Your Tea Kettle Is The Secret Ingredient For Weeknight Dinners

When thinking of kettles, most minds immediately jump to cups of tea and coffee. While it's still a useful tool for preparing beverages, kettles are relatively underutilized when it comes to cooking.

Kettles, especially of the electric variety, can save a lot of time in preparing weeknight dinners — whether it's for a household of one or a family with a lot of hungry kids. Boiled eggs and oatmeal are fine if you need quick nutrition before running out the front door in the morning. You can also use a kettle to prepare a cup of noodles for a quick lunch. However, kettles have way more potential than that.

The key to using a kettle is having the right dishes in mind. It's best to look for ones that can be cooked with only boiling water, much like the instant cup lunches enjoyed around the world for generations. There are other Asian noodle recipes that can be cooked with only a tea kettle, as well.  

A dish that's an easy weeknight dinner you can make with your tea kettle is ketoprak. This recipe is an Indonesian street food dish made with tofu, rice noodles, and bean sprouts, which come together in a delicious peanut sauce. This bowl of goodness is perfect for making with the kettle method because all of its ingredients can be cooked by steeping in boiling water for a few minutes. Additionally, the peanut sauce can be purchased pre-made, so you don't have to create it from scratch. From start to finish, it can be ready to eat in about 10 to 20 minutes. 

There are other recipes that could easily be cooked with the kettle method as well, such as pho. This dish uses vermicelli noodles as well, meaning it will cook easily when boiling water is poured over it. 

However, you don't have to stick to vermicelli noodles. Other types of thin or flat rice noodles will cook quickly when boiling water is simply poured over them. You could simply use plain instant ramen noodles, then add quick-cooking vegetables to the bowl. Good vegetables to use could be kale, spinach, frozen peas, edamame, thinly sliced carrots, or onion.