Mastering One-Pot Wonders From Across the World

Life may be full of challenges, but making good food should never be one! If you love food and love experimenting with international cuisines, nothing can stop you! Not even the lack of time, or boredom of doing dishes afterwards. 

The misconception that preparing international dishes may be tough and would involve many difficult kitchen wares is far from the truth. There are several recipes from across the world that can be easily made using just a single pot! So if you’re in the mood for something other than conventional cooking, you can do that easily. 

Simply acquire the ingredients and you can easily prepare one-pot recipes from around the world at home. Here are a few recipes that you can try. 

Vietnamese Pho 

This Vietnamese Pho recipe is everything you need! It is refreshing, light and bursting with flavours! Made using rice noodles, crunchy vegetables, protein of choice and a lip-smacking savoury broth! 

The best part? This is a quick recipe that gives you all the right flavours and gets ready in a single pot too, very quickly! 

Serves: 1 person
Total Time: 15 minutes 

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups of vegetable stock or chicken stock
• 1 tsp soy sauce 
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 pack of rice noodles 
• 1 cup spring onions chopped
• ½ cup sprouted moong
• 2 tsp lemon juice 
• ½ cup Thai basil 
• ½ cup boneless chicken 
• Salt to taste 
• 2 tsp cooking oil (preferably sesame oil) 
• Sriracha (optional) 

Method: 

1. This recipe can be easily prepared in any big pot of choice.  Place the pot on medium flame and add some oil to it, once the oil is heated, add the minced garlic and let it slightly brown. 
2. Now add the chicken pieces, and cook them on medium heat until they turn colourless and tender. Now add the vegetable or chicken stock and bring it to a boil. 
3. Once the stock is boiled, add the rice noodles to it and allow it to boil until the noodles are soft. 
4. Now add the soy sauce (You can replace it with fish sauce if you like) add the spring onions and sprouted moong) 
5. Now add the Thai basil, and lemon juice, adjust the salt and top it with some Sriracha if you like. 
6. Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy hot. 

American Mac and Cheese with Bacon

When you think of Mac and Cheese your mind immediately goes to the American sitcoms that show the delicious mouth-watering dish. You can now easily make this at home. 

The best part is that it gets ready in just one pot and can be a perfect comfort meal for your family after a busy day. 

Serves: 4
Total Time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients: 

• 4 slices of bacon chopped 
• 2 cups of macaroni pasta 
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup cheddar cheese 
• 1 cup processed cheese
• 1 cup cream cheese 
• 1 cup milk 
• Black pepper to taste 
• Salt to taste 
• 2 tsp Garlic powder 
• 1 tsp paprika powder 
• 1 tsp mixed dried herbs 

Method: 

1. Take a large saucepan, and place it on low heat. Add the chopped pieces of bacon in, and cook it for a minute or two until the bacon is fully cooked and slightly crispy. Remove the bacon pieces and set aside. 
2. In the same pan, in the existing fat of the bacon, add 4 cups of water, add salt and let it boil. Once boiled, add the macaroni pasta into it and let it boil for about 7 minutes. 
3. Most of the water would have evaporated, but leave a little amount of water in the pasta. Drain out any excess pasta water if any. Now on a low flame, add the cheeses one by one, stirring gently. Add the milk to make the mixing easier. Once all the cheese has melted, add the spice, like garlic powder, black pepper, paprika and let the mac and cheese cook for another minute. 
4. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish it with the bacon prepared earlier. 
5. Serve and enjoy while hot. 

Persian Crispy Potato and Saffron Tahdig Rice 

This fragrant and delicious Tahdig rice will transport you straight to the beautiful lands of Iran. It is a straightforward rice recipe, and yet so delicate and delicious. One relies entirely on the smells and sounds of the cooking rice to get the perfectly crispy Tahdig. 

Try this recipe with some delicious kebabs or stew on the side. 

Serves: 6-8 servings
Time: 55 minutes 

Ingredients: 

• 3 cups basmati rice, washed and soaked 
• 6 cups of water 
• 7-8 strands of saffron (lightly crushed) 
• 2-3 tbsp ghee 
• 1 large size potato, peeled and cut into round shape, about ½ inch in thickness
• Salt to taste 

Method: 

1. The first step is to cook the basmati rice. Take a large size pot, add the water and add salt and bring it to a boil. 
2. Once the water has boiled, add the soaked basmati rice to it. Cook the rice until it is soft and almost cooked. 
3. Now drain the rice and keep it aside. In the same pot, add some ghee and gently place the potato slices neatly covering most of the base of the pot sprinkle some salt to season the potatoes. 
4. Add a few spoons of boiling hot water to the crushed saffron to make a dark and rich yellow-coloured solution. Pour the solution over the potatoes. Now gently add the cooked rice over this. 
5. Cover the rice with a heavy lid and allow the rice and potatoes to cook. The key is to ensure enough time and flame to make the potatoes cook well and become slightly golden and crispy. On a low flame, this takes around 20 minutes. 
6. Once the aromas of cooked rice, potatoes and saffron start wafting in the room. Remove from the flame, very gently open the lid and replace it with a serving dish. 
7. Now flip the pot over the dish, so that the Tahdig is neatly released from the pot, and the crispy golden potatoes with saffron infusion are on the top. 
8. Relish this delicious rice as it is, with a side of kebabs or with a stew of choice. 

Korean Bibimbap

Korean Bibimbap translates to Korean rice. This rice recipe is a delicious preparation including rice, many vegetables and sprouts, along with chicken. Being a one-pot recipe, it requires less fuss as compared to other elaborate recipes. Make this rice recipe and satiate your cravings while enjoying some K-Drama. 

Serves: 2 
Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup boneless chicken
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 tsp soy sauce 
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp oyster sauce 
• 1 cup any short grain rice (washed and soaked) 
• 2 cups water
• ½ cup sliced mushrooms
• ½ cup carrots julienne sliced 
• ¼ tsp black pepper 
• ½ cup moong sprouts 
• ½ cup chopped spinach 
• 2 tbsp sesame oil 
• 1 tbsp Gochujang paste 
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds 
• 1 fried egg 

Method: 

1. This recipe can be easily prepared using a heavy bottom pot or even the base of the pressure cooker. The first step is to marinate the chicken. In a bowl add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and minced garlic along with the chicken pieces and let it marinate for about 10 minutes/ 
2. Add the water in the rice cooker, and let it boil, once it boils add the soaked rice to it. Along with the rice also add the carrots, mushroom and marinated chicken and mix well. Close the lid and let the contents cook. When the rice is just about done, quickly open the lid and add the sprouts and spinach to it. 
3. The rice will take around 20 minutes or so to cook completely. In the meantime, prepare the topping sauce. 
4. Add a few drops of sesame oil to the Gochujang paste to make it easy to drizzle over the rice. 
5. Once the rice is ready transfer to a serving bowl, top it with the gochujang paste, drizzle sesame oil over the rice and sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds over it. 
6. Finally, add a fried egg on top and enjoy with seaweed.