Post-Christmas cooking fatigue is real. All those hours labouring over a hot stove, coordinating what goes in the oven when, and figuring out what to do with all those leftovers is enough to turn you off entering your kitchen until summer is over. But you still must eat – and if you’re going to eat, you may as well make mealtimes tasty. Enter one-pot-or-pan meals. We’re talking less prep, less washing up and, importantly, less time. One thing there’s not less of in this compilation of breezy recipes requiring just one main cooking mode? Flavour, thanks to recipes like Shannon Martinez’s bolstering (and hangover-shattering) radicchio and chickpea pasta, a quick and smoky char kway teow and a surprisingly streamlined butter chicken. Here are 10 no-drama recipes to try.
This recipe, from Melbourne plant-based-cooking queen Shannon Martinez (Smith & Daughters), does double duty: it saves time in the kitchen (it takes less than 30 minutes to make) and it slays hangovers, thanks to its hearty mingling of carb-y pasta, protein-y chickpeas and warming broth. That it’s vegan is really just a bonus. “It’s perfect one-pan, one-bowl, on-the-couch-with-a-blanket sort of food,” says Martinez.
“Hummus is more than just a dip,” says Tom Sarafian, purveyor of hummus, toum and harissa via his eponymous company. “Traditionally it is enjoyed as a meal, or part of a meze feast shared with family and friends.” This textural dish gussies up jarred hummus with minced lamb, crunchy almonds and plenty of spices. On the table in less than 30 minutes and requiring just one saucepan, it’s both a perfect low-touch midweek meal and a good-looking centrepiece when entertaining.
Who among us hasn’t eaten scrambled eggs for dinner, whether out of laziness or because there’s nothing else in the house? O Tama Carey’s (Lankan Filling Station) amps up this classic lazy-night dinner – which will hit the table in 15 minutes – with turmeric, curry leaf and chilli. Obviously, it also makes a very worthy breakfast or lunch, and you can even serve atop a bed of rice to bulk it out a bit.
Got leftover spaghetti ragu, puttanesca or carbonara in the fridge? This recipe “honours tradition and the fundamental Italian home cooking principle of not wasting food”, says its creator, cookbook author and TV host Silvia Colloca. “Think of it as the Neapolitan bubble and squeak.” Made just like a frittata, with the fun addition of spaghetti, it’s a low-cost meal big on crunch and low on washing up and effort.
This curry is the perfect one-pot meal: ingredients are gradually added to a large saucepan, flavour layered upon flavour, ending with a final result that’s creamy and packed with tender lentils. Shiyamalee Somaweera (Citrus) says most of the dish’s flavour comes from the coconut milk, and while she eats it with other curries and rice, we reckon it makes a bang-up meal if simplicity is the aim.
This recipe, found in the Yiayia Next Door cookbook, is a zesty Greek soup made by Gogos Wilson’s yiayia, Eftichia. Though it requires a bit of time to bubble away on the stove, it’s relatively hands-off and yields plenty of leftovers to slurp up for the remainder of the week. It’s perfect for when you need a warm hug in the form of a meal, or just for when the temperature drops.
Flying solo for dinner? This quick noodle dish by Masterchef winner Diana Chan is your friend. To get char kway teow’s signature smoky flavour and charred texture, make sure you turn the heat below your wok way up – and have your ingredients prepped before you start, as this dish is all about a fast cooking process. All the better for having dinner on the table quickly, in our opinion.
This classic rice porridge is a food for when “when the cook was too lazy to make a meal”, says Victor Liong (Lee Ho Fook). In this recipe, everything gets thrown into one saucepan over about an hour, melding together into one big warm hug of a dish. Beyond the congee itself, it’s a choose-your-own-adventure of garnishes: you could throw in shredded chicken with ginger, spring onion and white pepper, or sliced lean pork and century egg with ginger. In other words, make it as time-consuming or easy as you like.
Pad thai started life as a workers’ lunch, meaning it’s quick and fits the one-pan (in this case, wok) remit. Palisa Anderson’s (Chat Thai) version can be adapted depending on what’s in your pantry – but prepping in advance is essential, as once you’ve got the wok hot enough, things will move quickly.
You will need to prep ahead of time for this take on murgh makhani (butter chicken), by former Attica chef Amandeep Sharma – the chicken needs overnight marinating. But on the day of eating, things are simple, with ingredients all progressively added to the pot, culminating in a creamy dish that doesn’t belie its simplicity.
