I started writing these down when I realised I kept making the same things and forgetting how. 36 recipes so far. All actually good.
Perfect Oven Chicken Breast
High and fast, then rested. Flattening the thick end and resting under foil are the two steps that decide whether it's juicy or whether it's the dry chicken that puts people off eating well.
Bulgur Wheat & Red Lentil Blend
The base that quietly does the most work. Red lentils dissolve completely into the bulgur as it steams, so you get a serious fibre and protein upgrade that nobody eating it can detect.
Perfect Wholewheat Couscous
Five minutes, no hob, no measuring jug if you don't want one. Couscous doesn't absorb fat the way rice or pasta does, so cooking it in stock is the only way to get flavour into the grain itself.
Perfect Rice, Every Time
The absorption method, with the ratios written down so you never have to look them up again. Rinse it, boil it, then leave it completely alone — the last five minutes off the heat with the lid on is the bit everyone skips.
Buckwheat & Vanilla Pancakes
Hybrid crepes — not paper-thin, not thick American style. Buckwheat drinks a lot of liquid, which is why the batter rests and why you keep a hundred millilitres of milk in reserve.
The Goldilocks Porridge Formula
Forty grams of oats, weighed. Poured straight from the bag you end up at seventy or eighty, which is enough carbohydrate in one hit to leave you foggy and heavy all morning.
Cilantro-Lime Rice
Burrito-bar rice, done by absorption. No butter and no oil anywhere — the lime and garlic carry the whole thing, and the ten-minute sealed rest is what makes every grain separate.
Kidney Beans, Three Ways
Three routes out of bean depression. The same tin, made creamy, made fresh, or made crunchy — pick by mood, or by whoever you're trying to convince that beans are worth eating.
The 2-Minute Glossy Stir-Fry Sauce
The cornflour is the whole point. Without it the sauce pools sadly in the bottom of the wok; with it, it clings to every single piece of chicken and veg like a takeaway.
Rice Wine Vinegar Satay Sauce
The weird-but-really-good one. Rice wine vinegar in satay is a genuine chef move — its sharp, fruity acidity cuts straight through the fat of the peanut butter so the sauce lifts instead of sitting there.
Niçoise Dressing
Classic, punchy, emulsified in a jam jar in twenty seconds. The Dijon isn't just for tang — it's the emulsifier that stops the whole thing splitting back apart on the plate.
Old El Paso-Style Copycat Salsa
Jarred salsa has three hallmarks — slightly sweet, a tangy vinegary bite, and soft cooked veg. Raw pico de gallo will never hit that note. You have to simmer it, and you have to be honest about the sugar.
The Cooked Burrito Sauce
Born from a cupboard emergency. Tinned tomatoes and ground coriander will never make a fresh salsa — but apply heat and they make something arguably better, a thick smoky relish that won't blow out a wrap.
Fresh Pico de Gallo Salsa
Raw, vibrant, essentially a juicy salad in a bowl. De-seeding the tomatoes is the step that stops the bottom of your burrito turning to mush and splitting open in your hands.
The Heart-Healthy Home-Made Hummus
The whole game is aquafaba. Supermarket hummus gets its smoothness from cheap sunflower oil; this gets it from the chickpea liquid instead. Same velvety whipped texture, a fraction of the refined fat.
Heart-Healthy Refried Beans
Traditional refried beans use lard; tinned ones often use hydrogenated palm oil. This version gets its velvet from the beans' own starch, with half a teaspoon of olive oil doing nothing but carrying the garlic.
Warm Spiced Rice & Kidney Beans
East African and Caribbean leaning, and completely oil-free. The trick is toasting the spices in a dry pan and mashing a few beans so their starch turns the stock into a glossy gravy.
Mediterranean Traybake & Couscous Bowl
The low-effort one. Everything goes in the oven at 200°C, you fluff couscous while it roasts, and the chickpeas come out golden and crisp. Cook three chicken breasts and keep one back for lunch.
Simple One-Pan Tomato & Herb Chicken Orzo
The gentle one. Orzo cooked risotto-style straight in the pan, no cream, no butter — quick, cosy, and very kind to a stomach that's had a rough couple of days.
Kimchi Fried Rice or Noodles
Ten minutes, built for a night when the shop has no miso and you have no patience. Frying the kimchi is the key move — it softens the sharp bite and turns it deeply savoury.
Miso-Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry
The golden rule of miso is that you never boil it. Sauce goes in with the heat completely off, the residual warmth thickens it, and you keep both the probiotics and the flavour.
Ginger, Plum Sake & Soy Glazed Chicken
A marinade rather than a whole dish — this is the chicken you lay over a salad or a grain bowl. Butterflying is the step that makes or breaks it.
Plum Sake & Ginger Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry
Umeshu replaces both the mirin and the maple syrup. You get the sweet-and-sour balance with no refined sugar, the alcohol burns off instantly, and what's left is a thick glossy glaze.
Saturday Recovery Chicken & Bean Skillet
Fifteen minutes, one pan, and whatever's in the cupboard. Built for a day of chores on an empty stomach when you need something substantial without thinking about it.
Flavour & Bite Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
Pressure cooking forces the spice into the middle of the meat. The two-minute pan step at the end is the entire point — it's the difference between restaurant-grade shredded chicken and sad wet pulled meat.
15-Minute Mexican Fajita Skillet Bowl
The weeknight workhorse, with a scratch fajita blend that beats the packet. The cornstarch in the mix is the trick — it turns a splash of water into a glossy glaze that clings to everything.
Chicken Shawarma Grain Bowl
A copycat of the Tesco high-protein shawarma. The architecture that makes it work is a tomato-and-yogurt pan sauce instead of cream, and red lentils hidden in the bulgur where nobody can see them.
Saturday Night Chicken & Bean Curry
Built entirely from what was in the cupboard on a wet Saturday. This is the one with the onion-garlic jam base, a custom cumin-and-fennel blend, and the blended-chickpea trick that makes it taste like it's been simmering all day.
Himalayan Chicken & Chickpea Curry
The leek one. Lighter and brighter than the long-simmered curries — the leeks melt down into the sauce in five minutes and lemon zest at the end lifts the whole thing.
Nirvana Bowl with Chicken & Couscous
The Nirvana Bowl rebuilt around diced chicken and ground ginger, over wholewheat couscous. The order is deliberately rearranged so the chicken doesn't spend half an hour drying out in the simmer.
The Nirvana Bowl Chickpea Curry
A copycat of Mandala Himalayan Dumplings' award-winning street food bowl. Three secrets make it — popping the mustard seeds, twenty full minutes of caramelising the onions, and smashing a quarter of the chickpeas so their starch thickens the gravy.
High-Protein Chicken & Multi-Bean Chilli
The gentle one, built for a day when you're not feeling great and want something warm in 20 minutes. Uses already-cooked chicken, so there's no searing and no fuss.
The 100% Dark Chocolate Three-Bean Chilli
The original. Three tins of beans, two tins of tomatoes, a mountain of spinach and three squares of 100% chocolate stirred in off the heat. Makes enough for two nights, which is most of the point.
Cajun Chicken & Three-Bean Chilli
A scratch Cajun blend, three kinds of bean, and a square of 100% chocolate melted in at the end. Nobody will guess the chocolate. They'll just wonder why the sauce is that glossy.
Harissa Chicken & Orzo Salad
A Saturday Kitchen recipe with the chickpeas kept and chicken added. You crush the raw tomatoes with your hands and let the salt pull their juice out into a sauce — that's the whole dish, and it's better than it sounds.
Middle Eastern Chicken, Halloumi & Orzo Bowl
The one that rocked. Orzo cooked down into the pan juices until it goes glossy and risotto-ish, harissa and ras el hanout doing the heavy lifting, squeaky golden halloumi on top. Comfort food that happens to be 50g of protein.