A CHEEKY takeaway is to die for, but it is never kind to our bank account when feeding a family.
While replicating your favourite Indian, Chinese or Italian dishes may seem a chore, it is worth considering which side dishes and extras you can prepare yourself to reduce the cost — and they all add up. From rice to raitas, here are my favourite money-saving “makeaway” tips.
Raita: This Indian side is easily replicated with a few simple ingredients. You will need 250ml natural yoghurt, half a cucumber, finely chopped, large handful of mint leaves, chopped, large pinch salt – you can add half a green chilli if you wish (finely chopped).
All you need to do is wrap your chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze out any excess water, then simply mix all ingredients together and you are good to go.
Chinese-style rice: Rice bulks up many of our favourite dishes but it’s so simple to make your own.
To get the style right, boil your required rice for around 15 minutes then fluff up with a fork. You can then add dark soy sauce and scrambled egg to make it really tasty. For extra-fluffy rice, a tip is to always do double the milligrams of water to every gram of rice.
Nando’s chips: Make a portion big enough for seconds at home, for a fraction of the cost, with peri-peri salt. Use any oven chips, or your own from scratch. You can even buy Nando’s own peri-peri Salt from Tesco for just £1.90.
Chapatis: DIY with cupboard staples. Grab 450g of wholemeal plain flour, 1tsp salt and 250ml cold water. Set aside 200g flour and put remaining flour and salt in a bowl.
Fill another bowl with cold water. Gradually add the water to the flour, kneading until you have soft, elastic dough.
Sprinkle a little of the reserved flour on to a flat surface and divide the dough into eight balls. Flatten these and roll into discs. Heat a shallow frying pan and dry fry each disc for about 20-30 seconds. Turn with tongs and cook for a 10-15 seconds. Brown spots on the underside mean it is done.
Deal of day
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Cheap treat
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Top swap
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