In the fairly limited student kitchen it can be a bit of a challenge for me to want to cook, and for me to eat the right things.
A lot of people say that it’s a good idea to cook up batches of one pot meals so that they can be frozen and reheated as and when you need them. My problem is that I have very little space in the freezer, and with only one shelf in the fridge and a tiny cupboard for any tins or packets etc, it becomes nigh impossible for me to do this.
I also don't have a great variety of pans. I even had to borrow a frying pan from someone tonight since I still haven't gotten around to buying on of my own yet (they're so expensive!) So making one pot meals in a small saucepan is less than easy.
I have an electric cooker here too. After learning to cook on a gas stove, and loving it, I am finding it a real struggle to see any good points in the electric one. But I have to grin and bear it I suppose.
Having said that, tonight I made a curry. My brother came over for his tea and to steal my TV for a while - I refused him access to the PC for the night.
He's a vegetarian, and usually I will just get a jarred korma sauce and Quorn pieces and leave it at that. Some microwave rice and I'm done. However, today I was feeling a little sick of my lack of vegetables and home cooking, so even though I still used a jarred sauce and Quorn pieces for some protein I decided to throw in some potatoes and broccoli, mushrooms and onions. I was quite impressed with the result. It had a homemade touch to it, had some veggie goodness (at least from a student point of view) and it managed to bulk it out a bit too. I have enough left for two more meals - usually the one jar just does the two of us.
I struggled to fit it all in the saucepan I have, but eventually managed it, and put it with the microwave rice. For a meal made in a student kitchenette I think I did pretty well. I even have enough mushrooms left to throw in with pasta next time I make it.
Bruv seemed to enjoy it - even if he said it tasted more like a Chinese curry than an Indian korma.
I have also managed to bring my baking goodies with me, so I have been baking a lot of cookies (which have been eaten as fast as they cooled - my flatmates love that I bake so often). In fact, one of them is so impressed he's asked me to teach him how to make a proper steak and ale pie. I figure since he wants it made from scratch that I'll make it with shortcrust pastry - its the one I know best, and there's no way I'm going to attempt any puff pastry any time soon.
I'll let you know how it goes - when he decides he can be bothered to buy the stuff for it lol.
xxClairexx
(Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
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