My Weekly Indian Vegetarian Meal System in the Netherlands (as a Working Parent)

Let's Be Honest

Cooking Indian food every day while working full-time in the Netherlands? It sounds great in theory. In reality, you come home tired, the kids are hungry, and suddenly that dal you were going to make from scratch feels like a three-hour project.

I've been there. Multiple grocery trips a week, half-chopped veggies going bad in the fridge, and way too many "let's just order something" evenings. Dutch supermarkets don't exactly make it easy either — no bulk lentils, limited Indian staples, and meal planning advice that's built around meat-based diets.

So I built a system. Not random recipes or a meal prep aesthetic — an actual structure around what goes on the plate every day. Once I stopped thinking in terms of "what should I cook tonight" and started thinking in terms of plate essentials — protein, veggies, grain — everything clicked.

Here's the system.

The Plate: Protein + Veggies + Grain

Every meal I make follows this simple framework. Instead of planning individual dishes, I plan each component of the plate separately. This makes shopping predictable, prep manageable, and weekday cooking almost automatic.

1. Protein: Start Here

Let's be real — most traditional Indian vegetarian meals are carb-heavy and protein-light. Living abroad, I've become much more intentional about this. Protein is the first thing I plan for the week.

What I rotate through:

Paneer or tofu — the heavy hitters. I keep these stocked and use them 1-2 times a week.

Eggs — if you eat them, they're quick and versatile.

Soy nuggets (meal maker) — decent protein, cooks fast, kids don't complain.

Dals — moong, masoor, toor. I cook these fresh during the week using my prepped onion-tomato base (more on that below).

Rajma, chole, sambar — hearty, protein-rich, and they reheat beautifully. I boil two different beans in the Instant Pot together using the pot-in-pot method — say rajma and chole, or chole and chana. Two proteins prepped in half the time.

Sprouted dals — green moong, black urad, brown masoor. Sprouting bumps up the nutrition and can be eaten raw in salad or cooked as dal/cheela.

The prep: On the weekend, I boil beans in the Instant Pot and keep them ready. During the week, turning them into a curry takes 15 minutes with the onion-tomato base. For lentils and legumes I cook fresh that day, I soak them in the morning directly in the Instant Pot with spices and set a delay start — by the time I'm back from the office, they're cooked and ready to assemble. Just add the onion-tomato base, a quick tadka, and dinner is done.

2. Veggies: One Dry Sabzi + One-Pot Meals

This is where the system really shines. Instead of trying to cook a different sabzi every day, I split the week into two modes:

Sunday: One dry sabzi (covers 1-2 days)

I pick one dry sabzi that needs pre-chopping and longer cooking time — aloo gobhi, mix veg, or aloo beans. These are the dishes that feel annoying to make on a weeknight because of all the chopping and stovetop time. So I make them on Sunday when I have the space.

I actually roast a lot of these in the oven — aloo gobhi and mix veg turn out amazing once roasted, then I just mix them with onion-tomato tadka on the stove. No standing and stirring for 30 minutes.

Rest of the week: One-pot dal/legume dishes

For the remaining days, I make a one-pot dish — dal or legumes with spinach and a veggie of choice thrown in. No need to prepare two separate dishes. A moong dal with palak and some lauki, or a chana with spinach and tomatoes — it's protein and veggies in one pot. Quick, balanced, done.

3. Grains: Keep It Boring

Grains are the easiest part. I don't overthink this:

Rice — cook a batch, use it for 2 days. I target to use it within 24 hours. Rice cooker to the rescue!

Quinoa — cooks fast, pairs with everything, sneaks in extra protein

Couscous — literally just add hot water

Rotis — I use a Rotimatic. If you like fresh rotis but don't have time to roll them out every evening, it's worth it.

The Secret Weapon: Onion-Tomato Base

This ties the whole system together. On the weekend, I make a big batch of onion-tomato base and keep it in the fridge. When it's time to cook during the week, I skip the whole "sauté onions for 15 minutes, then add tomatoes and wait" routine. I just scoop out some base, add spices, and I'm halfway to any sabzi or dal in minutes.

Whether I'm making the dry sabzi, a quick dal, or turning pre-cooked beans into a curry — it all starts with this base.

A Typical Week Looks Like This

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This isn't rigid — it's a framework. Some weeks I swap things around, some days I'm lazier than others. But the structure means I never have to stand in the kitchen wondering "what do I make?"

What Changed for Us

After sticking with this system for months:

Weekend prep takes about 90 minutes — that's my entire "meal planning" for the week

Grocery shopping is one trip, not three

Weekday dinners went from 60 minutes of stressed cooking to 15-20 minutes of calm assembly

We spend way less on takeout

The kids eat home-cooked Indian food almost every day

And something I didn't expect — the consistency and predictability of meals actually reduced the kids' fussiness. When they know roughly what to expect and see the same familiar foods showing up regularly, there's less drama at the dinner table. Turns out kids thrive on routine, even with food.

The Real Takeaway

I stopped thinking about meals and started thinking about plates — protein, veggies, grain. That one shift turned chaotic weeknight cooking into something that just runs on its own. The onion-tomato base, pre-cooked beans, one Sunday sabzi, and simple one-pot meals for the rest of the week.

It's not about perfection. It's about keeping our food culture alive in a way that actually fits our life here. And honestly? The food tastes better when you're not exhausted making it.

*Want the kitchen hacks, appliance tips, and shopping strategy that make this system work? Read Smart Kitchen Hacks for Indian Cooking in Europe.*