Easy Dinner Ideas That Will Surprise Your Guests

You've seen how your wife juggles her household chores and her career. You admire her plenty, but want to show her just how much you appreciate all that she does for you and your family. You're lost about how to do it. That's when we come into the picture.

You can show your wife how much you value her hard work by volunteering to do one thing that will definitely make her happy. Volunteer to cook dinner everyday or at least thrice a week. Come on, it's not that big a deal. Besides I'm sure your family's not looking for an elaborately prepared dinner everyday. So you can make do with some easy recipes too.

You and your wife are home alone for the night. The kids are at a slumber party, or at their grandparents' house. A perfect opportunity to try out something romantic like a candle-lit dinner, isn't it? Well, that's what we'll give you here.

You'll require at least an hour and fifteen minutes, including the time to gather all the ingredients. You'll need boneless chicken, cooking oil of your choice, tomato and onion paste, garlic and ginger paste, cayenne pepper, mixed powdered spices, milk, coriander, and salt to taste.

Here's how you prepare it.

• Wash and clean the chicken, and cut it into small pieces.
• Heat a little oil in the vessel, and add the garlic and ginger paste to it.

• When the paste turns a little brown, you can add the tomato and onion paste and wait for it to turn a little brown too.
• Then, add the cayenne pepper and the powdered spices to this mixture.
• Heat the mixture till the raw aroma of the powders is gone.

• Then, add the chicken pieces to the mixture.
• Let it heat on simmer, till the chicken is almost cooked.
• Then add milk to the chicken gravy, just enough to get the desired consistency.

• Allow this to sit on the stove on simmer, until the chicken is fully cooked.
• Poke with a knife to check if it's cooked.
• Add salt to taste, give it one more boil, garnish with coriander and serve.

For the ginger rice, you'll require, ginger (minced into very tiny pieces), rice, water, and a pinch of salt. Here's how you prepare it.

• Wash the rice, and put it in a vessel.
• Add double the amount of water to the rice.

• Add the ginger and salt to the water, and place the vessel on medium heat on the stove.
• Check regularly, if the rice is cooked. It should not take more than 15-18 minutes to get done.

If you're looking for a quicker dinner, then you can't beat this one. It is easy to fix, delicious, and though just moderately healthy, yummy nonetheless! Here's what you'll need for the cheese fingers: blocks of cheese, bread crumbs or oats, a little milk, oil, peas, carrots, and salt.

Here's how you go about making it.

• Cut up the block of cheese into long but thick fingers.
• Cut the peas and carrots very finely, and push them into the cheese at regular intervals.

• Dip them in the milk and use bread crumbs or oats to cover them up completely.
• Keep them in the refrigerator to set for about twenty minutes.

• Remove them and deep-fry them (without thawing) until they turn golden brown.
• Place them on paper towels to drain out the excess oil and serve with the dip.

Now, let's see how to make the dip for the cheese fingers. You'll need flavored cheese spread, garlic (finely ground), chilly flakes, and milk. All you have to do is mix up all the ingredients and keep churning until it reaches a fluffy consistency. Then, add some chilly flakes and serve it with the cheese fingers.

If you want a full-fledged family dinner, then here are a couple of quick ideas that you can use. What's more is that while they're extremely simple to make, they are also delicious, so even picky eaters can't complain.

This is a good idea if you're looking for a meshing of two flavors at the dinner table. You'll need garlic, chillies, spring onions, soya sauce, food color (orange or red), and boneless chicken cut into small pieces for the lollipops.

Prepare a sauce using the above ingredients, and marinate the chicken in it for about three hours. In the meantime, gather the following ingredients for the spaghetti. Spaghetti, minced chicken, garlic, cornflour, milk, cheese, and oregano. Make a white sauce for the spaghetti, using the ingredients mentioned above.

After it is thick enough, let it remain on the stove (turned off) to cool down a bit. Wash the spaghetti, and let it dry out. Add the spaghetti to the white sauce, about 15 minutes before serving.

At the same time, you can begin deep-frying the marinated chicken pieces until they turn a dark brown shade, and are cooked well. Place the chicken pieces on skewers, and serve with the spaghetti. A mixture of tangy and cheesy flavors! Yum!

Quick dinners don't get quicker than this one. Make some delicious chicken or beef patties using minced chicken or beef, a few veggies like carrots, peas, cabbage, etc.

Coat them with bread crumbs, so that they turn out to be really crispy. Deep-fry them and place them into fresh burger buns or a couple of slices of wheat bread. Have a side salad of sprouts and mushrooms, sprinkled with lemon juice along with this.

Well, those were some ideas that you can definitely try out to have a wonderful meal with your loved ones. They're effortless to prepare but delectable to eat! So have fun testing your culinary skills with them and enjoy your meal!