International Food Era - What is your super basic everyday meal?

[Smitington]

US based here, I've have the good fortune to be able to travel to 25+ different countries over the globe, and one of my favorite things is discovering the food dishes that people eat in a everyday capacity, such as weekday lunches.

As I've been doing more meal prep and cooking at home, what are your super basic meals?

So far I've been making Schnitzel, Khao soi, and falafel, but I know there's gotta be more tasty stuff out there I'm missing. I really want to start getting into some lentil dishes as well.

Pictures are helpful!

 

[LilScooby77]

If you want some lentil dishes then maybe try Afghan Dal recipes with a side of lemon.

 

[Divvy]

My favorite quick and easy dish is tomato and eggs. It's a Chinese staple and really tasty.

 

[Smitington]

Tomato and eggs sounds great. I'm going to have to look into this.

Would you eat it with anything? Bread/Rice/Noodles?

 

[Dullahan]

I always make a quick chili with beef stripes. Hits the spot everytime.

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

Spanish omelette is easy to make and you can have it either warm or cold (specially tasty as a sandwich while at the beach) so you can make a big one and save a portion for another day in the fridge.

There's this war between those who like it with onion or without onion. It's a very stupid argument, because it's well known Spanish omelette is best with onion and green pepper.

 

[Lotto]

My favorite quick and easy dish is tomato and eggs. It's a Chinese staple and really tasty.

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this is a pretty popular dish in the philippines too, my parents always made it growing up and it's super easy to make. just gotta make sure you cook the tomatoes really well to get the juices incorporated in the scramble!

usually eaten with garlic fried rice (sinangag) and sweet/hot pork sausage (longanisa)

 

[Big-E]

this is a pretty popular dish in the philippines too, my parents always made it growing up and it's super easy to make. just gotta make sure you cook the tomatoes really well to get the juices incorporated in the scramble!

usually eaten with garlic fried rice (sinangag) and sweet/hot pork sausage (longanisa)

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You should also make sure to cook the eggs and tomatoes separately as they have vastly different cooking times.

 

[Deleted member 30411]

Gnocchi + almost any ingredients = New meal

Tomato, spinach and marscapone

Fried gnocchi with broad beans, parma ham, ricotta and sage

Gnocchi with bacon and peas

Watercress gnocchi with roasted radishes and lemon

Sure. it generally ends up basically being a replacement for pasta. But it so much better. Those were just from the first thing that came up when I typed gnocchi recipes. You can literally throw this stuff in with anything. I just saw cheeseburger gnocchi on a website. And use pizza ingredients and have it instead of pizza. Throw it in a curry. Fuck it, it's potato. It goes with everything. Make Gnocchi sushi.

You asked for super basic and as far as this stuff goes, you throw whatever you want to mix in a pot and then put the gnocchi in at the end for 3 minutes or boil it separately for the same time and then pour over your ingredients. As you can tell I just discovered this stuff and have been eating it for lunch pretty much daily since.

 

[Divvy]

Tomato and eggs sounds great. I'm going to have to look into this.

Would you eat it with anything? Bread/Rice/Noodles?

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I always eat it with rice. You want to make it really saucy and get absorbed by the rice.

this is a pretty popular dish in the philippines too, my parents always made it growing up and it's super easy to make. just gotta make sure you cook the tomatoes really well to get the juices incorporated in the scramble!

usually eaten with garlic fried rice (sinangag) and sweet/hot pork sausage (longanisa)

Click to shrink...

Yeah it's really common all over Asia I believe. I like to add a dollop of oyster sauce to the tomatoes as they are reducing to add some umami to the sauce. Makes it extra good.

You should also make sure to cook the eggs and tomatoes separately as they have vastly different cooking times.

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Yup!

 

[Smitington]

Man, this is perfect. I'm adding these to my weekly shopping list.

I feel silly asking these things sometimes, but I've never heard of most of the things suggested so far.

 

[Chopchop]

Fried rice with any sort of vegetables you have on hand. Frozen vegetables work too, like peas, carrots or corn.

Ingredients are: rice (preferably spent a day in the fridge after cooking) + egg + any sort of vegetable + any sort of meat if you want, like ham, sausage, or chicken. Season with soy sauce, pepper, a bit of sesame oil, and a bit of MSG if you want. A bit of oyster sauce helps too. One of the nice things about fried rice is that you can throw just about any ingredient or seasoning into it that seems like it might fit in, and it usually does.

Looks something like this.

If the vegetables are too big, you can cook and serve them separately.

 

[Deleted member 30411]

Fried rice with any sort of vegetables you have on hand. Frozen vegetables work too, like peas, carrots or corn.

One of the nice things about fried rice is that you can throw just about any ingredient or seasoning into it that seems like it might fit in, and it usually does

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Also this. And stir fry obviously. Super quick, easy, versatile dishes that if you have a decent selections of seasonings/sauces, you just pick up a few things on the way home and boom, you've invented something.

Student me hates that I didn't know this until later in life.

 

[Dennis8K]

Denmark: Frikadeller (pork pan-fried meatballs)

America: Taco Bell and McDonalds

 

[Tsuyu]

The most basic meal for me is stir frying vegetables. I like to use broccoli / cauliflower because they go well with carrot / mushroom / asparagus / lean meat / shrimp if you wanna add them.

Something like this.

 

[Pluto]

I like Frikadelle (like meatballs but bigger and flatter) with Kohlrabi and Béchamel sauce. You can add potatoes but that'a unnecessary imo, the more Kohlrabi the better. It doesn't look like much but Kohlrabi is the best vegetable in the world, so tasty, eating it raw is awesome too.

 

[Smitington]

Spanish omelette is easy to make and you can have it either warm or cold (specially tasty as a sandwich while at the beach) so you can make a big one and save a portion for another day in the fridge.

There's this war between those who like it with onion or without onion. It's a very stupid argument, because it's well known Spanish omelette is best with onion and green pepper.

Click to shrink...

I was in the mood for something egg based this morning, and was thinking about this post and decided to give it a go! First attempt results below:

Onions, Potatoes, and a loooooooot of oil.

Pretty happy with my first flip. My only notes here are that I don't reccomend using a cast iron skillet, as that thing was super hot, and heavy, and was hard to flip. I had to call in some backup to help me do my first flip.

Tada! It tasted a bit like the cousin of a fritatta , but I really enjoyed the structure of the dish. Also it seems like it would be a good one when cooking for a group of people.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

I was in the mood for something egg based this morning, and was thinking about this post and decided to give it a go! First attempt results below:

Onions, Potatoes, and a loooooooot of oil.

Pretty happy with my first flip. My only notes here are that I don't reccomend using a cast iron skillet, as that thing was super hot, and heavy, and was hard to flip. I had to call in some backup to help me do my first flip.

Tada! It tasted a bit like the cousin of a fritatta , but I really enjoyed the structure of the dish. Also it seems like it would be a good one when cooking for a group of people.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Click to shrink...

That looks very nice and I bet it tasted even better! Spanish omelette is such a life saver.

 

[Everyday Math]

I was in the mood for something egg based this morning, and was thinking about this post and decided to give it a go! First attempt results below:

Onions, Potatoes, and a loooooooot of oil.

Pretty happy with my first flip. My only notes here are that I don't reccomend using a cast iron skillet, as that thing was super hot, and heavy, and was hard to flip. I had to call in some backup to help me do my first flip.

Tada! It tasted a bit like the cousin of a fritatta , but I really enjoyed the structure of the dish. Also it seems like it would be a good one when cooking for a group of people.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Click to shrink...

Homerdrool.jpg

 

[Pet]

I love lu rou fan.

Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice Bowl)

Lu rou fan, a Taiwanese comfort food classic of braised pork belly over rice, is probably the best recipe to come out of our kitchen this month.

thewoksoflife.com

You can cheat and omit the mushrooms and just use powdered Chinese "five spice" instead of the Chinese spices.

It goes amazingly with white steamed rice. For veggies, I like to pair it with thinly diced green mustard, sauteed for a few minutes (and seasoned with salt and some chili sauce).

 

[Deleted member 1476]

Rice and beans.

 

[Aldo]

Super basic?

Spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino:

Cook some spaghetti. Cut some garlic cloves (3 per person) in tiny pieces, fry them in oil until caramelised (watch out they burn easily and when they do they are disgusting) w/ chili. When the pasta is done, put it in the pan with the garlic and chili and a bit of cooking water. Fry for a couple of minutes. Done.

Frittata:
Overcooked omelette with grated parmesan and pretty much your leftovers from the fridge. You can do it with French fries too (mixed in the batter!) if you want to hurt yourself.

Literal bread and butter. Baguette and salted butter.

White rice with soy sauce, nori and some salmon cooked in a frying pan. Remove soy sauce, shape into a ball if you want an onigiri.

 

[Pau]

Colombian style arepas are my go to when I don't want to cook anything too complicated. At least, they were before the pandemic hit and I was able to regularly go to supermarkets that sold them and the right type of cheese.

Arepas are a corn or sweet corn "patty" that you can make in different shape. Some are filled with cheese, although I haven't found any frozen brands I like of those. There are Venezuelan style arepas that are more like buns that you stuff with food. The style I like the most is a larger, flat patty that you can use for various toppings.

For the quickest meal, using queso blanco (a white Colombian cheese):

For something more filling, you can put vegetables, fruit, or meets on top. I particularly like putting shredded meat.