Let's be honest here, cooking in a hostel kitchen can sometimes be a mad rush of all elbows, queues for the sinks, the never ending search for a suitable pan and scraping burnt rice off said pan. We know it can be hard, so we've created these 5 simple and most importantly, quick, meals for you to cook when you decide you've eaten out far too much!
1. Fajitas
Serves 2
- 1 x red onion
- 1 x red capsicum
- 2 x chicken breasts or 1 x large chicken breast
- 1 tbsp cajun seasoning
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- Tortilla wraps
- Cheese
Method:
- Chop your chicken and capsicum into strips and roughly chop your onion.
- Add a couple of glugs of olive oil to your pan and once heated, add in your chicken strips.
- Once your chicken has started to brown, add your capsicum, onion and cajun seasoning. Give it a mix around so that everything gets coated in the spices and season with salt & pepper.
- Once your chicken is almost cooked (add more cajun if you're in a spicy mood), whack your tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds to warm up and grate some cheese.
- When your chicken is cooked all the way through, take your tortillas out of the microwave and put some of the fajita mixture in the tortilla, add some cheese, wrap up and eat!
- Feeling flush? Add some sliced avocado, sour cream and salsa to really make this dish a stand out!
2. Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry
Serves 2
- Flat rice noodles
- 1 x broccoli
- 1 x large chicken breast
- 2 x eggs
- Soy sauce
- Olive oil
- Garlic granules
- Black pepper
Method:
- Boil a kettle.
- Chop your chicken into strips and your broccoli into small trees (or florets if you want to use the proper word...)
- Add a couple of glugs of olive oil to your pan and once heated on a high-ish heat, add in your chicken strips.
- Once your chicken has started to brown, add your trees and garlic granules and season with pepper.
- Give it a mix around until the chicken is almost cooked and then turn down the heat.
- Add your boiled water to a pan, plop in your noodles and heat on the highest setting, these should literally take a couple of minutes to cook. Once done, drain and leave to the side.
- Once your chicken is cooked through, add soy sauce and let it bubble slightly.
- Move your chicken and broccoli to the side and crack your eggs into the space in the pan. Scramble your eggs until cooked, add in the noodles and mix everything together in the pan.
- Add in some extra soy sauce if you think it's looking a little on the dry side and then dish up and devour.
3. Fresh Tomato Pasta
Serves 2
- Penne pasta
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- 4 x large salad tomatoes
- Garlic granules
- Cheese
Method:
- Boil a kettle.
- Add your boiled water to a pan, salt the water and stick on a high heat on the hob. Once bubbling, add in your pasta.
- Whilst your pasta is cooking, roughly rip up your tomatoes into a separate pan (weirdly, they taste better when you roughly rip rather than chop with a knife!) and add in your garlic granules, some olive oil and season with salt & pepper.
- Heat the tomato mixture so that it's just warm - we don't want to lose it's freshness by boiling it.
- Once your pasta is cooked, drain and add some buter, salt and pepper to the pasta - honestly this small trick makes pasta taste so goooood!
- Mix your pasta in with your fresh tomatoes, grate some cheese over the op and you're done! Add some basil if you can get your hands on some fresh basil.
4. Dippy Eggs & Soldiers
Serves 2
- 4 x eggs
- 4 x slices of bread
- Butter
- Salt & pepper
Method:
- Boil a kettle.
- Fill a pan half way with the boiled water, turn on your hob to mid way and pop your pan on.
- Carefully put your eggs into the pan of boiling water and set the time on your phone to 7 minutes…or you can count. One Mississippi….
- Get your bread in the toaster and start toasting those babies up!
- Once toasted, spread on your butter and cut into soldiers (that’s small dunkable strips).
- Once the timer goes off carefully remove your eggs from the pan, run under some cold water and plop in your egg cups. Tip: No egg cups? No problemo! Just do some crafty chopping of your egg carton, grab some scissors/knife (be careful kids!) and cut along the edges of where the egg would sit in your carton and voila, you have egg cups!
- Chop the top off your egg, give it a sprinkle of salt and pepper and dunk those little soldiers in and enjoy!
5. couscous & veggies
Serves 2
- Couscous
- Butter
- Salt & pepper
- 1 x courgette
- 1 x capsicum
- Feta cheese
Method:
- Chop your veggies in chunks and boil a kettle.
- Heat a pan with olive oil and once hot chuck in your veggies and some garlic granules.
- Pour some couscous into a bowl and pour boiling water over, use enough water to just cover the cousous. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of your cajun seasoning, mix and cover with a tea towel to let it all soak in.
- Once your veggies are cooked to how you like them, uncover your couscous bowl, add a dollop of butter and fork it through then add your veggies and mix!