The Emergency Meal: Indian Food
by
You’re tired. Possibly cranky. Definitely starving.
It’s been a long day in lab and as you gather your bag to head home, your mind shifts to dinner. The local grocery store closed about an hour ago and the pizza delivery guy knows you so well he’s starting to ask you to hang out on weekends, which is getting uncomfortable…
The fridge has a nearly empty bottle of ketchup and a package of lunch meat you remember opening last spring…or was it fall?… And a glass of water and spoonful of peanut butter is just too depressing to have more than twice in one week…
Eating right after a long day in lab poses three main challenges to scientists.
- time
- money
- ingredients
That’s on top of the feeling that you’ve already spent all day “cooking” in lab anyway and are now probably ready for a break. Of course, fresh produce is ideal, but realistically it’s very difficult to keep on hand at all times. But there are solutions.
One solution is to stock the cupboard with a few “emergency” meals – things that you can throw together in a pinch. A great solution I recently discovered can have you eating a tasty meal within 4 minutes of walking in the door.
Ingredients
Trader Joe’s Indian packages
These are great. Cheap, delicious and they come in a variety of flavors. Most grocery stores also sell these types of packages if you’re not near a Trader Joe’s.
Uncle Ben’s Instant Microwavable Rice
Although some instant rice is found in the freezer section, this will be on the self with the uncooked rice. There are a number of types available but the brown and white are both good with Indian.
Protocol:
- Open Indian packet and pour in bowl. Cover bowl with paper towel. Microwave 90 seconds. This is a much faster solution than boiling water and cooking the bag for 5 minutes – and it tastes the same.
- Prior to opening the rice package, squeeze bag gently to break up clump of rice in bag. Tear bag slightly at top (to vent) and microwave for 90 seconds.
- Pour rice in bowl, add Indian food.
- Be glad you’re not eating ketchup on a cracker.
Don’t expect this dish to win you a Michelin star, but do expect it to fill you up!
Have any other “Emergency meals” you like to have after a long day?
PlayLady
wrote on August 22, 2009 at 12:23 pm
It's oppressively hot here in NYC and I happen to crave salads at the end of a heated, long day. But lettuce alone will not suffice. So in less than 5 minutes, I "whipped" up my loaded salad with herb greens (pre-washed obviously), chickpeas (from a can), tuna (bag or can), dried cranberries, feta (already crumbled), asian pear (or you could use an apple), shaved almonds and seasoned pepper. You can dress it if you want, but the flavors from the ingredients pack a powerful punch on their own!
alan@benchfly
wrote on August 23, 2009 at 11:47 pm
That sounds awesome! Thanks for the recipe!
Recipes: Chemistry You Can Eat | BenchFly Blog
wrote on December 2, 2010 at 10:03 pm
[…] Emergency Meal: Indian Food – home from lab late again? Not to worry, you’re just three minutes from eating […]