A well-stocked vegetable basket is the start of half a dozen good dinners. Potatoes, onions, tomatoes and a few green chillies go further than most people expect, and none of the recipes below need more than thirty minutes on the stove.
Start simple: a dry potato-and-onion bhaji with mustard seeds and turmeric, cooked until the edges catch a little colour. Pair it with dal and rice for a meal that costs next to nothing but never feels thin.
For something heartier, roast cauliflower and carrots with a spoon of mustard oil and a pinch of panch phoron, then finish with coriander. It works as a side or, piled onto flatbread, as a meal on its own.
Keep a jar of ginger-garlic paste in the fridge and every one of these comes together faster the second time — the real trick to weeknight cooking is preparation, not skill.
