How to have an easy, comforting dinner for 30 cents per serving
Nigella Lawson deserves an award for this two-ingredient wonder.
After a pleasantly warm and indulgent holiday season, I’m craving recipes I can make for my family that are healthy, easy, and low-cost.
Recently, I came across this Nigella Lawson recipe for a two-ingredient soup that takes only 10 minutes, and I was immediately intrigued. I usually save Nigella’s famously indulgent recipes for special occasions, but I loved the sound of this, so I set out to give it a try—and now I can't stop thinking about it.
Why I Love Nigella's Rice and Tomato Soup
I enjoy having rice on the dinner table, but I must admit that I’m not very good at cooking it; the starch usually feels underwhelming. Nigella's Rice and Tomato Soup changed this for me.
This recipe cooks the rice incredibly quickly in a diluted tomato soup, which adds a rich, umami flavor to each grain as it’s cooking. The result is a delicious rice-based dish that could function as either a main dish or a side.
Perhaps the best part about this recipe is how big a punch it packs for a low-cost meal. The rice itself costs as little as 10 cents per cup (depending on where you shop and which brands you prefer), and the can of tomato soup runs $1 for a store brand. Of course, you could level up the recipe and choose a slightly more expensive, flavored soup.
This recipe makes about four servings as a side dish, and it could easily be doubled to make a main dish for four. That makes the cost per serving just over $0.30. Talk about dinner on a budget!
How I Made This Dish My Own
This recipe couldn’t be simpler. I took Nigella’s version and tweaked it just a bit to use tomato soup instead of tomato sauce for a milder flavor. It's easy to modify depending on your taste preferences.
To make this recipe, all you need is a cup of jasmine rice, a cup of your favorite tomato soup, and a cup of water. These ingredients are combined over medium heat and are simmered for 10 minutes. (It's important to stir frequently so the rice doesn't get stuck on the bottom of the pot.) Add a pinch of salt and whatever seasonings you like... and dinner is done.
Serve this as a side, double the recipe for a main dish (and bulk it up even further with some protein). This is the perfect recipe to jazz up using whatever you have on hand. For a recent version, I added some smoked paprika and black pepper for extra zing, then topped it with parsley I found in my crisper.
Next time, I might stir in some goat cheese for extra creaminess. Truly, you can make it the way you like it—it's customizable, and only 10 minutes to a warm bowl of comfort.
