When it comes to the flavours of Israel, perhaps nothing feels more like a taste of home than an overflowing shawarma, bursting with salad, hummus, tahina and pickles, and you can recreate this dish in your very own kitchen.
Kosher meat can be pricey, but butchering your own chicken is one of the most-effective ways of shaving costs. It’s worth starting with a large, good quality chicken, separating the meat into its components, and, with a little creativity, one can feed a family of four for 4 meals. Part of our budget chicken recipe series, this recipe uses one large chicken breast, and is bulked out with frozen vegetables and protein-rich chickpeas to stretch the meat further. The chicken curry is accompanied by pilau rice and saag aloo gobi, so you can have an excellent fake-away that will leave everyone satisfied, without breaking the bank! For a vegetarian alternative, follow these steps but skip the chicken, or add chunks of tofu, mushrooms or aubergine!
Kosher meat can sometimes seem prohibitively expensive, but butchering your own chicken is one of the most effective ways of shaving the cost of your meat bill. Part of our budget chicken recipe series, this recipe uses the drumsticks, legs and thighs to create a cost-effective family meal for 4. You may wish to supplement a little extra chicken to feed 4 adults or older children, but with the beans, there really is plenty of filling protein on the plate already. With a few herbs and spices you can elevate a simple chips and beans meal into something fantastic and fun! The best part – this meal (at the time of publishing) costs less than £2.50 per portion, so you can feed a family of 4 for under a tenner!
Seemingly exotic larder ingredients like miso paste and soy sauce may seem, on the surface, like an expensive option, but in reality, they last for ages and can be used to add big punches of flavour to dishes like this budget-friendly chicken miso ramen. Made from fermented soybeans, slightly tangy and deeply umami notes can be added to a broth with the addition of just one spoonful of this delicious Japanese seasoning, and a jar of miso will keep refrigerated for several months once opened. An excellent way to spin out leftovers into something new and exciting, this recipe is as cost effective as it is delicious.
A budget-friendly version of our Classic Chicken Soup, this recipe uses a chicken carcass as its base. We do not recommend trying this with one from the butcher, as they tend to strip the carcass very clean, but rather, if you are butchering your own chicken, you can leave a little extra meat on the bones, to stretch the chicken that bit further. Not all chickens imbue the same amount of flavour, and if the carcass does not have much meat left on it, you may wish to add a stock cube at the end to give an extra punch of flavour. This recipe will work better still if you can use two carcasses.
Taking the flavours and ingredients from charoset recipes from around the globe, we’ve spun what might be leftover ingredients into a showstopping main course. This dish looks fussy, but we promise it’s simple and easy to prepare and is absolutely bursting with flavour.
Mejadra (or Mujadarra) is a dish eaten widely all over the Levant, and commonly seen at Sukkot because of its seasonality, its “jewelled” nature, and for the simple practical reason that it could be easily transported in a single pot from the kitchen to the Sukkah! Fragrant spiced rice with lentils and onions, its symbolism can be elevated still futher by stuffing the mejadra inside sweet peppers. To complete this show-stopping one-pot dish, we pack our stuffed peppers around a whole chicken rubbed with an aromatic baharat spice mix, allowing the delicious spiced juices to infuse the peppers and rice with layers of flavour as they cook.
There is a long-standing tradition of adding fruit to savoury dishes at Rosh Hashanah, with dishes such as Apricot Chicken and Tzimmes (carrots with dried fruits) being particularly popular choices in many Ashkenazi homes. Apples, pomegranates and dates are also common additions to Rosh Hashanah fare due to their status as Simanim. A delightfully interactive and rather less traditional approach to bringing stuffed foods to your table this year, we have created a spin on Chinese duck pancakes with a sweet, sticky and tangy marmalade chicken filling.
Sometimes the best lunchbox ideas come from a fridge raid. Utilising leftovers is not only budget-friendly, it also saves on time and effort – ideal if you’re a busy individual prepping lunches for yourself and others.
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