It’s the end of a long day and I get home from work hungry. I know I should cook a healthful meal. But I’m tired. I got up at the crack of dawn (after too little sleep, far too often) and worked out, then worked a full day, and now I just want to relax and nourish myself.
So I head into the kitchen right away and start up my trusty rice cooker. Venture to my bedroom and change out of my stuffy work clothes into something casual and relaxing. Alright, it’s probably yoga pants.
Back to the kitchen and I pour a few things in a saucepan and crank it up. Chop some veggies and put them in the rice cooker’s steamer or toss some salad greens on a plate. Now that fall’s approaching, maybe I’ll throw some veggies in the oven to roast.
In the time it takes to read two blog posts or give my hollering attention-deprived cat a little lovin’, dinner’s ready. A balanced, delicious, satisfying dinner in minutes.
My new favorite weeknight meal.
So easy to make, so easy to keep ingredients on hand, so easy to adjust so you can have the same kind of meal a million different ways.
Love it.
I have two secrets that make this quickie weeknight meal possible. Two already-prepared secrets: store-bought curry sauce or paste and pre-cooked lentils (either store-bought or that I make ahead.)
Keep some curry sauces or paste in your house, rice or quinoa or pasta if you like (or just omit that part!), and some veggies or salad in your fridge. Steamed lentils keep for a long time in the fridge, or canned lentils can sit your pantry always! Dry lentils are of course an easy option and only add a few minutes to this meal. You can still get dinner on the table in 30 minutes using them. Coconut milk adds a nice extra decadence for a creamy satisfying meal.
You can make this for one person – easy. You can make two servings and have leftovers for lunch or feed your hungry boyfriend. You can make this for a family of four. All in the same amount of time. All easy.
The best part about this recipe is that there is no recipe, so I’m going to give you the formula.
the formula:
>> some kind of grain or base: throw rice in a rice cooker. quinoa in a pot (or your rice cooker too!) boil water for couscous. you can even buy those microwavable baggies of pre-cooked brown rice or quinoa (there’s a mix of both of those at Costco!)
>> the curry sauce: buy a jar of pre-made sauce (pricey, but delicious and crazy simple.) or use a can of tomatoes + curry paste. use curry seasoning packets with water, milk, or tomatoes.
>> the filling for your curry: my favorite is pre-cooked lentils because I’m always in the mood for them, so they’re easy to keep around. use garbanzo beans. soy curls (just throw them into the saucepan with the sauce, no dehydration necessary – they soak up that goodness so well!) for an even healthier alternative, just throw a mixture of vegetables into the curry sauce to cook – a frozen bag of mixed veggies would be perfect and so easy, no prep necessary. you could even add a faux meat, like Beyond Meat chicken strips or some crumbled ground meat.
>> veggie: if you don’t go the veggie route above, then don’t forget to add some veggies to your dish! most often I throw some broccoli into the steamer basket of my rice cooker while rice cooks, then pile rice and broccoli under lentils and the sauce. salad on the side. raw carrot slaw. sliced cucumber salad. sauté some mushrooms. pick your favorite quick-fix veggie and throw it on your plate.
Enjoy!
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