With the cost of food and energy going through the roof, everyone started to act differently in the way that they shop and feed themselves and their family. And I really wanted to be as useful as possible to you in this time. So for me, it's about thinking about those basic cooking skills that can look after you.
I've had to study hundreds and hundreds of ingredients across four big supermarkets. Really go back to basics, principles, hacks, tips. Come on.
We might be cooking on a budget, but this is delicious food. Every single ingredient has been costed to offer recipes that are incredible value. Clever cooking to keep cost down. Have a look at that. Maximum flavor, minimum cost.
This time, I've got some clever ways to make your meat stretch further across not just one, but two delicious dishes. Take care of it, love it, and you'll have something really nice to be proud of. I'm transforming an everyday veg into a magnificent centerpiece. We've used puff pastry to elevate the most taken-for-granted vegetable that we have. I'm making big savings by cooking a meal for one with trusty tins and letting the freezer help to create a super humble crumble.
And I've called on my mate Karan Gakani to share some hot tips on Sri Lankan cooking to keep cost down and flavor up. I want to show you some really cool principles in this recipe that are going to teach you how to stretch meat and make it go a lot further. To do that, my mouthwatering meatball kebabs use bread for lip-smacking taste and incredible texture. Served on a fluffy rice, lentil and spinach base, this delicious crowd-pleaser is a genius way to elevate cheap cuts without scrimping on flavor.
Got 500 g of minced pork that I'm going to use, and I'm going to take half of it for this recipe and I'm going to use half of it for another recipe that I'm going to show you later. But this is a really good principle, guys, where I can share a few little tips about stretching meat, making it go a lot further, but still getting maximum flavor. And I think it's a really important thing to learn. And of course, you could say, well, why not just buy a 250 gram pack of minced pork? It's cheaper to buy the bigger pack, right? So, I'm thinking about cost all the time. One of the ways to stretch it is actually using breadcrumbs, stale bread. So, first up, one of the biggest wasted items in this country is bread. So, if you have any leftover bits and pieces, dry it. If you've used the oven, when you've turned it off, just pop some bread in there and it will last for ages and ages. But look, I've got fresh stuff here because you might not have dry bread. Give it a little bathe in water like this. Gently squeeze it so the excess water comes out. Can you see about two-thirds of the volume of the meat we now have in bread? And you can lower or increase that depending on what your budget is.
Okay. So, we're then going to scrunch this almost like we're mincing the bread, right? And really, it's the little edges, the kind of crust that you want to work on, so it's nice and fine. You don't want big chunks around, but also a lot of the flavor's in the crust as well. So that's why we don't cut it off. Now, there's some benefits here by adding the bread. That's going to absorb the fat and flavor from the pork. It's also going to give a lightness, which is really nice when you eat it. Just season it. Sea salt there. Plenty of pepper. So, I'm going to wash my hands. And actually, while I'm doing that, water is quite handy. And you might be thinking, why?
Because having wet hands helps you make a nice smooth meatball. We need to make 16 meatballs because we're making this for four people, right? So, I'm just guessing it roughly and hoping that my guesstimate is about right. And we're going to make little kebabs. I'm a very passionate meat lover and I love all that sort of stuff, but the idea of reducing meat is definitely something I've been working on for the last five years. So, look, this idea of stretching meat is good for your pocket, also good for the planet.
Let's wash me hands. We got these lovely balls here. Let's talk veg. So, peppers. Just take the pepper off the side like that. We don't want to waste any of this stuff. We'll just take every last bit off. And I'm going to remove the seeds and the inner part. We don't really want that.
So you can compost that. Slice this pepper up into nice little chunks which are roughly the same kind of size as those lovely meatballs. I've got two onions here and all I'm going to do is cut it into quarters because these are small. Getting a bag of small onions is often much cheaper.
What I'm going to do now is take it apart into little petals. And I've got a little pile here of kebabable onion and peppers. And then this sort of tatty part here can go over here because I'm going to use that later. So let's get going. A green pepper, a red pepper. I'm going to then go in with a little cup facing in because the angle of the cup is going to cuddle our little meatball. So we're just going to put that on there like that. Okay. So this is where we're going.
You can put bits of herb in between there. You can change up your veg. You can do whatever you want. But this is fun.
Bosch. Once you get going, you start speeding up. Just don't skewer your finger. So, when I was thinking about cooking this, I was going to do it in a really hot oven and just roast it up. But actually, the oven is more expensive to run than a gas hob or an electric hob. So, I'm going to do it all in the pan today. So, you get golden crispy little kebabs. Last one. Look, the amounts are pretty good. Sometimes I get excited and I load the first couple and then it gets stingy on the last one. A little olive oil on your kebabs and dust them with pepper and seasoning of salt.
Just roll them in the olive oil, salt and pepper, right? And then they're going to cook lovely. I am going to do a little dish to go with this. Chop this up so it's nice and fine. And this will be the base for a lovely rice, lentil, spinach dish, which is really nice underneath these cooked kebabs. So to put some olive oil in a pan, take these veggies here.
A little bit of salt and pepper to get the seasoning going. Look at the colors. Come on. So lentils. Some of you might be going, 'Oh, lentils. Budget cooking lentil, you know.' Okay, lentils are fantastic. They carry flavors, really nutritious, great source of protein, good for iron, delicious. You could use dried lentils, which take about 25 minutes to cook. These are already cooked, right? So, I'm going to put them into the pan, juice and all, but also I'm going to pour some rice into the can and half fill it. And then I'm going to put this into the lentils. This rice takes about 10 to 12 minutes to cook, so it's a quick meal. Then I'm going to use this tin as a measuring cup and I'll fill it with cold water to the top. So half rice, full water, 2:1 gives you perfect rice every single time. So that goes in. Happy days. Got it on quite a high heat. Put the lid on and that'll also save you energy. So much more efficiency there. Now I want to get even more veggies into this. And I'm going to use a best friend, frozen spinach. Brilliant. Brilliant for curries, going into stews at the last minute. So once that's kind of boiled for a couple of minutes, I'll just plop a couple of these in and they'll cook together and this will be a lovely dish. Let's get the kebabs going now. I'll turn this pan on sort of medium high.
Just turn them quite regularly so it gets golden and crisp and gnarly. Take care of it. Love it, and you'll have something really nice to be proud of. And actually in the sort of like 10, 12 minutes is about perfect for the kebabs and the rice dish. So let's just have a little wash up.
Now this has had about 5 minutes. Let's go in with the spinach. Just four of these is about 200 g.
The rice is just fluffing up. We got our kebabs going.
So, what I love about what we did with the bread, stretching the mince meat, you don't just get kind of a lighter meatball. You don't just sort of save money. You also create this sort of meatball that if you overcook it slightly, it doesn't go dry as quickly. So, it's nearly there.
I have budgeted for a teaspoon of smoked paprika, but you could use any spice that will give you the most amazing color. A little bit of heat, not a lot, a little bit on the outside. So, we're done. It's time to serve up fluffy, perfectly cooked rice. The lentils are just like a best friend.
Look at that.
Sizzling, golden, gorgeous. Flourish at the end with some yogurt, little pinch of paprika. It's a lovely plate of food.
What I like to do is get me fork in there, break it off. Oh yeah, it looks cool. It smells amazing. Delicious flavor.
The meatball, it's so light and sweet on the inside and then when it's got caramelized on the outside with that little hit of smoked paprika. The rice and the lentils is gorgeous and exactly what you want with it.
Mmm. [clears throat] This dish is delicious, but it has all the key principles about being thrifty and clever and celebrating food, but most importantly, keeping those costs down. I think you're going to love it, and I think your family or your friends, they will, too. And don't forget, we've still got half that pack of pork saved for later.
Getting food quick can often come at a price until now. Why not make your own Friday night takeout at a fraction of the cost? Crispy pork and homemade noodles with sticky ginger and garlic. Using the rest of the pack of mince, you get a completely different dish. Great value for money without compromising on flavor. I'm really excited to share this recipe with you because I'm going to use the other half of that pork mince meat. It's that vibe of stretching what you've got, being really resourceful, and I'm going to show you how to make noodles from scratch. Absolutely. You can use shop-bought ones. And I'm sure many will, but come with me on this journey because this is fun. It's really quick. 20 minutes. You can bang this out. So, first up, put four tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan. And we're going to get it hot, really hot, until you can see a little shimmer. I've got here 10 cloves of garlic and a little chunk of ginger here, 4 cm. So, scratch the skin off. Slice up the ginger and slice up the garlic so it's nice and fine. Literally, just keep chopping. Ginger is aromatic, fresh, fragrant, and a little bit peppery. Garlic is just perfumed and gorgeous. Right, I'm going to take half of it and just push it to one side. And then the other half, we are going to make a sensational flavored oil that has multiple layers of flavor. Pop it into a little heatproof dish. Also going to add some dried chili, about a teaspoon. Spicy, but it's not going to blow your head off, right? And then as soon as you get a shimmer from your oil, pour that on to the garlic and the ginger. Just be careful.
It's like a really kind of hot, shocking infusion. As that bubbling subsides, we're going to go in here with two tablespoons of soy sauce. Salty, deep umami flavors. And then one tbsp of red wine vinegar. Nice and tangy. When we toss that over our noodles, it will be transformative. We're going to make noodles, right? And I know you might think, well, I can't do that. I'll never be able to do that. It's really quick. In fact, in the time that it takes for this minced meat to get golden and crispy, I'd have them done. So, pan on a medium low heat, we'll let the natural fats come out of this pork.
So, let me just clear the way and let's make noodles. This is really good fun. So, plain flour, 500 g goes into a bowl. We're then going to get 300 mls of water, add it slowly, and mix it up. You want to make a pliable dough. Remember Play-Doh from when we were a kid? That's what we want. That texture, that consistency.
And as soon as that comes together, then you can put your weight into it. So, just give it a knead on a clean surface. And look, in two minutes, we've got a nice dough. Happy days. Just going to wash my hands.
Because it's a plain flour, it's not going to be too tight. So, it means we can roll this out really quickly. You can see it's nice and easy. Doesn't matter if this goes wonky. What we do want to do is get it about the thickness of a beer mat, right? So, about 2 mm.
Please don't stress about little tears. Look, I just tore that there. What you can do is just put it back on itself and we roll it out again. You'll never know. So, there you go. Rolled out. No stress.
Take a little last bit of flour for dusting. Right. And just rub it over like this. We're just going to roll it up.
Any old how. Roll it up. Make sure you got that flour so it doesn't stick. And we are going to make fat noodles. So, I'm going to go about 2 cm. Get your hands and just pull them apart. Look at that. Look at that. Come on. So, there you go. You wait till you try that. You're going to absolutely love it. So, if you look in the pan, can you see how the bit of leftover pork mince has gone golden? I'm going to turn that up a little bit now. Let's get it sizzling. And we'll go in with the last bit of the ginger and the garlic.
So, we've got this pot on full whack. I've salted this water. Broccoli is our chosen veggie. Just going to take the tip of the knife and just chunk off the florets. And with the stalk, there's nothing wrong with this, right? It is delicious. So, little thin slices. And then last but not least, we're going to take a red onion, half it, finely chop it. And I'm going to use the chopped onion in two ways. In with the pork now as the garlic and ginger gets going. That will give sweetness. And then this little pile here, all it needs for a little transformation is a little salt and vinegar. It's like the quickest little pickle, the little kind of sprinkle at the end for some color and some crunch. So, we'll put the broccoli in. Now, lid goes on. Saves energy as well. Good little tip. So, let the water just come back to a boil. I don't want to overcook the broccoli. I want them to be full of life. Here is our special flavored oil. All those wonderful pungent perfumed flavors. And then going to grab the beautiful broccoli.
Drain it a bit. Look at the colors. And these noodles will cook in about three minutes. Lid back on top. Can you see how lovely and golden the pork is? Add just a tablespoon of honey. So that goes in. Always at the last minute. You don't want it to burn. The honey is going to give you that sweetness. Look at the shine that you got. So, one last flourish of fun. Right. I've got 30 g of dry roasted peanuts. Just bash them up. You don't have to do it, but it's in budget.
Let's do this. Hey, come on. So, look at that. It was worth it. In with the noodles. There's a rogue one. And then just toss it up. So good. Come on. Let's plate up.
Noodles galore. Really silky. Then with your crispy bits, just scatter them, peanuts, and last but not least, onion. That is a little celebration right there on a plate. Right. Let's get in there.
Oh yeah. Silky soft noodles. Little crunchy bits of the pork. That, my friend, is delicious. Promised you maximum flavor, minimum cost.
I want to give you a variation of beautiful things, colors, textures, excitement, and it's got me thinking differently about food. And I think that's really important. You know, the ability to take really humble ingredients and be creative with them and surprise people. My giant veggie puff roll is a brilliant way to turn a super humble veg into a proper centerpiece. Wrapped in golden ready-made puff pastry, we can make lunchtimes feel a bit fancy without busting the budget. Right now, it's hacks like these that can really make a difference. For me, when I was developing this, I was kind of looking at the lovely beef Wellington. I was looking at sausage rolls, but I wanted to do a veggie version because also great for your budget, right? So, carrots, I think, are a fantastic veg. I've got 600 g and I'm going to take one back for the salad later that I'm going to make to go with this dish. I'm just going to get three onions peeled. I'll half these and then slice them up.
Frankly, any old how, it doesn't matter. Now, when you're doing any kind of stuffed pastry dish like this, you know, it's all about the filling. It's getting really nice concentrated flavors. I'm just going to take a little bit of this onion and pop it to the side for later. Put a pan on the hob on a medium high heat. Go in with a couple of tablespoons of our oil and get these frying. You get two cloves of garlic sliced up. So, we want sweetness and we want to concentrate flavor.
Carrots love spice. So, we're going to work with that. And I'm going to use mixed spice. And in there is like cinnamon, cloves, you got ginger, nutmeg, coriander seeds. Now, this is about a pound a jar at the moment. I think investing in different flavor bombs like spices and paste and all those lovely things. You can do it bit by bit over the year, but of course I'm only using a heaped teaspoon here, but you could use that lovely mixed spice for all kinds of things. Marinades, dressings, beautiful like broths. Now, when it comes to the carrot, a couple of little things for flavor. I'm not actually going to peel it. There's a lot of flavor in the skin. Also, when buying the carrots, if you go for the out-of-size ones, you can see these are all different sizes. They are really good value. Now, I could use some knife skills here, but I actually like the flavor that you get from box grating, but don't grate your fingers. So, it will cook quicker. You'll get more concentration of flavor. It's kind of cutting, but also bruising the carrot. So, you're getting some of the juice. And the juice is natural sugars. Natural sugars is caramelization. Caramelization is really deep flavor. And it's not just about the flavor. You know, when you can cook the carrots or ingredients quicker, it's going to save you money on the energy. So, we like all of that.
Nice bit of seasoning. So, as they cook, I'm thinking about the next ingredient. I need to get some protein in this dish. So, things like beans are really good. Butter beans I'm using here. It could be cannellini beans, borlotti beans, kidney beans. We can basically sprinkle these into the dish. Let me just clear the way.
So you can see now after like five or 10 minutes the caramelized bits there. That's flavor. If you look at the beans as well, can you see how these have just popped and exploded? That's really going to improve the texture. Off with the heat. And I want to show you a little tip to cool down things very quickly. Sprinkle this onto a tray. Instead of taking half an hour to cool down, that will be a matter of minutes. Super easy. I have got two ingredients now. Puff pastry and feta cheese. I want to make this really delicious. And feta cheese, I think, is amazing. I'm going to use 100 g. I want some nice bigger chunks. It's going to be so tangy and salty and delicious. And then really break it up so it's delicate and small. Let's have a little play with this puff pastry. When I've been doing these recipes, it's always a balance of, you know, cost versus convenience. And for me, this is convenient. And people love puff pastry. It's delicious. And basically, this becomes the filling.
Put a bit of milk here just to stick it. I'm going to fold it over and pull this part very simply to the corner to make essentially your giant sausage roll. And just ease this onto a tray. Beautiful. And then I'm going to milkwash it. We can make it a little bit more fancy. Just use a fork to push in and pull out. Push in and pull out. The other thing I quite like to do is use the wrong side of the knife and just put very gentle little divots. And then we're going to go into the oven for 25 minutes. I like to put it on the bottom shelf so you get a nice crispy base. The oven set at 200° C, which is 400°F. Beautiful things will happen in there. Golden, crispy, gorgeous. So, I've got enough time to have a little clear down and then make a beautiful salad.
Look at that. [laughter] Yep, it's puffed up. That is a vegetable puff. Come on. Get that onto the board. And then we've got to do that little trick, you know, with the tablecloth when you pull it out and try and keep everything on.
Look at that. Bang on point. This salad crunchy and tangy vibes going on. Let's get in there. Let's have a little go.
Mmm. Oh my god. Massive flavor. Like it's deep, it's caramelized, it's spicy, it's fantastically savory. We've used puff pastry to elevate probably, you know, the most taken-for-granted vegetable that we have, the carrot. Right now, we might be cooking on a budget, but this is delicious food. So, what you waiting for? Yum.
This series is not just me in the kitchen. I've asked some of my mates to share some of their own low-cost creations. Karan Gakani is a fantastic restaurateur with a passion for Sri Lankan cuisine.
