Elliott, one of our students here at Chester, has shared some quick, cheap and easy student meals that you can try yourself.
Ramen
For this you’ll need noodles, chicken stock cubes (three), garlic (six cloves), ginger (one root), soy sauce, chicken (two to three thighs), Chinese five spice, salt, pepper & spring onions. You can also include an egg to garnish too - this dipped in the broth makes it next level.
The first thing you’ll want to do is mince the garlic (finely chop) and thinly cut the ginger into cubes 25mm×25mm, then slice the spring onions up into little cylinders. The chicken should be cut into bite sized chunks and seasoned with salt, pepper and the five spice. Leave for five to ten minutes in the fridge, then fry until cooked through. Put some oil in a pot and throw in the garlic and ginger, fry for 20 seconds and add in a quarter of a small bottle of soy sauce to the pot and leave for two minutes.
Throw in the chicken stock with 1200ml of water, leave for another three minutes and then add the noodles, let them soak up the stock until you add the pre-fried chicken and cook for another five minutes, add the spring onions and then serve with the boiled egg. This should warrant two hefty servings so whack some in the freezer for another day.
Pizza
You will need to do this one in two steps; make the dough then add the toppings. You will need - 500g of flour, some salt, some ready use yeast, 350ml of warm water, 50ml of warm milk and some olive oil. Put the flour in a mixing bowl with two teaspoons of salt, then add the milk and one teaspoon of oil and give it all a mix. Add one teaspoon of yeast into the water and mix until the water is cloudy, then pour this into the flour mixture and mix about until it is all incorporated.
Following on from this, flour down a side and knead the dough until smooth and not sticky, place back into the bowl covered in flour and place a warm, slightly damp tea towel over it for two hours. After two hours, take out the bowl and knead it again, return it to the bowl under the same conditions as before, this will be for 30 minutes.
Now the dough is ready, roll it out and shape it, then throw it into the oven for seven minutes at 200⁰C. You can now add whatever toppings you want – I would suggest tomato passata, cheddar and mozzarella – then cook for another 15 - 20 minutes.
Gnocchi
The first thing you’ll need to do is assemble the ingredients - potatoes, flour, salt, pepper, mixed herbs and some water too, that’s it!
Firstly, you want to cut up four or five medium potatoes, peel them and then boil for around 15 minutes until they’re completely soft. Mash these now cooked potatoes and add them to a bowl. Add some salt, pepper, and mixed herbs alongside enough flour to cover them. Using a wooden spoon combine the two and add flour until the mixture resembles a fluffy dough.
Cut off lines of this dough and roll this into a cylinder the same thickness as your index finger, cut this into bitesize pasta gnocchi and this is ready to be put straight into boiling water. You know it's cooked when these little fluffy pillows float to the top of this salty water you have boiled. This goes well with a pesto sauce made from a jar of pesto and pasta water, alongside some grated parmesan.
Chicken skewer kebab with pitta and a homemade tzatziki
For this meal you’ll need: flour, water, pepper, salt, your own blend of spices (for the chicken), three chicken thighs, natural yoghurt, cucumber, parsley and salad. Start by cutting up the chicken into bitesize pieces and then spice them up with your blend of spices and let that marinate. Then slap your flour and water in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper, mix this up into a dough and roll it out into thin circles with a rolling pin and slip these in a pan and begin to dry fry them to get those little brown bubbles.
The next step is to put the chicken on the skewers, leave about 5cm space between each one and then pop them in the oven at 175°C for about 15 minutes. The final step is to make the tzatziki. Grate some cucumber, chop the parsley, and slap it in a bowl of natural yoghurt - that’s your lot!
