5 quick meals if you want to keep things (relatively) simple
Samuel of The Organic Guys lists your new go-to dishes
How have your cooking and eating habits changed this year?
I’m sure it’s never been the same. But maybe the question should also be: Which habits were you able to maintain?
If you ask Samuel, the co-founder of The Organic Guys in Singapore, the answer would be… none.
“We have been staying at home almost 99 per cent of the time,” he admits. “We used to travel three times a year, and go out to cafés and restaurants for dinner once or twice a week. But these have stopped since the pandemic.
“We now enjoy a slower pace.”
In the kitchen too
Did you also find yourself simplifying your meals or jazzing them up like never before? Since most of us are at home, there are opportunities to do either or both.
Doing the latter feels new and makes things lively. But sometimes (or oftentimes), we may choose to go back to what’s familiar.
“We don’t really do fancy dishes, as we believe that we should let the main ingredient shine if we are using good, quality ingredients,” Samuel agrees. Especially if you can depend on an online shop like The Organic Guys, which sells certified organic fruits and vegetables, premium wild-caught seafood, grass-fed meat, and other wholesome products that are carefully sourced from partner suppliers in Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. These are non-GMO, free of antibiotics and chemicals, and delivered fresh (they don’t overstock) too.
Besides, reaching for our favourites – and the tried-and-tested – is easier. And because a good plate doesn’t have to be complicated.
In fact, Samuel says you mainly need “garlic, butter, pepper and salt to enhance the flavour of the dish”.
So add these to your repertoire
Using the above formula (quality main ingredient + simple seasonings = great dish) as our new “habit” may work well for us in the long run, as it has for Samuel.
These are the five meals that he often relied on, and prepared and cooked, this year – if you need ideas. Feel free to substitute his meat and seafood choices with your own, and according to your budget.
#1 Pan-fried New Zealand salmon
Season it “simply with salt”, he suggests. “New Zealand salmon is so oily, you don’t need oil!”
#2 Pan-fried wild-caught hake from New Zealand
Have it “simply with salt, butter and a squeeze of lemon”, he adds. “This soft flaky fish takes on any seasoning very well.”
#3 Glacier 51 Toothfish
“This ultra-premium oily fish is best seasoned simply with salt, and oven-baked or air-fried till the skin is as crispy as pork crackling!”
#4 Clearwater scallops
“Pan-fry till gold brown and a crust forms, and serve with butter sauce.”
#5 Cape Grim beef
“Also (have it) simply pan-fried with herbs like thyme and rosemary.”
One more thing
Aside from cooking and eating habits, we can start sustainable ones too. (It could be a good move for the new year.)
“We opt for plastic-free most of the time when doing groceries. And even when we do takeaways, we always bring our own containers,” Samuel points out.
But then, “Going healthy and sustainable is an ongoing project. It’s important to be kind to ourselves so that we don’t get burnt out trying to be healthy and sustainable.
“It’s important to take a break too, once in a while,” he adds.
Spending a bit of time in the kitchen, and eating as well as possible – if we’re lucky – might qualify.
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P.S. Just a thought: Since we're talking about food, reusable jars filled with your loved ones’ favourite ingredients, spices or pastes would make wonderful gifts, don’t you think?
