Worcestershire sauce. Cook this in a pan on low-medium heat with some oil until it’s done. Then add to the bowl.
• grated cheese (or you can make a cheese roux). Add to the bowl as well.
• whatever else you’d like!
• mix everything and serve

For vegetables, I have something quick like cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, or something frozen like peas or corn that’s easy to heat up in the microwave.

Pork Carnitas

• 3lb pork shoulder
• 1 Orange
• 1 onion
• 6 cloves of garlic (peeled)
• 2 or 3 cinnamon sticks

1. Chop pork shoulder into ~1 in cubes, pack tightly into crock pot. You can also pack it into a 9x13 glass baking tray, cover wil foil, and bake at 275°F for 3½ to 4hrs (until meat shreds easily).

2. Quarter the orange and the onion. Squeeze orange juice over pork, then stuff the orange peels into the pork, along with the onion, garlic, and cinnamon sticks (you can break the cinnamon sticks in half if they are sticking out too much).

3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until easily shreddable. Remove the pork meat from the crockpot and shred. If its too dry, ladle some of the crock pot juices into the shredded meat.

4. Serve on tiny tortillas (so you can eat about a dozen in one sitting), along with diced onions, cilantro, Tomatillo sauce, and lime.

Optional: some people like to chuck the shredded pork onto a cookie sheet and then put it under the broiler to crisp it up a little. I am usually too hungry by the time its ready to shred, so I tend to skip that step, but feel free to try if you have more willpower than me.

Probably not “good”, but a tin of chickpeas and a jar of store-bought curry sauce (doesn’t really matter which one) is super easy. Just put the chickpeas and sauce in a saucepan, and simmer for 20 minutes (also get some rice).

Recently I have been doing rice, canned black beans, and frozen veggies. Fry the veggies up in a large pan with a little olive oil. Rinse beans and add them to the pan. I’ve been using microwave rice recently because I don’t have access to a rice cooker. Add the microwaved rice to the pan, add some spices.

Boom easy meal. Can also throw all this in a tortilla for burritos.

Pasta aglio, olio, peperoncino. Garlic, olive oil, dried chilies. Comes together in the time it takes the pasta to cook. Grate some cheese over the top, or nutritional yeast to keep it vegetarian, and you’re done. I like to add some minced preserved lemon right before it comes off the heat.

Need: Egg nuddels, some slices of garlic,chilli, salt, pepper and some cooking oil.

Cook the nuddels.

Chop the garlic and chilli.

Mix the garlic, chilli, salt, pepper in the oil.

Fry up the nuddels with the oil mixture.

Need even cheaper version, replace the garlic, chilli with their powder version.

If you want something extra, add some soy and/or mayo when it is finished. You can also add an egg boild or fried.