because I'm tired of spending all my time cooking

[tim]

Dear interwebs:

I'd like to know your favorite vegetarian recipe that takes less than 30 minutes (even better if it's less than 20 minutes) to prepare. Go!

edited to clarify: Must be 30 minutes from zero to ready to eat (that is, I'm not distinguishing between active prep time and passive waiting time).

Comments

[etb]

Start water boiling, add turmeric, fakemeat, nuts (e.g. cashews), [mushrooms], [bamboo shoots], chopped ginger; wait for water to boil; add pasta; add any of {broccoli, zucchini, asparagus*, tomatoes} about 4 minutes before the pasta will be done. Drain. Add arbitrary sauce.

The fakemeat is, technically, optional.

* finely chop bottom part of asparagus stalks and put those in earlier

[anemone.livejournal.com]

Here's a favorite of ours:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/quick-black-bean-soup-recipe.html

There's a "simmer 10 minutes" step that can be skipped if hungry. Also, I usually double the spices, because I'm like that.

Another good one, though low in protein, only doable in the summer (since basil is a summer thing), and requires a cuisart are blender is pasta with pesto. The pesto can be finished between the time you start boiling water for pasta and the time the pasta is done (assuming you use 7 min-to-cook pasta).

[lorena]

Biking 3 miles to Jamba Juice. :P

[hitchhiker]

do you have a pressure cooker? this is definitely doable in less than thirty minutes if you do. probably even if you don't; i've never really noted how long it takes. the majority of the time goes in waiting for the rice and dal to simmer together.

[mryn]

Red beans and rice. Cooking the rice would probably be the longest part and possibly go over the 30 min limit for brown rice. I don't have a written recipe for the red beans - I just chop an onion fairly fine, saute them in olive oil in a biggish saucepan (could saute some kind of pepper or celery in here at the same time, I just rarely have them around), add seasonings (lots of sage, celery seed, some oregano, some cayenne or other red pepper, maybe some thyme), then add red beans (I use canned, drained and rinsed). Simmer for a while, then mash up some of the beans to make more of a creamy base. Add fakemeat if desired (I throw in chopped-up fake sausage patties or fake meatballs). Serve over rice. Douse liberally with Tabasco.
You'll probably need to experiment with the seasoning to figure out how you like it - I sometimes also add tomato paste.

Pretty much all my quick food involves canned beans - red beans, black beans (pretty much the same recipe as above, but with cumin and coriander and chipotle as the spices, and I mash them completely), hummus. Trying to do more with lentils...

[kake]

Are substantial salads OK? I really like chickpea salad, which involves opening a can of chickpeas, chopping/slicing/otherwise suitably treating various veg, herbs, cheese if you want, adding tasty things from jars, and then dressing with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I can be more explicit about the veg I think work well in this if you're interested.

Otherwise, I quite like stirfry, done the proper way in a very hot wok (the hottest ring on my electric stove is just about hot enough for this, though gas would be much better) — yes, stirfry is obvious, but the important thing here is a decent sauce to put on it. Fermented tofu has been featuring in my stirfry sauces quite a lot recently; it really does seem to add something special. Again, I can go on about this a bit more if you like.

Also, bean stews. For optimum speed, as soon as you get in, chop onion and get it in a pan ASAP, then let it carry on sauteeing slowly while you put bike/shoes/bag/etc away and start hunting for the other veg. (Sometimes when I can't work out what to cook, I just get myself into the kitchen and start sauteeing an onion, since it's usually the slowest part of the process.)

Spicy chickpeas and spinach is very quick if you buy the tamarind ready-extracted inna jar.

For more snacky things, scallion pancakes are surprisingly quick to make (though if you don't have much experience handling bread dough, they may be more faff).

[tim]

Are substantial salads OK? I really like chickpea salad, which involves opening a can of chickpeas, chopping/slicing/otherwise suitably treating various veg, herbs, cheese if you want, adding tasty things from jars, and then dressing with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I can be more explicit about the veg I think work well in this if you're interested.

That sounds good -- I'm not imaginative, so what veggies do you think are good?

I don't think my electric stove gets hot enough to heat a wok as hot as it should be :-(

The other ideas sound good, am filing away! (I found some frozen scallion pancakes at the local "Oriental Market" (no, really, that's what it's called) that are surprisingly good, but homemade would be cheapter.)

[kake]

A few quick thoughts... maybe other people would like to suggest some too.

Good veggies to put in raw:
cucumber, fennel bulb, red/orange/yellow bell peppers, zucchini (chopped to 1cm pieces, or sliced)
carrots, kohlrabi (grated)
cherry tomatoes (halved or whole)
ordinary tomatoes (chopped)
salad leaves/baby spinach/arugula/etc
radishes (grated, chopped, sliced, or whole)

Good fruits to put in raw:
apples (chopped or grated)

Good things to saute briefly first (takes more time, obviously):
sliced mushrooms, thinly-sliced leeks

Good flavourings:
thinly-sliced scallions/red onions/normal onions
finely-chopped fresh herbs, e.g. mint, fennel, parsley, cilantro, etc

Good things-in-jars:
caramelised onions, capers, olives (halved or whole), roasted peppers, pickled chillies (sliced)

[wkfauna.livejournal.com]

"Chana Dal":

Saute a chopped onion in some olive oil until nice and brown. Add some chopped garlic and some cumin and coriander, stir for 30 seconds. Add drained can of diced tomatoes and a couple of cans of rinsed chickpeas. Simmer for 15-ish minutes.

I *think* a large can of tomatoes will cover two cans of chickpeas, but I'm not 100% sure. You can play with the proportions as you're adding stuff in though. You only have to simmer this for as long as you have time, even 5 minutes will be ok.

[badasstronaut.livejournal.com]

Where to start...

For super fast, couscous is really good because while your couscous is absorbing the boiling water etc you can cook up some other stuff and when that's done you can mix it with the couscous. I've done this camping with, say, spring onions, tomatoes, peppers, chilli, courgette, basil etc. Halloumi is also good. If there's tomato that's good because then the couscous gets tomatoey too.

Those puy lentils I did when you were here are also very easy, although I like to soak the lentils for an hour or so and then cook them in water before I add them to whatever I do in the pan (usually spring onions, garlic, chilli, tomatoeyness etc). I know people think soaking this is a hassle, but it's really not hard if you get into a routine of it, and I'm saying this from the point of view of a not very organised sort of person.

[kake]

Oh, yes, couscous is good.

Re the puy lentils, it's worth pointing out that you can start them soaking (in the fridge) in the morning or even the night before if you're prone to forgetting to do things in the morning.

[badasstronaut.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. In fact, people tell me the lentils don't really need soaking, but I kind of feel the need for some reason I can't really justify. Legumes... they're a magical mystery creature.

Puy lentils are bloody nice though - so much nicer than any other lentil I've come across.

[tim]

I never soak lentils. And apparently puy lentils are what we call "French green lentils" :-D

[kake]

I like to soak puy lentils (and other whole lentils) because I find it makes them less likely to escape from their skins.

[badasstronaut.livejournal.com]

Also - just chopping up a variety of root and other vegetables into chunks, shove them into the oven with a bit of olive oil and seasoning/spices on and roast them for half an hour. Then you could have them with some yoghurt, brown rice, whatever. Good vegetables could be carrots, parsnips, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, aubergine, onion, asparagus. Fresh rosemary in there too makes everything smell nice.

[imfallingup]

Josh and I have gotten rather addicted to two items that really should get categorized as cheap college food but man are they tasty and awesome when we've both just gotten home from work and are tired and hungry.

Mac n cheese the Zeo way:
* Make a pot of several handfuls of macaroni noodles (I like wheat) and frozen veggies (peas, corn, broccoli)
* Take a big spoonful of mayonaise (or yogurt if you can, you know, eat dairy) and mix with about as much water; then add in that mac n cheese powder from Winco's bulk section (may possibly contain animal actually, but I don't think so) until you have a texture like pancake batter. Also mix in spices: paprika, cayenne, bacon salt (that mysteriously vegan kosher product). Keep adding cheese powder and spices till it tastes right.
* Take one of those veggie loafs from Fubonn and cut it into small blocks, 1/2-1" ish. Fry with some of the adobo paste from cans of chipotle peppers (about half a teaspoon?) till it's warm and browned and oh so tasty.
* When the noodles and veggies are done drain them and mix with the cheesey sauce stuff and the veggie loaf chunks. Add more cheese powder if necessary.
* Park butt in front of cartoons and nom.
(Proportions are for one serving, increase as needed)

And the more recent addiction and first time in a while that Josh and I have both been intentionally buying ramen, Sweet Peanut Butter Ramen:
* Fill a medium fry pan with about a third of an inch of water and turn the burner on high. Break up a block of ramen into that and start it cooking.
* Take a big big spoonful of peanut butter (okay, I use a spoon but I really shouldn't call this a spoonful. Say, a quarter cup) and mix it with a bunch of sweet chili sauce (I recommend the Mae Ploy stuff for this, and okay it has sugar but neither of these recipes should be considered all that healthy anyway) until it has the right taste. When the ramen is decently cooked and the water is mostly cooked off, scoop/pour out the sauce and stir it all together; the remaining water helps it mix around with the ramen so just push it around with a spatula and keep it from burning on the bottom (probably turn the heat down) until the water's cooked off and it looks like brains.
* Scoop into a bowl, park yourself in front of some cartoons and nom.

Or you know how to make curry and that can be done plenty quickly, or stir fry too. It takes a bit more than half an hour but I've gotten good at making sushi in about 45 minutes from starting the rice to sitting down with a plateful, which I'm pretty proud of.