No matter what we call it, be it creating food, cooking or mastering culinary techniques, making dishes is not as simple and easy as you might think. The homecooks who step into the kitchen are the ones who need to carefully consider every aspect, such as ensuring the dishes are perfectly balanced in taste, avoiding repetition in their daily creations, and providing nutritious meals at a reasonable cost. Here, we present a 5-day meal plan that not only prioritizes nutrition and affordability but also simplifies the process of deciding your daily cooking choices. 

(1) Quail Egg Fish Sauce Curry, Red Water Spinach Sour Soup, Stir-Fried White Costus (Pha Lan Taung Way)

While many people stick to cooking chicken eggs or duck eggs, quail egg curry can be just as delicious and easy to make. Preparing this dish is as easy as cooking regular eggs, and quail eggs are both affordable and offer a unique flavor that can tantalize your taste buds. To complement the quail egg fish sauce curry, we recommend serving it with stir-fried white costus (Pha Lan Taung Way) and red water spinach sour soup as side dishes. These dishes harmoniously combine saltiness, sourness, and sweetness, creating a mouthwatering experience with each bite of rice. In case white costus is not easily obtainable, you can pair the curry with other seasonal vegetables.

(2) Tiny Shrimp Spicy Curry, Eggplant and Potato Soup, Stir-Fried Pumpkin Leaves

While many people use tiny shrimp as fish paste or as spice in soups, they can also shine as a main dish when cooked correctly. Create a spicy curry when prepared the shrimp with tomatoes and spices. Make sure you cleanse them thoroughly to avoid the shell poking your mouth and recommend buying slightly larger shrimp for a more satisfying meal. Though most people enjoy cooked or marinated eggplant with potatoes, it can also be enjoyed as a soup. Simply prepare it like any regular soup – boil the fish paste in hot water, add salt and seasonings, and let it simmer until the sliced eggplants and potatoes become tender. Before serving, you can add your favorite herbs, such as conima leaves and coriander into hot soup. The alluring aroma of the spicy shrimp curry combined with the hot eggplant and potato soup will for sure awaken your appetite. And, of course, a plate of freshly stir-fried pumpkin leaves serves as the perfect accompaniment to this delightful ensemble.

(3) Fried Egg Curry, Indian Trumpet Salad, Quince Soup

 Creating a unique and interesting dish by frying and recooking the egg sets it apart from the usual egg curry. Thinly slice the Indian trumpet and season it with salt. Washing the slices at least three times with plenty of water will help reduce the bitterness. If you add roasted salted peanuts, chickpea flour and seasonings such as fried peanut oil to the salad, you can eat slightly bitter Indian trumpet salad. The quince soup offers a refreshing and mouth-cleansing sourness that sets it apart from other sour soups. When you enjoy these three dishes together, their distinct flavors will be accentuated on your palate. 

(4) Chicken and Gourd curry, Cucumber Salad, Stir-Fried Water Spinach

Chicken and gourd curry is a delightful dish that combines tender chicken with sweet gourd. Both the chicken and the gourds possess a natural sweetness, and you can cook them with a little oil and water to create the curry dish. If you like coriander, you can add it. Compared to traditional chicken curry and fried chicken, chicken gourd dishes are more convenient, especially for larger families. A cucumber salad can be swiftly prepared by grating a large cucumber, adding a squeeze of lemon and fish paste. If preferred, small fish crackers can be used as a substitute for fish paste to create a laputtar cucumber salad. For a delicious water spinach dish, wash the fresh water spinach and use a knife to smash the garlic. Add a dash of oyster sauce and stir-fry the mixture to enjoy a hot and aromatic vegetable dish. The combination of meat, vegetables, and the blend of sweet, sour, and spicy flavors will captivate your family's taste buds, leaving them eagerly eating without any pause.

(5) Snake Gourd Stuffed, Mustard Leaf Sweet and Sour Soup, Smashed Chilli Salt Paste

To create the delicious snake gourd stuffed with shrimp and chital fish cake, start by carefully scraping the gourd's skin with a knife and removing the center core. Once prepared, stuff it with a delightful mixture of shrimp or chital fish cake. Another delightful option is the traditional Shan soup, known as mustard leaf sweet sour soup. This soup is made with mustard leaves and chicken bones, offering a unique and delightful taste. The combination of the snake gourd's intrinsic sweetness and the flavors of the stuffed meat create a deliciously sweet and savory dish. To complement this harmonious balance of sweet and savory, pair it with smashed chili salt paste, and this delightful combination will certainly open up your taste buds when enjoyed with a bowl of steamed rice on a rainy day.

Housewives can sometimes feel overwhelmed when thinking and planning what to cook, especially when it comes to creating perfect combinations of dishes day after day. However, cooking expensive dishes is not always the key to a nutritious and appetizing meal. Reasonably priced dishes can also be appetizing and nutritious when you know how to pair them well. Let's enjoy a comforting meal with our family, serving up steamed rice and a bowl of hot curry cooked at home using the recipes mentioned above.