Adulting is hard especially when you’ve grown up with the idea that being an adult means freedom, alcohol, and partying. Be it living with family or in your own home, adulting entails footing your own bills, cleaning the house, being a host, and knowing basic kitchen rules. It doesn’t matter if you’re not prepared to be thrown into this abyss of managing a household.
Now picture this: you’re home, already burdened with work, and a guest turns up. This wasn’t a stressful situation a few years ago. You could just ignore them and keep sitting in your room, and come out just to eat the yummy edibles your parents served them. Except now, you have to host your own guests and feed them too, because ordering out is not budget friendly.
The next time you find yourself in such a situation, here are a few easy things you can whip up for your house guest:
Pizza bread
This is something you don’t have to use your brain for. Dice an onion, tomato, and capsicum and transfer to a bowl. Mix in salt to taste, some oregano and other seasonings of your choice. Next, put your oven on pre-heat. (If you don’t have an oven, a microwave will do the trick). Take a few slices of bread and spread some butter on them. Add a spoonful of the veggie mixture and add a slice of cheese or shredded mozzarella or both–because extra cheese never hurt anybody. Stick it in the oven (or microwave) till the cheese melts, and voila! You’re good to serve this masterpiece to your hungry guests. Tip: if you have some pizza or pasta sauce stowed in the fridge, spread it on the bread after butter for some added flavour.
Eggs
Any and all kinds of eggs are filling. An omelette with toasted bread, sunny side up with buttered toast, scrambled egg with roti, or just boiled eggs seasoned with salt and pepper are great and healthful snacks. Whisk up anything with egg that your guest would like and get happy–because it’ll get over sooner than you think.
Fried rice
This one is easy, delicious and requires zero effort. To begin with, boil the rice while you chop some veggies. Finely chop few cloves of garlic, onions, beans and carrots. In a pan heat some oil, add star anise, chopped veggies and garlic, salt and black pepper, two to three tablespoons of soya sauce, and half a spoon of vinegar. Once the veggies are cooked, add the strained cooked rice to your hot pot. Mix until all the ingredients are combined and serve hot!
Pasta
If we have mentioned rice, can pasta be far behind? The ingredients for pasta can be found in every millennial’s kitchen. Boil your pasta in salt water and while it cooks, puree some tomatoes with garlic and green chillies. Cook this tomato puree in sunflower or olive oil, adding seasonings of your choice. If you have pasta or pizza sauce at home, add two to three spoonfuls of it to your tomato puree for added flavour. To this cooked puree add your strained pasta, mix it up, and serve hot with iced tea.
Potato
Just potato in any form is loved across the country. Fried, baked, or mashed–it doesn’t matter. The best we can suggest for a quick recipe is baked potatoes. Rub down your potatoes under running water and put your oven on preheat in the meanwhile. Dry your potatoes, pierce them with a fork in multiple places, and then bathe them in oil and salt. Cover each potato in foil and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the foil, slit the potatoes, put butter and bake for extra 8-10 minutes. For those with a mircowave, the cooking time is quicker. Put in the potato without the foil and heat for two minutes on each side. Then slit open the potato put some shredded cheese in the middle and put it back in for a whole minute. Serve these hot potatoes with a curd dip. If you do not know the importance of a dip, the next tip will help you out.
Dips
This is something you should make often and keep in the refrigerator to use whenever. Dips go with anything–chips, veggies, bread, potatoes and even with just spoons. Here are a few easy ones to start your masterchef journey with.
So go ahead reader, don’t disappoint your guest, your mom, and yourself.
