End-of-Month Cooking
Recipes with few ingredients, low cost, and almost everything already in the kitchen. None of them need a big shop.
39 recipes
39 recipes sit under End-of-Month Cooking, and every one of them is scored against what is actually in your fridge before it is shown. The quickest is Fried Egg with Chili Soy at 6 minutes; the longest, Sweet Braised Tofu and Tempeh, takes 60. 25 of them finish in twenty minutes or less, which is usually what matters on a weeknight.
None of these need an oven, an air fryer, or a microwave — a stove and a pan is enough. 23 are vegetarian. 12 have no chili at all, so they work for children. 17 are properly spicy.
These recipes lean most often on Chicken egg, Palm sugar, Red chili and Tomato — if you have one or two of those as well, more of this list becomes cookable tonight rather than after a shopping trip. Add what you have to your fridge and the recipes reorder themselves around it, with anything missing collected into a shopping list.
Village-Style Fried Rice
Yesterday's rice, three basic aromatics, and a hot wok. The most honest fried rice — no drowning in sweet soy sauce.
⏱ 15 min🍽 2 servingsEasy
Thick Indonesian Omelette
Three ingredients, eight minutes, and it comes out thick and layered. The end-of-month saviour that never fails.
⏱ 10 min🍽 2 servingsEasy
Stir-Fried Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste
Five minutes in a hot wok. One secret only: never put a lid on it.
⏱ 10 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Sweet Crisp Tempeh
Sweet, dry, and keeps for three days. The cheapest rice companion there is.
⏱ 25 min🍽 4 servingsEasy
Eggs in Chili Sauce
Boiled eggs flash-fried for a skin, then coated in properly cooked red chili paste.
⏱ 30 min🍽 4 servingsEasy
Stir-Fried Green Beans and Carrot
The fastest everyday vegetable: two ingredients, seven minutes, still crunchy if the heat is high.
⏱ 12 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Tempeh with Green Chili
The fresh heat of green chili, not the sharp kind. The tempeh stays tender, never fried dry.
⏱ 20 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Vegetable Fritters
The most dignified destination for leftover cabbage, carrot, and sprouts starting to wilt.
⏱ 25 min🍽 4 servingsEasy
Bean Sprouts with Tofu
Three minutes in the wok. Sprouts cooked longer than that just turn to water.
⏱ 12 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Tamarind Vegetable Soup
Sour, refreshing, and packed with vegetables. The best way to clear seven leftovers at once.
⏱ 35 min🍽 5 servingsEasy
Garlic Broccoli
Blanch for 60 seconds so the green stays bright, then stir-fry fast. No more complex than that.
⏱ 12 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Cheesy Omelette for Kids
Low heat and patience. Eggs cooked slowly turn silky, not dry and pockmarked.
⏱ 10 min🍽 2 servingsEasy
Eggplant in Chili Paste
The eggplant is flash-fried in hot oil so it does not soak up oil like a sponge.
⏱ 25 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Sweet Braised Tofu and Tempeh
Slow-braised in palm sugar until it soaks through, then briefly fried.
⏱ 1 h🍽 5 servingsEasy
Fried Catfish with Shrimp Paste Sambal
The sambal is pounded, not blended. It comes out coarse, and that is exactly right.
⏱ 30 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Three-Ingredient Egg Fried Rice
Rice, egg, sweet soy. Eight minutes. For nights when the fridge is genuinely empty.
⏱ 8 min🍽 1 servingsEasy
Long Beans with Crispy Anchovies
The anchovies are fried separately so they stay crisp on the plate. A cheap dish that does not taste cheap.
⏱ 20 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Clear Spinach and Corn Soup
A clear broth naturally sweetened by corn. The spinach goes in last and comes straight off — ten seconds too long already ruins it.
⏱ 15 min🍽 4 servingsEasy
Nuggets in Sweet Soy Glaze
Three ingredients, eight minutes, and it tastes far more like home cooking than plain nuggets.
⏱ 10 min🍽 2 servingsEasy
Instant Noodles with Egg and Greens
Use only half the seasoning packet and make up the rest with fried garlic. The difference is bigger than people expect.
⏱ 10 min🍽 1 servingsEasy
Instant Fried Noodles, Upgraded
Drain it but keep two spoonfuls, then return the noodles to a hot pan. That is what makes it taste fried rather than boiled.
⏱ 12 min🍽 1 servingsEasy
Corned Beef Instant Noodles
Fry the corned beef until it crusts first. Dropped straight into the broth it just turns to mush.
⏱ 12 min🍽 1 servingsEasy
Crispy Tofu with Chili Sauce
Press the tofu first to drive the water out. Wet tofu never crisps, no matter how much flour you use.
⏱ 25 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Fried Catfish with Tomato Sambal
The sambal is fried, not raw — that is what makes it keep until tomorrow and taste deeper.
⏱ 30 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Peanut Sauce
The peanuts are dry-toasted, not fried. Toasting gives a roasted aroma that hot oil cannot imitate.
⏱ 25 min🍽 6 servingsEasy
Spinach with Sesame Dressing
Blanch briefly, then squeeze hard. Any water left behind thins the dressing and ruins it.
⏱ 12 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Lombok-Style Water Spinach
The greens are boiled, not fried, then topped with raw tomato sambal. Two textures that a stir-fry never gives you.
⏱ 20 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Green Beans with Crispy Anchovies
The anchovies are fried separately and added off the heat. Cooked with the vegetables they go soft in two minutes.
⏱ 18 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Crispy Fried Mushrooms
Do not soak the mushrooms — they absorb water like a sponge, and wet mushrooms never crisp.
⏱ 25 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Mushrooms with Lemon Basil
Dry-fry the mushrooms first until their water evaporates. That is the difference between browned mushrooms and watery ones.
⏱ 15 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Egg and Cheese Toastie
Six minutes. The egg cooks in a hole cut in the bread, so both finish at the same moment.
⏱ 8 min🍽 1 servingsEasy
Anchovy and Peanut Sambal
Keeps a week in a jar and rescues a lot of lunches. The anchovies and peanuts must be bone dry before they meet the sambal.
⏱ 30 min🍽 8 servingsEasy
Smashed Eggplant with Green Sambal
The eggplant is charred in a dry pan until the skin wrinkles, not fried. Deeper flavour, far less oil.
⏱ 25 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Garlic Water Spinach
The plainest and most-cooked version there is: a lot of garlic, high heat, nothing else.
⏱ 8 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Corn Fritters
Blend part of the corn and leave the rest whole. That is what stops it turning into fried porridge.
⏱ 25 min🍽 4 servingsEasy
Half-Fried Battered Tempeh
Deliberately not fried crisp — mendoan is meant to stay floppy. Frying it crunchy makes it a different dish entirely.
⏱ 20 min🍽 4 servingsEasy
Bean Sprouts with Salted Fish
The salted fish is fried first and needs no extra salt. Taste before seasoning — it is almost always salty enough.
⏱ 12 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Fried Egg with Chili Soy
Five minutes, three ingredients. The chili soy is mixed raw in a bowl while the egg is still in the pan.
⏱ 6 min🍽 1 servingsEasy
Clear Luffa and Meatball Soup
Luffa cooks fast and turns to mush if left. Add it last, three minutes, done.
⏱ 18 min🍽 4 servingsEasy