I prepare Chinese meals for dinner on most days. I always make everything from scratch, that's what I grew up with. Chinese cooking involves a lot of cutting and prep, and it usually takes me 45 minutes to 1.5 hours everyday. It never bothered me before, however, it has been hard to fit in my busy schedule nowadays since I have a 3-year-old. But it's difficult for me to take shortcuts because I love food, and I really value the quality of food.
Today, my husband's American cousin and I exchanged our dinner plans. It took me one hour and 15 minutes to make my 3 course dinner for 3 people, and it only took her 15 minutes to cook for 5 people. She said it rarely takes her an hour to make dinner.
So it prompted me to ask this question. What do you usually have for dinner, and how long does it take you?
Most meals take about 30 minutes. Here is a recent one: It was my #grubski submission. It was basically eggs and some sautéed mushrooms and greens with some French toast. -All easy to make and pretty quick.
I make things with very little prep needed, because I have a 4 year old and a 1-1/2 year old at home. Meals need to be fast. There are lots of nights weeks where we will make a big thing of "x" and eat it, along with an accompaniment throughout the week. "X" is usually lentils or something like that.
Oh man, what a question. Depends on the day. Last night, for example, I made a simple bacon stacked grilled cheese. The hardest part of that was the pickles, but I made them a month or longer ago, so it doesn't really count. Total time was about 15 minutes, because I like to let the bacon fry on a low-med temp for a while. If I have the time, I like to take a couple hours to rock out. Last Sunday we didn't have much to do, so we made chicken satay, lettuce wrap fresh rolls, and spicy green beans. Lots of prep for that, even though the cooking itself is straight forward and quick, so the total time was probably 1.5-2 hours. Likewise when I feel like making a bolognese, even extra when I feel like making the tomato paste from scratch. However, the longest meals are when I break the smoker out. Then we're talking 6-10 hours of beer drinking and messing with the fire (I consider electric smokers to be sacrilegious). I don't find any of that stressful. It's one of my favorite ways to spend an evening. Then again, I don't have kids, so it's not out of the question to spend a bit of time doing it the old fashion way. I'm not a great chef, but I've gotten to the point where there aren't many times I'm at a restaurant and think that I couldn't do a better version of what I'm eating at home (although at most restaurants that's a low bar). My favorite places are ones where I couldn't even come close.
I don't have a three year old, but I'm in the same boat as far as being busy. My wife doesn't get home till 7-8, so it's on me to cook every day. I enjoy it and I'm a lot better at it than I used to be as a result. The past few years I've been cutting out processed foods as much as possible, and have been preparing meals that are healthier, fresh, and supplemented with our garden when possible. Our microwave broke a few years ago and I insisted we not replace it. At any rate, cooking this way takes longer. I'm sure if I were more skilled in the kitchen I could get the time down but as it is it usually takes me about the same amount of time as you to cook for two. I do have a couple go-to recipes that are shorter though, and lately I've been employing my rice cooker with a steam basket...rice on bottom raw veggies on top basket, close lid and push button. My wife is such a freak about rice that she insists she could eat this every night. I do get bored with that though. I have simplified the cooking this summer though. I've been grilling like a demon, but in a simple way. Hurl meat and olive oil brushed veggies at grill. It never gets old. Everything fresh. No messing with cutting the food into even sizes, -just move things around the grill to the hot and cold spots as needed. Swap the meat/veggies out for variety, but really we've just been doing this and saffron rice left and right. We often dine outside on the deck with some music. Simple and good. What adds the time for me is making a meal balanced. If I make sure to have meat plus veggies plus a starch plus some bread and a salad...doesn't matter the portion size, it's just going to take long.
My favorite dinner would be rice, lentils and some vegetables. And it would usually take somewhere between 45 mins to an hour. But I guess that is because rice takes some time to cook. Contrary to popular belief, Indian meals are not always labor-intensive or slow cooked. We have some easy stir fried vegetables with a tempering of spices that hardly take 10 minutes, that I love. Lentil soup (not pureed) with spices is always a favorite, with regional variations around the country. One of the most comforting Bengali dinners I can think of is pretty straight forward and easy to make. The time needed for the cooking is not proportional to the work you have to do, and the results are fabulous. Cook rice to your liking. Add halved potatoes into the same pot to cook simultaneously. Sometimes the lentils (red or moong) are also packed into a little metal container and added to the same pot to cook through, but nowadays we just boil it separately in another pot. When lentils are mushy (yep mushy), just whisk them well to make the soup creamy. In a separate pan, add oil and temper with a dried bay leaf, tomatoes, cumin seeds and tomatoes. Add turmeric powder and salt to the lentils and throw in the tempering. Add loads of chopped cilantro. The boiled potatoes must now be ready to be peeled. Mash them and mix with onions and a dried red chilli crispened up in oil, and crushed with salt. Enjoy your Dal (lentils), bhaat (rice), and alu seddo (mashed potatoes). God, it is comfort food at it's best.
I'd say normally somewhere between 15 minutes and 1 hour, depending on what it is. Less than 15 minutes is rare unless I'm heating leftovers. The upper limit is probably around 10 hours, but that's an hour to an hour and a half of cooking, and the rest is just waiting for the slow cooker to do it's thing.
When I make a dinner for Chinese New Year, which I do every year, I cook for about 50 and it takes me about 6 hours but 2 of those alone are just making 200 deep fried Egg Rolls from scratch. And to be fair people bring things as well. When I make a Stir Fry dinner for eight, which I do once or twice a month, it takes me an hour total time. My knife skills are pretty good but it is still about 45 minutes of chopping and the rest waiting for everything to get steamed. And making the rice. Or I could throw in a prepared Shepard's Pie and it would take 2 minutes of effort and an hour total. Or burgers would take 15 minutes for up to ten. Or the recipes I mentioned in the other thread could be 15 minutes up to an hour. The longest it ever took me to make a dinner for 2 was 7 hours of continuous work.
In the off season, so right now, just maintenance food really. Some rice or pasta, lean meat and mixed vegetables. I mix it up with different herbs and so on but in all honesty what I eat is bland and very similar day in day out. It's what I'm used too I guess. All up? Might take me about 30 minutes, less if I time it right and don't piss around with the news or my friends.
5 to 10 minutes, or less. My "kitchen" consists of a tiny compact fridge that can fit under a desk, no freezer, a toaster oven, and an electrical hotplate with one burner. I have one small pot to cook in, one small frying pan, two forks, 3 spoons, 2 bowls, 1 cup, and nothing else.
20 minutes upwards, depending on what and whether I get distracted. Some of our staples are: Risotto marinara
Squash and blue cheese risotto
I use about 3/4 of a cup of a regular pasta sauce from the store, some diced onion, a dash of balsamic, some wine and water as needed.
Throw in some chopped mushrooms or spinach or whatever.
About 35 minutes
Bell peppers stuffed with a Mediterranean pilaf type thing
About a cup of cubed fresh whole squash, seeded and peeled.
Squash is sauteed in wine and stock from paste until it's tender, then mashed
Added to rice with diced onion, more wine, some vege stock from paste and a bit of grated parmesan.
Stir blue cheese through before serving.
About 50 minutes
Burrito bowls
Rice, beans, sundried tomatoes, chopped walnuts, olives, oregano, salt and pepper.
Then it's spooned into halved peppers that roasted while I sauteed
Top with blue cheese crumbles, and baked more until the cheese browns a little.
About 45 minutes
Dum aloo
Puree up some onion with a bit of chipotle in adobo from a jar, some cumin, cilantro, oregano, pepper, salt.
Throw in a pot with canned beans and about a cup of water and a bay leaf, boil until saucy beans happen.
Cook rice, drain, stir in lime juice and olive oil.
Slice up some onion and bell peppers. Sautee them with oregano, salt and pepper until browned.
Make guacamole, thaw some corn, cut up some lettuce and tomato.
About 1hr
Masala
Chop potatoes, par cook and then shallow fry until golden.
Heat oil with ginger paste and ground cinnamon, fennel, chili, clove and cardamom.
Throw in potatoes, coat, stir in coconut milk and some water, stir until thickened.
About 40 minutes.
Lentils
I cheat and use a sauce from the store on whatever veggies I have around.
About 30 minutes.
Ginger and black pepper stirfry
Red lentils cooked in a broth of onion, a fresh tomato, jalapeno, cumin, clove, cilantro, salt, and bay leaf.
Stir in some spinach or shredded kale.
About 20 minutes.
Feel free to ask for more detailed versions of the instructions. Random veggies sauteed until tender
Stirred into a thickened sauce of ginger, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, a little sugar and cracked black pepper.
About 30 minutes.
I loved your ideas, especially the burrito bowls and the lentils with greens. Food in bowls is always the best, don't have to worry too much about how you hog down on it. :D Btw, I am from India and that's not how Dum Aloo is made. You should probably swap in the coconut milk with some natural yogurt instead, and then you could call it that. :) Also I am surprised it has no cumin or coriander powders, that's unusual. The spices you've mentioned are the warmer ones used in little amounts, but cumin and coriander are staples and used more lavishly. :)
I'm gonna try the lentils. I like the taste of them but I never know what to add to them.
Ok, 1 cup of red lentils to about 4 cups of water should give you 3 or 4 meal sized servings. I use powdered cumin/clove and fresh cilantro. I freehand it but go for at least a teaspoon of cumin and a pinches or two of ground clove. Or just use a garam masala mix. Honestly the spices are just a guide, I vary it all the time. Sometimes it has garlic and ginger too. Go with as much onion as you want, I usually use a whole small one. Puree half with the tomato so it adds to the sauce but keep half of it in coarsely chopped or in strips and brown that in some oil, then add the spice powders, stir a minute and then throw in the water, bay leaf, cilantro and lentils. And it's pretty good served with fresh chopped tomato on top too. You can build upon this quite easily too. Your imagination is your limit.