Are you a bachelor or student living on your own? Looking for ways to cook on your own, without having to frequently eat outside and keep bursting your budget? Then read on, this article is definitely for you.
Cheap recipes doesn’t necessarily mean you need to compromise on using good and healthy ingredients. It’s all about planning, sourcing for the ingredients and how well you use them to make certain cooked meals.
Check out the cheap and easy-to-make recipes below.
1. Kampung Fried Rice
Fried rice will never let your stomach or your wallet down. Every Malaysian has their own version of fried rice or nasi goreng but nothing beats the classic nasi goreng kampung. With some rice, fried anchovies, chillies, shallots and garlic, you will get a completely satisfying meal with such simple ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup/170g of anchovies (RM0.34)
- 2 cups/680g of cold rice (RM1.76)
- 1 cup/170g of mix vegetables (RM1.00)
- 3 cloves of shallots (RM 0.48)
- 2 cloves of garlic (RM0.03)
- 1 red chilli (RM0.10)
- 10 cili padi (RM0.10)
- Salt to season
Total: RM 3.81
2. Stewed Pumpkin in Coconut Milk
When you think of simple, cheap recipes, there is nothing more simple than lauk kampung. With a small portion of pumpkin and some belacan, you have yourself a perfect feast for one.
Ingredients
- 500g of yellow pumpkin-diced (RM1.74)
- 200g of coconut milk (RM1.67)
- 1 cup of water
- 1 onion-sliced (RM0.16)
- 2 red chillies-sliced (RM0.20)
- 2 tablespoons/12.5g of anchovies (RM0.03)
- Salt to season
- Daun kunyit – shredded (RM1.29)
- 1 teaspoon/4.2g of turmeric powder (RM0.08)
- 2 lemongrass stalk- smashed (RM0.33)
- 1 teaspoon/4.2g of blackpepper (RM0.07)
Method
- Put all ingredients except for the coconut milk, red chillies and daun kunyit into a pot. Boil pumpkin until soften.
- When boiled and pumpkin is softened, put in the coconut milk, red chillies, daun kunyit and pepper.
- Cook till boil again. When boil, turn off fire and serve.
Total: RM 5.57
3. Ayam Masak Kicap
Malaysians need their meat (sorry, vegetarians). We can only go on for only a few days without meat and money problems will not hinder you from getting your meat fix. The simplest and one of the cheap recipes for a delicious chicken dish available out there? Ayam Masak Kicap, of course! Get the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 breast cutlet – cut to chunky pieces, marinated and fried (RM3.00)
- 1/2 cup of sweet soy sauce (RM1.06)
- 1/2 of Holland onion – Diced (RM0.67)
- 1 red chilli (RM0.10)
- 1 cili padi (RM0.01)
- Curry leaves (RM0.10)
Grind ingredients
- 3 cloves of shallots (RM0.48)
- 2 cloves of garlic (RM0.03)
Method
- Heat the pan and put some oil and sitr-fry the grind ingredients until fragrant. Fry the chicken pieces.
- Put in the soy sauce and then the holland onion and red chillies. Season it and turn off the heat.
Total: RM 5.45
4. Cendawan Masak Lemak Cili Api
If you are more of a vege lover or a spice junkie, this is the dish that you will not tire of even you eat it for days or even weeks. We know that masak lemak is usually cooked with beef or chicken and even fish but once you taste the vege version, you will stop eating meat, for sure! Well, maybe you will be more excited to become a temporary vegetarian.
Ingredients
- 400g of oyster mushroom (cut in small pieces) (RM4.80)
- 3 cloves of shallots-chopped finely (RM1.69)
- 2 cloves of garlic (RM0.03)
- 1/2 tablespoon of dry shrimp (soaked & remove the excess water) (RM0.50)
- 1 cup/170g of water
- 200g of coconut milk (RM1.67)
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (RM0.08)
- An inch of lemongrass stalk (RM0.11)
- An inch of ginger (RM0.50)
- 10 cili padi (RM0.10)
- 1 red chilli (RM0.10)
Method
- Put in some oil. When heated, stir-fry the anchovies, onions, garlic, cili padi, turmeric and lemongrass.
- Put in the mushroom and quick fry it.
- Put in the coconut milk and season with salt. Cook slow and stir frequently.
- When boil, cool and serve.
Total: RM 9.58
5. Ikan Bilis Tempe Goreng
If you are on a diet but you want to eat good and, to an extent, healthily, this recipe will be good for you. Either eaten with rice or bread, this is one of the cheap recipes that will never go bad if stored properly. All you need is peanuts, chilli, sweet soy sauce, tempe and of course, anchovies. With RM 10, there is no problem for you to get the ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of anchovies -fried (RM0.34)
- 200g of tempe – finely sliced and fried crispy (RM0.50)
- 3 tablespoons/37.5g of chilli boh (RM0.08)
- 5 shallots – grind (RM2.80)
- Salt and sugar to season
Method
- Heat the oil in the pan and stir the chilli boh until fragrant and cooked. Put in the ground shallots. After turns fragrant and cooked, add in sugar and a little salt.
- Put in tempe and fried anchovies. Mix well and turn off fire to maintain the crispiness.
Total: RM 3.72
6. “Hidden Mushroom, Floating Fish Ball” Soup
If you do not feel like eating heavy or you lose your appetite due to your thinning wallet, this “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” inspired recipe will give you some comfort and with the amount of soup you can make with RM 10, I am sure you are going to smile a little bit outside and feel warm in the inside. Who knows, you may even develop some mad Kungfu skills after eating it, too.
Ingredients
- 400g of oyster mushroom (cut in small pieces) (RM4.80)
- 10 fish balls (to be cut into 2) (RM0.60)
- 3 cloves of red onion- chopped finely (RM1.69)
- 2 cloves of garlic (RM0.03)
- 1/2 spoonful of dry shrimp (soaked & remove the excess water) (RM1.50)
- 1 cup of water
- ¼ white pepper
- ¼ salt
Method
- Heat pan with some oil. Stir fry garlic and shallots until fragrant. Add in dry shrimp.
- Stir fry shrimp until crisp.
- Add in water and black pepper. Chopped the mushroom finely, cleaned and tossed.
- Then put in the pan with the fishballs.
- Stir until mushrooms are cooked. Taste and season with salt.
- Turn off fire.
Total: RM 8.62
7. Cucur Ikan Bilis
Sometimes, in the evening , you will feel like eating something fancy for tea but you bank balance is stopping you from satisfying your cravings. Ignore it! You can enjoy a splendid tea with a simple cucur ikan bilis and chilli sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 cups /680g of wheat flour (RM1.69)
- 1 cup/170g of anchovies (RM0.34)
- Chives – chopped (RM0.80)
- 3/4 of Holland onion – diced (RM0.80)
- 1 red chilli – sliced (0.10)
- 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda (RM 0.15)
- 1 tablespoon of sugar (RM0.04)
- 1 teaspoon of salt (RM0.006)
- 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric (RM0.008)
- 1/2 cup of hot water
- 1 1/2 cup of water
Method
- Combine all ingredients except water. Mix well.
- Pour in water bit by bit into the mixture until achieve the proper consistency.
- If too runny, add 1/2 cup of wheat flour bit by bit. Add in hot water. Let it rest for the soda bicarbonate to rise.
- Scoop batter with a spoon and fry till golden.
Total: RM 3.93
Note: If you do not feel like making it from scratch, with RM 10, you can buy two packets of Adabi’s instant cucur mix (RM3 – 4 per packet) that are not only delicious but also great for your wallet too.
There might be simpler recipes that you can make but not all can be made with just an RM10 budget. As an additional note, these cheap recipes will work well for students and bachelors, since it’s enough to feed two mouths.
Do you agree with us with our 7 cheap recipes? Try it out yourself and see if you can make it using similar ingredients for a cheaper price!