Chantal Braganza

With the right tools and a little technique, many simple recipes can become one-bowlers.

Welcome to Cooking On The Cheap, a series of editor-approved recipes that deliver big taste on a small budget.

Of all the kitchen gear I test in a year (and I test a lot), a rice cooker is one of the few things I’d never live without.

From a spicy salad to a fresh spring soup, these versatile staples are the unsung heroes of your kitchen cupboard.

It’s the vegetable crisper’s time to shine.

Welcome to Cooking On The Cheap, a series of editor-approved recipes that deliver big taste on a small budget.

I love making breakfast for dinner, and whipping up çilbir, a Turkish dish typically made with cool garlicky yogurt and silky soft-poached eggs, is a quick and nourishing way to do it. To speed up the process even more, I make soft-boiled eggs in advance. I also add dill and parsley for a grassy, lemony zip to cut through the butter and yolks.

A popular salsa that, in my opinion, also qualifies as a salad, pico de gallo hits every note I want in a fresh and savoury dish: salty, sour, a little bit sweet and as spicy as you’d like it to be. Adding corn and beans ups the vegetable and protein content and turns it into something resembling a meal. Now I can feel good about eating salsa all day—and you can too.

This fiery stew is one of those beloved comfort foods that’s named after the ingredient itself: rajma means red kidney beans in both Hindi and Punjabi. While it’s possible—and quicker—to use canned beans (see tip for instructions on this), it’s worth the prep time to experience just how creamy kidney beans taste when cooked from dried.

Welcome spring with this Sardinian greens-loaded soup that comes together quickly with canned beans, but packs a special punch when you use dried: the cooking liquid’s starches add body to the broth.

A rice cooker makes this trout-and-roe dish a one-step lunch that comes together in just over 20 minutes. I love making this as a treat for myself when I'm working from home.

This quick, one-pot riff off soondubu—a Korean tofu stew—is made simple with a rice cooker. I make it often for a WFH lunch, and sometimes eat it straight out of the bowl.