Pantry Recipes from around the World
Or storecupboard recipes or kitchen cupboard recipes. Whatever they are called, these recipes can be made with ingredients that you will usually find at home.
Think dried foods like rice, pasta, noodles, pulses, coconut milk, marinated vegetables, canned fish, eggs, flour and so on.
Let’s not forget those everyday items in your fridge and freezer, those count too. Here, think about vegetables that you cook with all the time and always have at hand, like carrots, broccoli, cucumber. Frozen peas? I always have those in the freezer!Then there’s cheese, milk and cream, maybe?
How about fresh meat? If you always have some in your fridge or freezer, whether it’s chicken, beef, lamb, pork or seafood, well, that would be considered your pantry staple!
Other Pantry Staples
Naturally, we include all manner of oils, seasonings, dried herbs (or fresh if you grow them) and spices in our kitchen essentials. Because mine is a very multicultural kitchen, my pantry staples includes must have ingredients from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
On that note, you’ll find a collection of recipes from around the world that can be made with everyday ingredients. Naturally, whether they are pantry staples, will depend on which part of the world you are in and your tastes! But I promise you, there’s something for everyone!
Feel free to substitute any of the ingredients as you see fit, depending on where you are, and what you can get your hands on. Vegetable for vegetable, meat for meat, even if that’s fresh for canned or in a jar.
When it comes to pantry recipes, you adapt!
For eg, in the Red Chilli Pesto Risotto recipe, I use homemade chilli pesto. Go ahead and buy a jar of chilli pesto and make the risotto. Keep the open jar in the fridge and make an omelette with it for lunch later in the week.
In the Shashuka recipe, I place a burrata in the middle of the pot, because we like it classy! Replace the burrata with any cheese you fancy or leave out the cheese altogether.
See an ingredient you can’t get? Substitute it with the next best thing. Or use an alternative. When it comes to “exotic” ingredients, I always suggest substitutions or alternatives where possible.
Happy cooking! xx
Update, March 2020
The world is facing a challenge unlike anything it’s seen in recent times.
I hope that you will find the recipes below helpful, as they utilise easy to find, everyday ingredients. From the dozen emails I’ve received in the last week, it’s obvious that more such recipes are needed. So bookmark this page, as I shall focus on adding more pantry recipes to this collection in the coming days.
As usual, if you need anything, drop me a line!
Stay safe and #stayathome
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