Things that you'd never thought were easy to make at home - Please share your recipes with me!

[Theicingontop]

I do apologise if this has been done to death!

Last night I made a curry, and I didn't have time to pop to the shop to get some naan bread. A quick google and I came across Anjum Anand's recipe for naan without yeast (I'd run out). It took minutes to prepare and was absolutely delicious. I've had a lightbulb moment and will never be buying naan again. I've had similar experiences with things like tortillas, yorkshire puddings, enchilada sauce etc.

So I'm asking; what have been your revelatory recipes? Things that you thought were too complicated to make at home on a weeknight, but turned out to be easier and better than the shop-bought version?

Whispers - how do you do your flat breads?

Rocky Road =

Melt 100g butter, 300g milk chocolate and a big splodge golden syrup in a pan
Stir in broken digestives, mini marshmallows and salted peanuts
Shove into a greased, loose-bottomed tin and put in the fridge to set.
The peanuts are the point but you can replace them with more marshmallows and biscuits, or with raisins, normal nuts, chopped dried apricots, whatever.

Thank you so much Remus.

Salted peanuts-inspired.

The easiest chocolate bars in the world:

Equal parts butter/marg, golden syrup, add cocoa, melt in microwave. Add a packet crushed digestives. Pour into tray, cool in fridge, then cut into bars.

You can add marshmallows, raisins, even Rice Krispies for texture.

You can buy frozen chapattis in Asda. About £1 for 10. They are fab. I cant stand pre-bought nan. It's far too doughy.
I make frying pan pizzas with them for the kids. Put one in the frying pan and cook it one side. Take it out and cook onother on one side. Raw side down, slop on pasta sauce, cover with grated cheese and ham etc. Cover with another wrap/chapatti (cooked side in)and cook until the cheese sticks them together.

Ooh yes to the humus. I can never find tahini, and find sesame oil gives it the same flavour. £1 for a bottle in Tesco and it lasts ages.

Lemon drizzle cake. Used delias all in one recipe and couldn't believe how easy it was. And moist. And Delish.

I think it was this Mint sauce recipe - but we have never got used to a shop bought version to compare it to. I would add sugar to taste, I think we added less than they suggested.

Peanut butter.

Pizza dough and sauce - 350g bread flour, tbsp sugar, tbsp olive oil, tsp salt, tsp yeast, tsp mixed herbs, enough water to mix to a dough. Knead for a few minutes, leave in bowl covered with cling film to rise then roll out and bake at 220C for about 15 minutes.

Sauce - Roughly chop about 500g tomatoes and a couple of cloves of garlic and put in a pan with a splash of olives oil and some mixed herbs. Let it cook on a low heat until the tomatoes are gungy and the whole thing has thickened, then stir in a tablespoon of tomato puree. Use on pizzas or as a pasta sauce. Can also be watered down with stock to make tomato soup.

We make this almost every Friday night and my dcs say it's much better than takeaway pizza.

Peanut butter - roast whole peanuts in the oven (I buy them with skin on so the peanut butter is wholegrain) at about 150C for about 20 minutes. Blend with a little canola or peanut oil and salt. If you want it to be crunchy then keep back some peanuts and blend them in at the end so they stay in larger pieces.

Dough balls - Mix 250g bread flour, tsp salt, tsp yeast and tbsp olive oil, add water to make dough, knead and leave to rise. Heat a little olive oil in a pan with some crushed garlic then leave to cool. Make dough into little balls, brush with the garlic oil and bake at 220C for 15 minutes. Good dipped in cream cheese as a snack for kids or a party finger food.

I also make houmous, salsa, guacamole, lemon curd and all kinds of bread and biscuits! Some of this is through choice and some because we live overseas in a remote place and can't get anything ready made.

Crispy chilli beef

Recipe is on bbc good food website (the one with 28 reviews)

Takes no time at all and is delicious. So much better than a takeaway. Top tip is to cut the beef strips really really thinly for maximum crispiness.

Flalfel - tin of chick peas , clove of garlic crushed, teaspoon ground coriander teaspoon ground cumin - some chopped fresh parsley and coriander if you have them - blitz in blender - add oil/ flour if needed, form into balls/ patties and shallow fry - easier than fish fingers / nuggets - kids love them

Marking my place! Yuuum

I'm going to try some of these recipes. Yum!

My easy peasy, favourite recipe is shortbread recipe

Feta and spinach filo pie, this is always something I wouldve eaten at a restraunt not realising how easy it is.

1 pack of feta
1 pack of spinach
1 pack of filo pastry
1 onion

Fry onion in olive oil, when soft add spinach, when soft take off heat and crumble in feta, mix it up a bit.

Line pie tin with filo, brush with butter, put in spinach/feta mix. Top with filo. Fold over all edges, brush with butter. Bake until golden and the mix is starting to bubble out lush!

You can do individual ones too, just put some filo on a tray and fill with mixture and wrap it up. :) yummy as a starter

My oni

My onion bhaji recipe: slice 2 onions, separate onions into strands. Mix with a finely chopped green chilli. Add cumin seeds and ajwain (carom seeds) to onions and mix well. Leave to . In a separate bowl add some salt cumin powder, chilli powder, coriander powder to some gram flour

I hate this phone...

• leave to one side so the spices make the onions sweat a bit.

Mix your spices into the gram flour and shake over the onions. Mix with your hand until all onions well covered. Add water slowly, mixing all the time until the flour becomes a paste. Not too thick or too thin. Pick up bits of onion about golf ball sized and fry in enough hot oil so they don't sit on the bottom of your pan. Remove when golden brown and drain on kitchen paper.

The ajwain is the distinctive spice used by restaurants in onion bhajis. Without it, it's never quite right.

I make a quick Soda Bread pizza. It's a pot of buttermilk, 1tsp bicarb and 9oz (ish) of plain flour. Just mix it all together, stretch it onto a pizza stone or baking tray and top as you would for a normal pizza. You can use half white half wholemeal flour if you fancy it. Bake for 20 mins.

Yogurt is incredibly easy and incredibly delicious. Since my kids go through itlike crazy it saves a lot of money to make it myself (around $5/gallon/homemade vs. $24/gallon/store bought) plus it's healthier and quite fun to do.

I also make fruity sauces for them to mix in and granola to sprinkle on top.

Fantastic and filling breakfast/dessert .

ItallisnowaFeegle - really impressed that you find those cupcakes easy! Have just made a batch but I struggled a bit! They look great but have to say I couldn't get the meringue to stiffen at all so started again and whipped the whites first to soft peaks then gradually added the sugar. They smell amazing coming out of the oven...

Lemon Possett. I always thought it would take some skill in the making but it's really easy. Pint of cream, 5oz of sugar and the zest and juice from a couple of lemons. Bring to boil and stir well, then decant into ramekins or wine glasses and leave to set in the fridge.

I'm shamelessly marking my place :)

Erowid Gordon Ramsey's lemon posset has never failed me. Made it as an alternative Christmas pudding last year and everyone was dead impressed - didn't tell them how easy it was