Poppadoms made easy
My boyfriend came back from the Indian supermarket with poppadoms (the uncooked kind), but we had run out of oil to cook them in. I discovered that you can put these in the microwave for just over a minute and they cook and expand. It’s healthier and saves wasting so much oil. I’m Indian and never knew this. Mind blown! Prerna Menon, Glasgow
No-cook puds
For a quick, easy and delicious chocolate pudding, get two ripe persimmons and wash them. Leaving the skin on, whizz in a blender with two tablespoons of dark, bitter cocoa powder, then put the mixture into a glass bowl and leave in the fridge for at least two hours. It’s best eaten the next day. If you like it less sweet, add more cocoa powder. Caterina, Italy
Spice up your snack life
Oven-roasted chickpeas are, in my view, the superior working-from-home snack. Drain a can of chickpeas and dry with a paper towel, spread them on a baking tray and coat with olive oil and a good sprinkling of salt. Whack in a 200C oven for 25-30min. The result is crispy, golden chickpeas that are warm and yielding in the middle. I like to season mine with smoked paprika or rosemary, but have also had success with za’atar, cayenne and sriracha. Verity, London
Roots manoeuvre
Putting whole fresh ginger into a jar of water in the fridge extends its life for weeks. First, wash the ginger, but don’t peel it. Place it inside a clean glass jar. Then fill the jar with enough cooled boiled water to cover the ginger pieces. Replace the water once a week.
It will remain plump, moist and full of flavour for weeks. You will know it is time to throw it out when the ginger becomes soggy at the ends, the skin starts to break down and/or it doesn’t smell fresh.
Baljit Cheema, Patterdale, Cumbria
Couldn’t-be-easier cookies
My easiest and best lockdown recipe is banana and oatmeal cookies. You just need two bananas, a cup of oats and dried fruit to taste. Mix all the ingredients, add a little maple syrup, then form into balls and bake at 180C for 15 minutes. They are especially good with yoghurt and lift me up on dull days. Viviana, Italy
Pickles (with everything)
One of my few happy lockdown memories (at home, my husband and I working full-time with three small children) is of us sitting down to lunch every day and each one of us becoming strangely addicted to pickle. Adding pickled onions, gherkin or piccalilli to salad, pasta or a jacket potato with tuna or cheese made a very ordinary lunch seem exceptional. I have recently made piccalilli for the first time. Laura, Cambridge
Perfect pizza – without a pizza oven
Follow any dough recipe. Heat the grill to maximum, put a heavy dusting of polenta into a non-stick pan, then put the dough into the pan, stretching it out. Add tomato sauce and toppings, then put over a hot flame till you get dark toasty spots on the base. Finally, put it under the grill till done. It works almost as well as a proper pizza oven and has helped scratch our takeaway itch. Andrew, Newcastle
Give me some skin
Don’t throw away banana peel: it can be eaten raw or cooked. Wash and scrub ripe bananas (preferably organic or pesticide-free) and add them whole to smoothies, vegan ice-cream, puddings and savoury items such as curries. You can even marinade and fry them to make fake bacon. They are full of vitamin B6, magnesium and potassium, plus some fibre and protein. Alternatively, place the skins in a jar of water overnight and use this “juice” as plant fertiliser. Alison Coldwell, France
Classy cooler
I enjoyed frozen grapes when working from home during the summer. They take on a sort of half sorbet, half granita texture. Delicious and healthy. John Tanter, London
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