Suggest me a easy side dish I can make at home to bilk out a takeaway

[DyslexicPoster]

So takeaway is getting prohibitively expensive even once a month or less for the six of us.

Sometimes we cook sausages and then get chips and currey sauce from the chip shop for fish and chips.

Is there anything like this for Chinese? Home made Chinese is never like the takeaway version. It must be the msg. Sometimes do plain rice but don't fancy that

https://www.yeungschinesefoods.co.uk/products/chinese-curry-mix/

This is the best (and original) curry sauce mix ever and cheap. Add onions and peas if you want and with chips and rice just like the chip shop.

Oh wow from Coatbridge where a lot of my family are originally from👍.

Coatbridge seems to be the seasoning capital is Scotland 😄
https://www.tongmasterseasonings.com/

That's not a great link but they do loads of seasonings for chicken etc

Never knew that!

I know exactly what you mean OP, I can make a lovely stir fry, curry, korma etc. but it never tastes the same as the takeaway version! I know that it's healthier but on a weekend night it's the taste we really want! I'm wondering (honestly) if we could find MSG somewhere to add to the ingredients??

Chicken Satay or noodles with veg then order a bunch of sides from Chinese?

MSG is available from your local Asian shop

Kerala Chinese salt & chilli pepper seasoning is available from B&M

I hear you..... Egg Fried rice cost me nearly £20 for a family of four (will make it at home next time)

WTF egg fried rice is my go to brunch, probably eat it three or more times a week. So cheap and tasty, you can keep it quite plain or load up with leftover bits from the fridge.

Mayflower curry sauce is great. It tastes very similar to a take away and it’s really easy to do. You can get it in B&M. Cheap too.

Shop bought spring rolls / prawn crackers and noodles with soy sauce??

I always bulk out takeaways with extra veg. Usually steamed broccoli as it absorbs all the sauce nicely and dilutes the saltiness down. If it's a curry, then I make my own rice and a salad (cucumber, tomato, red onion/coriander) to go along with it.
Tinned mushy peas are good with fish and chips takeaway and cheaper. You can buy Chinese curry sauce stock cubes which are cheaper.

If I'm having take away I don't want to cook. I'd rather do a complete 'takeaway'.

Have a look at Taming Twins recipes for beef and broccoli, Chinese chicken curry, chicken chow mein. All great and done in the slow cooker so no effort.

I second Ziangs

I make their Chicken Chow Mein, tastes just like the takeaway I bought a big box of Lucky Boat Noodles and overall the dish is pretty cheap to make. I usually have it with Chinese curry sauce mix you get from the supermarket and sometimes Iceland's Harry Ramsdens chips.

I buy packs of dried noodles from Lidl, as they are the closest to the ones you get at Chinese takeaways. I cook them according to the instructions on the packet while stir frying sliced onions & peppers & whatever green veg I have. Then chuck the drained noodles into the pan / wok with a bit of sesame oil & some soy sauce. Fry everything together for a minute to coat the noodles then serve. Takes 10 mins max.

I always stick frozen mini spring rolls in the oven as they are like a pound a pack from iceland.
Agree mayflower curry sauce is just like Chinese. A friend told me to quickly sear sliced chicken then pour over boiling water to almost poach it, gives the chicken the same texture as our local Chinese
I often make the curry with my own egg fried rice and salt n pepper chips. (Use micro rice)
It's the noodles I can't get right

You definitely get it in Tesco in the world food aisle but Asda doesn't sell it. You also get it in B and M and possibly home bargains.

It really is identical to takeaway curry sauce, I make up a small pot for DD using about 20p worth of mixture when we have a takeaway instead of spending a couple of quid on the sauce.

Mayflower brand is also available which is pretty much identical.

"You definitely get it in Tesco in the world food aisle but Asda doesn't sell it."

Yes they do. It's £2.75. And delicious, but my kids love the bisto curry sauce granules just as much

I've found that the frozen Chinese dishes available in Farm Foods are the nearest to actual takeaway. Can't remember the maker though.
I often use the Tesco stir fry meal deal and plump it up with the Chinese snack assortment from the chilled aisle (prawn toast, mini pancake rolls) and some prawn crackers.

Yes you can get curry sauce in Tesco. It's in a plastic pot in world foods, you pop some in a saucepan with hot water and heat it up. Very tasty.

Nothing is the same as a takeaway, if I have to bulk it out or add things to it then I'd rather not bother ordering one. The best thing about getting a takeaway is ordering / answering the door / eating - job done 👍

Shop bought prawn crackers, spring rolls etc are affordable and delicious.

If you want to make stuff but keep it simple and economic for 6:

Waitrose sell the Chinese pancakes for £1.25 for a pack of 10 I think I would get a couple of packets of those (you can freeze any that aren’t used) stir some cooked chicken, pork (pork mince cooked with five spice is really lovely) with hoi sin sauce (you could just use a couple of stir fry sachets at about 60p) and add chopped cucumber and spring onion. Everyone can roll their own ‘not quite duck’ pancakes. Or skip the pancakes and use large lettuce leaves instead.

Egg foo yung is lovey and because it’s full of protein very filling https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/egg-foo-yung/amp

Roasted sesame broccoli - cut broccoli into florets (keep as much of the stem as you can) toss in sesame oil and a touch of dark soy sauce and bake in a high oven for around 20 minutes. Two minutes before the cooking time is up scatter sesame seeds over. You can adapt this recipe with garlic, five spice, chilli etc but the basic one is good as it is!

Not Chinese but Asian inspired dishes we like are:

Nigellas peanut sesame noodles are delicious and can be made ahead. They make a lovely lunch too. https://www.nigella.com/recipes/sesame-peanut-noodles

Cheats Chicken Katsu - buy breaded chicken steaks and a pack of the curry sauce mentioned by @SweetLathyrus upthread. Cook the chicken steaks for 20 minutes in the oven and make up the curry sauce. Slice the chicken on the diagonal - this is crucial as cutting it straight never tastes as good 😂

Mince Lettuce cups are lovely https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pork-chilli-lettuce-cups

Yuk sung is easy to make. I do batches and freeze it, so can microwave it when we have a takeaway, and serve it in lettuce leaves.

Beef with ginger and spring onion is ridiculously easy to make. When I occasionally do roast beef, I slice the leftovers really thinly, and make up a batch of the sauce, then freeze it in portions.

Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce is your friend for both of these.

I cook plain and fried rice to go with our meals.

Sometimes I’ll do a cheat’s chicken satay using green Thai curry paste and peanut butter.

For Chinese: Egg fried rice. Mug of rice, toasted for a minute or two in a sauce pan, add some oil - sesame if you have it, boiling water, soy sauce. When it's almost cooked break two eggs into it and scramble them into the rice. add chopped spring onions on top and more soy.

With curry, I fry onion, cook rice with turmeric and cumin, add peas and the cooked onion. Buy ready meal curries from the supermarket. Way cheaper than take out and just as nice.