Easy student friendly recipes to make in your hall

University life is full of joy and excitement – you get to take the driver's seat of your everyday life,  including what to study, what activities to participate, down to what to eat/ cook for yourself! If you are new to cooking, I encourage you to start exploring and learn about what food and ingredients will do good to your physical and mental health!

It could be the case that it is your first time away from home, or that you are not used to share a kitchen with your fellow residents, hence cooking may not come in as fun and as handy as one can imagine. However, preparing for your own meal can be a joyful, replenishing experience. It does not necessarily need to be complex and time-consuming. There are thousands of recipes online which are easy to make and of good nutritious value! Here are some starters that you might want to explore (do not forget to be mindful of one's allergy and dietary requirements when exploring different recipes): 

Avocado toast

As its name suggested, major ingredients of this plate consists of avocado and toast, with add-ones according to personal taste (e.g. sun dried tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, fried eggs...etc.). From a food and nutrition perspective, avocado provides protein, vitamins and monounsaturated fat, which are good ingredients for body functioning in general (Stephen & Radhakrishnan, 2022). It is quick to make and easy to be packed as lunch/ snack to bring with you to university. 

Five-coloured vegetable soup 

Different natural colours of vegetables are said to provide specific nutritious values, because of colour compounds (Deis, Quiroga & De Rosas, 2021). To me, choosing a variety of my favorite veggies and appreciating their colourful combination while cooking is the fun part! You could make the soup in advance in the evening, take it with you to university the next day, and reheat it using the microwave at the Student Union. The BBC has published 50 recipes for vegetable soups , and I hope there maybe a few that might interest you!

Sweet and sour salad 

Sweet and sour salad is usually my go-to when I want to eat something light and refreshing. Mixing two types of crispy greens of your choice, one type of fruits, cheese (either dairy or vegan cheese) or fried fruits, and grounded nuts will together make a nice, fulfilling salad. We need to be a little more creative here in terms of what types of greens will taste well with the cheese/ dried fruits of your choice. But it's always fun to explore and find out what you like and what works! For me, I like mixing red and green lettuce, celery, peaches/ dried apricot/ apple, cashew together to make my sweet and sour salad.