Budget Family Meals Built on Daal, Eggs and Seasonal Vegetables

Daal, eggs and whatever vegetables are in season at the sabzi mandi can cover most of a week's dinners. Each one costs little, cooks quickly and changes character completely depending on how you season it. The trick is not more recipes. It is a few flexible habits.

Stock the small things that make cheap food taste good

Daal and eggs are plain until you add flavour. Keep these on hand and even the simplest dinner feels like a proper meal:

• Onions, garlic and ginger, which go into nearly everything
• Tomatoes, fresh in season or a tin of chopped ones when they are expensive
• Cumin seeds, red chilli, turmeric, coriander powder and garam masala
• Green chillies and fresh coriander
• Ghee or oil for the tarka, the final sizzle of spices that lifts a pot of daal

A good tarka costs a spoonful of ghee and a couple of minutes. It is the difference between daal people eat politely and daal they ask for again.

Choose your daal by the clock

Different daals suit different evenings.

• Masoor (red lentils) cook fast with no soaking, so they are ideal on a busy night. Try Masoor Daal with Tarka with rice or roti.
• Mash (split black gram) is thicker and richer. Mash ki Daal with a ginger and garlic ghee tarka is good for a weekend or when you have a little more time.
• Chana and moong daal work well when you want something hearty. Soak them in the morning and dinner is half done by evening.

Seven dinners from three staples

Use this as a rough guide and swap freely.

1. Masoor daal, rice and a quick kachumber. Slice onion, tomato and cucumber, then add salt, lemon and green chilli. It takes five minutes.
2. Masala omelette with paratha or roti. Fold chopped onion, tomato, green chilli and coriander into eggs. Our Masala Omelette is a good template, and one egg per person can stretch with extra onion and tomato.
3. Aloo gobi or aloo matar with plain daal. Potatoes bulk out any vegetable dish, and a simple daal on the side rounds it out.
4. Shakshuka for dinner. Eggs poached in spiced tomato sauce need one pan and bread for scooping. See our Shakshuka, and add a green chilli or extra cumin if your family likes heat.
5. Mash ki daal with tandoori roti and salad. Save the richer daal for midweek when everyone needs something more satisfying.
6. Egg curry (anda curry) with rice. Boil the eggs, then simmer them in an onion-tomato masala. Boiled eggs go a long way in a gravy with potatoes.
7. Vegetable khichdi. Rice, moong or masoor daal and chopped vegetables cooked together in one pot, served with yoghurt or achar.

Buy vegetables by season

Seasonal vegetables are usually the best value and taste better too. A rough guide for Pakistan:

• Winter: cauliflower, carrots, peas, spinach, turnips, radish, methi, cabbage
• Summer: tori, lauki, tinda, bhindi, karela, cucumber, tomatoes
• All year: onions, potatoes, garlic, ginger

Use that list to shape the week. In winter, stir a bunch of chopped palak into masoor daal for the last few minutes. In summer, tori or lauki can be cooked with daal (a familiar combination) so the vegetable does half the work of filling the plate.

Turn leftovers into a second meal

Cooking once and eating twice saves both money and gas.

• Leftover daal: Thin it into a soup with a squeeze of lemon. You can also knead it into atta for daal-stuffed parathas.
• Leftover rice: Fry it with onion, a beaten egg and whatever vegetables remain for a quick egg fried rice.
• Leftover sabzi: Roll it into a roti with a little chutney for a next-day lunch.
• Odds and ends of cabbage, carrot and capsicum: Shred and cook them briefly, then wrap them for Vegetable Spring Rolls. They are a good way to use small amounts of several vegetables, and they suit an iftar table or a weekend snack.

When you want something different

Cheap meals can still feel special. If the vegetable drawer is full and the family wants a change from desi flavours, our Thai Green Vegetable Curry takes almost any combination of seasonal vegetables. Cauliflower, carrots, beans and potatoes all work. Serve it over rice, and it becomes a one-pot dinner that feels a long way from an ordinary Tuesday.

Small habits that keep the budget steady

• Plan three dinners, not seven. Leave gaps for leftovers and for changes at the market.
• Soak daal in the morning. It cooks faster and uses less gas.
• Use a pressure cooker for chana, mash and whole daals.
• Stretch eggs. Add potato to an omelette or boiled eggs to a curry so one egg per person is enough.
• Finish with freshness. Coriander, lemon, sliced green chilli or a spoonful of yoghurt make a plain plate look and taste complete.
• Do not skip the tarka. It is the cheapest upgrade you have.

Tonight's plan

If you want a starting point, put a cup of masoor daal on to boil with turmeric and salt. While it cooks, slice an onion and two tomatoes for a kachumber, and set aside some of the onion for tarka. Finish the daal with cumin and garlic in hot ghee. Boil rice or warm some roti, and you have dinner in about thirty minutes. Tomorrow, the leftover daal and a couple of eggs can become something new.