To find cooking really complicated and stressful?

[Abbinob]

When people are taking about simple recipes and they say things like 'then just chuck in some spices'
Wait what spices? How much? How do people know what spices people are talking about? Am I thick and this is some instinctive knowledge people have?
Whenever I look at a recipe for something it seems to have a million ingredients and I get a bit panicky and I give up
I'm sure when my mum made a curry it was just simple like tomatoes, chicken, yoghurt curry powder. But when I try to find a curry recipe it's all coconut milk and a thousand spices I've never heard of.
I want to cook nice fod for DS but all I can cook is bolognaise, pasta bake and shepherds pie

Thai basil (sometimes known as Holy Basil) is a different plant to the European basil you'd get in French or Italian cooking. It tastes sort of spicier and has tougher leaves and the two are not really interchangeable.

they taste different, but they are interchangeable (thai basil does taste "basilly").

Re: salt. If you mostly cook from scratch, salt is not going to be a problem. People get too much salt not because they over salt their nice homemade food, but because they eat too much processed food.

I'd bet 99% would add salt to a boiled egg. What kind of weirdo eats an unsalted egg?!?
Salt makes food taste better. Ask a chef whether they use salt, and the answer is yes, in and on everything.

And if people want to add curry powder to their fish pie, or mustard in the cheese sauce, have at it! Learn the classics first, and then make what you like, add what you want.

OK redstrawberry I know what both taste like but should have added "in my opinion they are not interchangeable".

You need to start with basic recipes and stay there, if your me i recommend Jamie Oliver ministry of food.

Get the MN top bananas cookbook!

It's ace - and very short ingredients lists

we use little or no salt when cooking. it is NOT compulsory. Chefs in my opinion use far too much on tv.

Also when I eat out I notice I am always very thirsty later in the night as restaurants obviously use a lot of salt (too much for me).

You don't need to use much salt - but a bit really does bring out the flavour of some foods. Eggs - for example.

I don't put salt in water when cooking veg - actually usually steam or roast veg...but will put a bit in when cooking potatoes to roast - they taste nicer.

Salt in pasta water - pretty essential for me otherwise it doesn't taste right.

Right, I'll stop derailing the thread now!

I'd bet 99% would add salt to a boiled egg. What kind of weirdo eats an unsalted egg?!?

I don't know anyone who puts salt on an egg so you can stop with your made up statistics. What you prefer has no relevance to anyone else.

I don't put salt on anything as it's healthier and I don't need salt on my food to enjoy it. Plus my small DC really don't need it.

But if you want to raise your BP and increase your risks of heart disease and stroke, go right ahead.

Jibberjabberjoo it's great that you are into low-sodium cooking but I think you're standing alone here. Well, you can stand with brassbrass.

No one wants to eat salt-free curry or bolognese.

My top tip would be think about the whole meal you want to put on the table. Work out how long each bit is going to take and what order you should do things. Try to avoid having too many things needing attention all at the same time. Stews are great for this because you get them cooking a long time before you eat them. Soups are good too.

you are generalising again Apple just accept that people have different preferences. I suspect you find it difficult to taste your food without salt as you are so used to it.

'Bleurgh' to unseasoned food. I don't add salt to ready made foods but when cooking from scratch it's essential.

Agree salt is essential. And pretty much everyone puts salt on a boiled egg.

you are generalising again Apple just accept that people have different preferences. I suspect you find it difficult to taste your food without salt as you are so used to it.

OK.

Agree salt is essential. And pretty much everyone puts salt on a boiled egg.
Yep.

lol so that's two people which in your mind equates to Everyone.

I repeat it's a preference and NOT compulsory no need to be so argumentative about it.

I don't put salt on boiled eggs.

GOod advice here if you want to learn to cook. But if you're not that fussed, there are plenty of ready-meal options around - if you are on a budget, go to the supermarket at the end of the day when they quite often mark down the poncy 'bistro' ranges to half price or less. You can just bung these in the oven for a set time and no pans to wash up, either.

(Yeah yeah, waah, waah, waah, it's IMMORAL not to COOK FROM SCRATCH. Do fuck off. Not everyone likes cooking and having people nag and fuss at you as you struggle to do something that is both boring and fiddly is never going to make you feel good.)

Not everyone likes cooking, no. But leaving aside the fact that eating ready meals is not cheap, even when marked down, they are often not that healthy either - lots of salt, lots of sugar, cheap meat, overcooked veg, cheapest type of fat/oil, low in fibre. Not very good environmentally either.

Re the salt debate - I don't add it to everything I cook but I do to boiled eggs. However, my husband doesn't. Based on the testy exchanges on this thread, should I LTB?

I'm tempted to start a TAAT - AIBU to put salt on my boiled eggs?

I don't add salt to anything including boiled eggs. Salt certainly isn't obligatory, that's a really bizarre view. Add it if you want don't add it who cares, why does everything on mn have to be made into an issue?

Eggs always need salt. Be they boiled, poached, scrambled....

A foolproof curry recipe I have is for chicken tikka masala. Take a tin of Heinz Tomato soup, reduce it down and add curry powder to taste (mild), tumeric, onions and chicken and voila. It honestly doesn't taste of tomato soup and has the right neon colour and consistency. Another tip is buy some corn starch (flour) to thicken sauces.

The only other recipe I improvise is for sweet and sour which is basically vinegar, brown sugar and a tin of pineapples (use juice for sweet was) and a tin of tomatoes and it does taste like sweet and sour sauce.

hostin I've been told that Heinz tomato soup is a secret ingredient used by a lot of Indian takeaways.