Find your next favourite — by meal, mood, diet, cuisine or how much time you’ve got.
54 min 30 minA hearty meatless beetroot soup with potato, cabbage and carrot, sweet-sour from a little vinegar and sugar. Serve it ruby red with a spoonful of sour cream and dill. Adapted from “Borscht” in the Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). Beetroot raised from about 150 g to 250 g for a deeper colour; single amounts chosen where the source gave ranges, and cup measures converted to metric. Photo: liz west, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Borscht served”).
42 min 39 minA creamy, deeply savoury risotto built on porcini and their soaking liquid, finished with butter, parsley and Parmesan. Dried porcini work just as well as fresh. Adapted from “Risotto ai Funghi” in the Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). Stock raised from 0.5 to 0.8 litre (plus the mushroom water) so the rice cooks through, wine cut from 1 cup to 150 ml, and vegetable stock used instead of chicken. Photo: Kolforn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“-2019-12-22 Mushroom Risotto with onion and herbs finished with Parmesan and Mushroom, Trimingham”).
1 h 12 min 37 minThe Provençal vegetable stew done slowly: eggplant and zucchini browned first, then simmered with soft onions, peppers and fresh tomatoes until tender but still whole. Good hot or cold. Adapted from “Ratatouille I” in the Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). Gave amounts for the oil and vegetable sizes; the salt, pepper and herb amounts suggested in the method moved into the ingredient list. Photo: Koichi Oda, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Ratatouille - Flickr - odako1”).
12 h 41 min 46 minCrisp chickpea fritters made the proper way, from soaked raw chickpeas blitzed with onion, garlic, parsley and warm spices. Stuff them into pita or eat them hot from the pan. Adapted from “Falafel” in the Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). Halved the batch, made clear the chickpeas are soaked but not cooked, and added salt and frying times. Photo: やましこ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Falafel (49728839526)”).
41 min 14 minEggs gently set in a pan of tomatoes, sweet red pepper, chile and plenty of garlic, all warmed by paprika. Bring it to the table in the pan with bread for mopping up. Adapted from “Shakshuka I” in the Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). Oil halved to 3 tbsp; added a 10-minute simmer so the tomatoes thicken before the eggs go in, and a lid to set the whites. Parsley moved from the notes into the recipe. Photo: Calliopejen1, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Shakshuka by Calliopejen1”).
57 min 20 minSpain's thick potato omelette: sliced potatoes and onions cooked slowly in olive oil, then set with beaten eggs and flipped onto a plate. Good warm or at room temperature, in wedges or in a sandwich. Adapted from “Tortilla Española de Patatas” in the Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). More potato (750 g instead of 500 g) and 8 eggs instead of 10 for a better balance; salt and pepper given amounts and the optional cucumber left out. Photo: Tamorlan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Tortilla Española-2011”).
36 min 16 minYellow toor dal cooked soft with tomatoes, onion and fresh fenugreek leaves, then finished with a sizzling tadka of ghee, mustard seeds, garlic and curry leaves. Comforting with hot rice. Adapted from “Pigeon Pea and Fenugreek Curry (Methi Tadka Dal)” in the Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured the fenugreek, salt, spices and lemon juice; added a stovetop option for cooks without a pressure cooker. Photo: AugustineKajur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Dal Tadka-Delhi”).
30 minA Palestinian staple that costs very little: lentils and rice cooked with warm spices and topped with deeply browned onions. Filling, vegan and better the next day. Adapted from “Rice and Lentils (Mejadra)” in the Wikibooks Cookbook (CC BY-SA 4.0). Corrected the lentil and rice weights to match 1 cup each and gave amounts for the oil, salt and spices. Photo: Tamorlan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Mujaddara - My own style”).