The reason most people think Indian cooking is complicated isn't the technique — it's the ingredient lists. Restaurant recipes list 25 things. Your grandmother's version had five and tasted better.
These 20 dinners use 5 main ingredients each. Pantry constants — oil, salt, water — don't count. These are the 5 purposeful ingredients, nothing more. All serve a family of four.
Dal and Lentil Dishes
1. Classic Masoor Dal
Ingredients: Red lentils, onion, garlic, turmeric, cumin seeds
How: Simmer lentils with turmeric until completely soft (20 min). In a separate pan, fry cumin seeds and sliced onion in oil until golden, add crushed garlic for 2 minutes. Pour the tarka over the dal. Serve with roti or rice.
2. Chana with Tomato
Ingredients: Tinned chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, garlic, ginger, garam masala
How: Fry garlic and ginger paste, add tomatoes, cook 8 minutes until thick. Add drained chickpeas and garam masala. Simmer 10 minutes. Serve with roti.
3. Dal Tadka (Restaurant Style)
Ingredients: Yellow toor dal, tomato, garlic, dried red chillies, butter
How: Pressure-cook or simmer dal until completely soft. Make tarka: butter in a pan, add dried chillies and whole garlic cloves until garlic browns. Add diced tomato and cook down. Pour over dal.
4. Matar Paneer
Ingredients: Paneer, frozen peas, tinned tomatoes, onion, garam masala
How: Fry onion until golden. Add tomatoes, cook 10 minutes. Add peas and fried paneer cubes, garam masala. Simmer 5 minutes.
Chicken Dishes
5. Chicken Karahi
Ingredients: Chicken pieces, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, garam masala
How: Fry garlic and ginger, add rough-chopped tomatoes. Cook until oil separates (10 min). Add chicken, garam masala. Cover and cook 25–30 minutes. Done.
6. Cheat's Butter Chicken
Ingredients: Chicken thighs, tinned tomatoes, butter, double cream, garlic
How: Roast chicken at 200°C for 30 minutes. Blend tomatoes with roasted garlic, reduce with butter, stir in cream, add shredded chicken. Serve with basmati.
7. Chicken Saag
Ingredients: Chicken thighs, frozen spinach, onion, garlic, cumin
How: Fry onion until soft, add garlic and cumin. Add chicken thighs, brown on all sides. Add thawed spinach, cover and cook 25 minutes.
8. Aloo Gosht (Simplified)
Ingredients: Lamb pieces, potatoes, onion, tinned tomatoes, garam masala
How: Brown lamb with onion. Add tomatoes, cover, cook 30 minutes. Add potato chunks, cook another 20 minutes until tender.
9. Keema with Peas
Ingredients: Minced lamb or beef, frozen peas, onion, garlic, ginger
How: Fry onion, add garlic and ginger. Add mince, brown well. Add peas and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Cover and cook 15 minutes.
Vegetable Dishes
10. Aloo Jeera (Cumin Potatoes)
Ingredients: Potatoes, cumin seeds, garlic, dried chilli, fresh coriander
How: Boil potatoes until tender. Fry cumin seeds and dried chilli in oil until seeds pop. Add potato chunks, garlic, toss until coated. Finish with coriander.
11. Bhindi Masala (Okra)
Ingredients: Okra, onion, tomato, garlic, garam masala
How: Fry onion and garlic, add sliced tomato, cook until soft. Add sliced okra (dry, to prevent sliminess), cook uncovered on medium-high until crisp-tender.
12. Palak Aloo
Ingredients: Spinach, potatoes, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds
How: Fry cumin seeds, add garlic and ginger. Add boiled potato chunks, then add spinach and let it wilt. Season with salt. Simple and filling.
13. Cabbage Sabzi
Ingredients: Cabbage, mustard seeds, dried red chilli, curry leaves, turmeric
How: Fry mustard seeds until they pop, add curry leaves and chilli. Shred cabbage, add turmeric and stir-fry on high heat for 8 minutes. Ready.
14. Baingan Bharta (Smoky Aubergine)
Ingredients: Aubergine, tomato, garlic, onion, cumin
How: Char aubergine directly over a gas flame or under the grill. Peel, mash flesh. Fry onion and garlic, add tomato, cook down, mix in aubergine. Cumin on top.
Rice Dishes
15. Egg Fried Rice (Desi Style)
Ingredients: Cooked basmati rice, eggs, soy sauce, spring onion, cumin seeds
How: Fry cumin seeds, add cold rice, stir-fry on high heat. Push to sides, scramble eggs in centre. Combine, add soy sauce. Top with spring onion.
16. Khichdi
Ingredients: Basmati rice, yellow split lentils (moong dal), turmeric, cumin seeds, butter
How: Rinse rice and lentils together, cook with double the water and turmeric until completely soft (30 min). Fry cumin seeds in butter, pour over khichdi. Comfort food.
17. Tomato Rice
Ingredients: Basmati rice, tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, mustard seeds
How: Fry mustard seeds and onion, add garlic and tomatoes. Add washed rice, cook with 1.5x water until absorbed. A South Indian weeknight staple.
Quick Weeknight Specials
18. Prawn Masala
Ingredients: Prawns, tinned tomatoes, garlic, ginger, garam masala
How: Fry garlic and ginger, add tomatoes, cook 8 minutes. Add prawns and garam masala, cook 3–4 minutes until prawns are pink. Done.
19. Egg Curry
Ingredients: Boiled eggs, tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, garam masala
How: Fry onion until golden, add garlic, add tomatoes, cook 10 minutes. Halve eggs and add gently. Simmer 5 minutes. Serve with roti.
20. Tarka Sabzi with Any Vegetable
Ingredients: Any vegetable you have, cumin seeds, garlic, dried chilli, turmeric
How: The universal formula — heat oil, add cumin seeds until popping, add garlic and chilli, add your vegetable of choice, turmeric, salt. Cook until tender. Works with courgette, green beans, cauliflower, carrots.
The Real Problem With "What's For Dinner"
These recipes work when you have the right five ingredients. The harder problem is knowing which five-ingredient combination suits what you already have in your fridge this Tuesday evening.
FridgeFirst solves exactly this: you add what's in your fridge and pantry, and it suggests the recipes you can actually make right now — including South Asian dinners like these. No extra shopping, no food waste, no "what should I cook tonight" paralysis.