As this post is going up, and ideally not while I’m writing it, I recently had three wisdom teeth removed. It’s mushtown for my meals, and that reminded me of two nearly identical lunches I started making in the last couple of months. They differ only in their spices.
My website isn’t a recipe blog, so let’s start with the important information.
Main Ingredients
- 2 cans of chickpeas, drained
- 1 can of kidney beans, or 2 chopped potatoes. Your choice.
- 1 large can (~28 oz) of stewed tomatoes
- You can substitute fresh tomatoes and a bit of water, but this is a lazy lunch for lazy people.
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 bell peppers, chopped
- (Optional) 1 jalapeno pepper, or something similarly fresh and kind of spicy
From here, you have two avenues to go down.
Chili
I found a simple chili recipe but replaced ground beef with chickpeas. Kidney beans work best here. Here’s what else you’ll need.
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or some minced garlic)
- 1 1/2 cups of water, only add as needed
- Salt
- Pepper
- Oil
- Cheddar cheese, sour cream, chives, other chili toppings as desired
Saute the onions and peppers for 5 to 7 minutes with oil, salt, and pepper. Add in the remaining ingredients, including the spices. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, adding water as needed throughout.
Top as desired. Pairs well with cornbread.
Curry
I’ve made chicken jalfrezi for years but stripped my recipe to its bare essentials and replaced the chicken with chickpeas. I can no longer call it “jalrezi.” The potatoes work better than kidney beans. Here’s what else you’ll need.
- 2-4 cloves of minced garlic, or about 1 tbsp of garlic powder
- 1/2 inch of minced ginger (or some squeeze ginger), or about 1 tsp of ginger powder
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp curry powder or ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp of sugar (brown preferred)
- Garama Masala to top to taste
- Salt
- Pepper
- Oil
This one has some more flavors, but if you’re lazy, you can replace the turmeric and cumin with more curry powder, keep the paprika, and call it a day.
Saute the onion and peppers (and potatoes, if relevant) in oil with salt and pepper for 5 to 7 minutes. After a few minutes, add in the garlic and ginger if using minced/squeeze options.
Add in the remaining ingredients and stir together. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Top with a pinch of garam masala when serving. Pairs well with naan or rice.
The Benefit
I landed on these two recipes because I like their distinct flavor profiles while maintaining a large overlap of inexpensive ingredients. I never bought into the meal prep craze because all the fancy meals people were making looked like they’d be so good as long as they were fresh, and then mediocre when reheated.
These two recipes both result in heterogenous spiced mush, and it is impossible to tell the difference between when it’s fresh and when it’s six days old and tossed in the microwave. They’re easy recipes—each takes about a half hour if you’re quick with a knife—that scale extremely well. Each of these recipes lasts for about a workweek’s worth of meals, assuming you add in some bread or rice.
On that note, I’ve been buying those multi-serving microwaveable rice bags at the grocery store for the curry and boxed cornbread mix for the chili. Neither is ideal, but I’m optimizing for as little prep and clean-up time as possible.
These recipes don’t reflect the peak of my culinary abilities; they represent my goal of making lunch a low-budget, low-effort affair while still being nutritious. These both nail it for me, and I look forward to my veggie slop as soon as my wisdom teeth situation is resolved.