Ethan Ward

One pot means one wash-up, and that is the real reason this recipe survives in my house.

Cast iron, ten years, water and a brush only. Soap would not ruin it — but the habit keeps it seasoned.

Cooking for people who arrive early is a skill nobody teaches. Give them something to chop.

Onion, tin of beans, tin of tomatoes, egg on top. Twenty minutes, fifteen of them waiting.

No shopping, no plan. Whatever is oldest goes in first — that is the whole method.

Eleven years old and the only thing in this flat I would grab in a fire. Everything else is replaceable.

Laqin disti naharak, maaqo nammeyhayto. Buxah addah alaysoh garab hoxat yan kah kinnim disti uxih laqna luk suge.

I make it about once a week and it has never been on this feed. Whatever is in the fridge, one pan, no plan.

Layer it in order of how long it takes. That is the entire trick, and it works with almost anything.

The only meal I cook slowly on purpose. Everything else in my week is twenty minutes or less.