I was asked by SimplyCook to test out their home delivery recipe kits. They send you easy-to-follow recipe ideas with herb and spice blends, culinary pastes, infused oils and stocks so you can create delicious meals. You buy the other ingredients and make yourself an affordable and tasty homemade meal. The aim is to cook restaurant-quality meals using authentic flavour ingredients in twenty minutes. As an avid restaurant diner, I rarely cook at home, and my repertoire is minimal. But I was up for the challenge, so I told SimplyCook to bring it on! See how my meal turned out and try the recipe kits yourself with the special reader offer at the end of this article.
Recipe Kit
SimplyCook Recipe Kits
The great news is that the recipe kit can be posted through the letterbox, so you don’t have to be at home when it arrives. I must say that the kit looked very appealing with attractive packaging, so you could also send it to a friend as a gift. I asked to try vegetarian and seafood recipes because Homeboy and I don’t eat meat. Our kit contained recipes and key ingredients for Iranian Vegetable Stew, Bokkeumbap (Korean style fried rice with an egg on top), Thai Red Prawn Curry and Linguine with Prawns and Rocket. You can choose from over 50 recipes around the world like Goan Fish Curry, Bang Bang Chicken, Chinese Spiced Duck Salad, Beef Rendang, Masala Lamb Chops and Mexican Bean Chilli. You can also opt for light and gluten-free recipes if you’d prefer. The calorie information is also provided, which is super helpful.
Recipe Cards
These kits aim to get you trying new recipes without tracking down key ingredients. If you’re like me, you have a few spices in your cupboard that you buy for a recipe and then forget about them. The next time you want to use those spices, they are outdated. That’s why the kits are such a brilliant idea because the blend of spices and additional stir-in sauces make all the difference in enhancing the taste of your meal. Depending on your recipe, the kit will contain herb and spice mixes, culinary pastes, infused oils, garnishes, rubs or stocks.
Recipe Kit Contents
The recipes have been designed to make everything very easy. They feature just a few ingredients you can find at your local convenience store. The preparation and cooking steps are simple to follow, and even I achieved them successfully! Cooking takes only twenty minutes, which is essential when starving after a hard day at work. You prepare and cook the main ingredients and add the specially prepared blends of spices or sauces which have been devised by professional chefs to give your meal that authentic flavour you’d find in a posh restaurant.
My SimplyCook Iranian Vegetable Stew
I decided to try the Iranian Vegetable Stew, influenced by North African and traditional Persian cuisines. The essential ingredients in my kit were the Ras el Hanout Moroccan spice mix. This contained black pepper, ginger, cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, cayenne, cumin and allspice. I checked my cupboard, and I had three of those spices, two of which were out of date! The other items in the kit were a tomato paste and a mushroom stock.
Iranian Stew Recipe Kit
I couldn’t believe how few ingredients I needed to buy to make the Stew – an onion, potato, butternut squash, three tomatoes and a small bag of spinach. The preparation was straightforward – fry the onion, add the chopped potato and butternut squash. Stir in the Ras el Hanout mix, add a splash of water and cook for five minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir. Add the mushroom stock to boiling water and stir in. Add tomatoes and a few dried cranberries as an optional extra. A bit of boiling, add the spinach and pop it in the oven to thicken and soak up the juices.
Iranian Vegetable Stew Ingredient
This Iranian Vegetable Stew can be eaten by itself, but I made up some bulgur wheat. Now that I was in full cooking mode, I went to town! Meanwhile, Homeboy was watching TV in the living room and commented that the cooking smell was beautiful, and it was. I got on with the tidying up while I waited for the Stew to be ready. When I took the dish out of the oven, I felt a sense of pride because it looked just like the recipe card picture, and that’s never happened before!
Iranian Vegetable Stew Results
I couldn’t wait to tuck into the Stew, and I was so happy when I did. It tasted amazing. The spice mix, paste and stock did make all the difference. There is no way I would have had time to locate all those extra ingredients to create this meal. The stew got the big thumbs up from Homeboy and me. He keeps asking when I can make the other dishes!
Try SimplyCook Yourself
You can choose which meals you want to prepare from a long list of recipes. The idea is that you can make an entire meal, including the kit plus ingredients, for £3-6. Depending on how much you eat, you can feed 2-3 people with the kit. To find out more, visit the SimplyCook Website. I hope you enjoy your culinary adventures as much as I did!
Author: Homegirl London. Photographs: Homegirl London. Please note that this is a Sponsored Post/Advertising.
