Cutting the Takeaway Habit: Desi Favourites You Can Make at Home in Under an Hour

Why we order in

Nobody orders takeaway because they do not know how to cook. We order because it is Thursday, everyone is tired, and the kitchen looks like a lot of work. That is a planning problem, not a skills problem. If dinner is half decided before you walk in, the delivery app loses much of its pull.

This guide looks at the dishes families order most and how to make them at home with less fuss.

Do a small experiment first

Before changing anything, look at last month's orders. Count the number of deliveries and add up the total, including fees and tips. Many families are surprised. You do not need to cut everything; you might aim to replace half of the orders, and keep one weekend treat.

Swap one: biryani

Biryani feels like a project, and a full dum biryani is. But a weeknight version is manageable.

• Marinate the chicken in yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, and spices the night before or in the morning.
• Parboil the rice while the chicken cooks.
• Layer and steam for twenty to twenty-five minutes.

The marinade does the heavy lifting while you are out. See our chicken biryani page for amounts, with a servings scaler. Make a larger batch and portion the leftovers into the fridge or freezer for another evening. Cool them within about an hour and reheat until steaming hot.

Swap two: karahi

Karahi is the easiest restaurant dish to copy at home, because it is fast and uses few ingredients: chicken, tomatoes, ginger, green chilli, and a handful of spices. A pan that is hot enough and a bit of patience matter more than a long list. Try karahi with bone-in chicken pieces for the best flavour. The same tomato-and-ginger base can be reused for other proteins.

Swap three: tikka and kebabs

Tikka is marinade plus heat. Marinate pieces of chicken in yogurt, lemon, and spices, then grill, air fry, or bake at a high temperature until the juices run clear and the centre is cooked through. USDA guidance for poultry is 74 C (165 F) in the thickest part. A meat thermometer is a worthwhile purchase, since it prevents both dry meat and undercooked meat. Our chicken tikka recipe has the full method.

Swap four: the comfort bowl

Plenty of takeaway orders are really comfort food: daal, a vegetable curry, and rice. These are often the cheapest and quickest dishes to cook. A pot of daal moong takes little active time, and chana masala from tinned chickpeas takes about as long as the delivery wait.

Build a restaurant-style base once

A lot of that restaurant flavour comes from a deeply cooked onion-tomato base. You can make a large batch at the weekend and freeze it in small portions, which cuts the weeknight work in half. Fry onions slowly until golden, add ginger-garlic paste and tomatoes, and cook until the oil separates. Cool quickly and freeze in flat bags. Defrost in the fridge and use within a day or two once thawed.

Stock a fast-dinner kit

Keep these on hand so that a no-plan evening still ends with a proper meal:

• A bag of frozen parathas or roti
• Tinned chickpeas and tomatoes
• Eggs
• Rice
• Frozen peas and spinach
• A jar of homemade or good-quality ginger-garlic paste

With these, you can put dinner on the table in thirty minutes, with no delivery fee.

Keep one treat

Giving up takeaway completely is rarely realistic. A better approach is to choose the order that gives you the most joy, such as a favourite restaurant's nihari or a special kebab, and keep that as a weekend treat. Everything else comes home.

Decide before you are hungry

The deciding moment is at four in the afternoon, not at seven in the evening. Choose dinner early, check the pantry, and thaw anything that needs it. If your household can never agree, a quick family vote can end the debate. The Degchi app, currently in beta, includes a family dinner poll as well as pantry-based suggestions, and you can join the beta through our website.

Tracking the saving

Write down the amount you would have spent on delivery and put it into a jar or a savings pot. Seeing the number grow is a surprisingly strong motivator. Many families find they save enough in a couple of months to pay for a bigger treat, like a proper family meal out, rather than a string of rushed deliveries.