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Smoky roasted sweet potato, spiced black beans, and enough lime to wake it all up. The roasting tray does most of the work.

The Punjabi chickpea curry that earns its place in every weeknight rotation: deeply spiced, made almost entirely from the store cupboard, and better on day two.

A cheap, batch-friendly workhorse: mixed peppers cooked down until silky with sweet onions and tomato, then folded through chickpeas and finished with red wine vinegar and parsley.

A crunchy swap for chips: chickpeas dried hard, roasted until deep golden, then tossed hot with smoked paprika, cumin and garlic powder. Protein and fiber for very few calories.

The classic dry curry of potato and cauliflower, steamed gently under a lid with turmeric and coriander, then finished uncovered so the edges catch and crisp. The side dish that quietly steals the plate.

Cauliflower roasted with curry powder until the edges char, then folded through warm lentils and yogurt. One tray, one can, very little attention.

Soft yellow lentils finished with a tadka: whole spices bloomed in hot oil and poured over at the last second, so it hits the surface and sizzles.

Short-grain rice simmered slowly in coconut milk until it collapses into something thick, creamy and barely sweet, scented with cinnamon and vanilla.

Griddled corn cakes with a crisp shell and a soft, steamy middle, split open and stuffed with cumin-spiked black beans and mashed avocado.

Firm green lentils dressed while warm in a sharp Dijon vinaigrette, with plenty of shallot, herbs and walnuts. Good hot, better after an hour, excellent from the fridge.

Red lentils collapsing into coconut milk with Caribbean curry powder, thyme and sweet potato. Ready in half an hour and thick enough to eat with a fork.

Smoky, garlicky and thick enough to stand a spoon in. Cheap store-cupboard beans turned into something that tastes like it simmered all day.

Collards braised slowly with onion, garlic, ginger and turmeric until they turn silky and sweet. Mild, garlicky and green. The calm dish on an Ethiopian plate.

Rice cooked in coconut milk with kidney beans, thyme, allspice and a whole chili left in for perfume rather than heat. The side dish that turns any plate Caribbean.

Greens stewed down with coconut milk, thyme and okra until soft and glossy. Mellow, rich and green. The Caribbean answer to creamed spinach.

Chunks of fresh coconut boiled in ginger sugar until the syrup thickens, then dropped in spoonfuls and left to set hard. Chewy, sticky and very Jamaican.

Sweet, slowly-sweated leeks and floury potatoes blended into a thick, comforting soup. No cream needed: the potato does all of it.

Chickpea flour whisked into a spiced onion base until it becomes a thick, smoky, deeply savory stew. One of the fastest genuinely great things you can cook from a cupboard.

Split mung beans simmered soft, then finished with coconut milk and a little sugar until the whole pot turns creamy. A sweet, gentle breakfast eaten across Southeast Asia, warm or at room temperature.

A spicy vegetable relish of onion, pepper, carrot and beans in a curried tomato base. Served hot or cold alongside almost anything, and better the next day.

Green curry paste fried in thick coconut cream until it splits and turns fragrant, then loosened into a fresh, hot, herby curry with eggplant, beans and tofu.

A smooth, golden lentil soup finished with paprika butter and a hard squeeze of lemon. Cheap, fast, and one of the most comforting bowls there is.

The North Indian kidney bean curry that's built for batch cooking: onions taken deep golden, tomatoes cooked until the oil separates, and a few beans mashed against the pan for a thick, creamy gravy without a drop of cream.

Thick, dark and sweet, with molasses behind it and enough vinegar to keep it from cloying. The kind that goes on in the last five minutes so it does not burn.

A tray of vegetables roasted hard, spooned over shop-bought hummus with lemon and parsley. Assembly more than cooking, and endlessly adaptable.

Plant milk cooked down with cardamom and pistachio, then frozen hard in molds. Denser and slower-melting than ice cream because it is never churned.

Thick, orange, deeply cheesy soup with broccoli soft enough to fall apart in it. Cashews and nutritional yeast do the work the cheddar used to.

Curry powder bloomed in oil until it perfumes the whole kitchen, then chickpeas and potato simmered in coconut until soft and golden. Warming, cheap and quietly fiery.

Warm waxy potatoes, sliced into thick rounds and dressed while still hot in a sharp mustard-and-vinegar dressing loosened with stock, sharpened with finely diced yellow onion. No mayonnaise anywhere near it.

A silky, deep green spinach curry with cubes of golden pan-fried tofu folded through it. All the comfort of palak paneer with none of the dairy.