Healthy World Recipes: 5 Travel-Inspired & Budget-Friendly Dishes (2024)

The following simple, budget-friendly, and healthy world recipes will make you travel from home.

When you think about travel, there are so many aspects about it that make it unique. Food is definitely one of the first things that come into our minds. You go to a country to have different experiences like discovering wonderful places, meeting the locals, trying new cuisines, etc.

Although we can’t physically travel at the moment, we can travel through food. We’ve collected 5 healthy, simple, and budget-friendly recipes from around the world that you’ll want to cook over and over again.

1. Spain – Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a cold soup that is traditionally from Andalusia in Southern Spain. This is a soup that locals normally have during the summer months as a refresher due to the high temperatures.

Gazpacho has some variations too: salmorejo, which is similar to gazpacho but it’s garnished with boiled egg and serrano ham, and ajoblanco, also known as white gazpacho because it’s made with almonds.

It’s tasty, fresh and it has healthy ingredients!

Ingredients

• ½ kg tomatoes
• ½ green pepper
• ½ cucumber
• 1 garlic clove
• ¼ cup extra olive oil
• 1 white bread slice
• Salt

Instructions

1. Put the tomatoes in boiled water and meanwhile wash, peel and cut the cucumber into dice. Once the tomatoes have been under hot water for a couple of minutes, proceed to peel them and cut them into chunks.
2. Wash and cut the green pepper into chunks.
3. Put the peeled tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, garlic, and bread in a blender until they are thoroughly blended.
4. Add vinegar, salt, and olive oil and blend again for a few seconds.
5. Get a sieve and put the soup through. Then put it in the fridge for an hour or an hour and a half.
6. Serve the soup in small glasses.

When you serve the gazpacho, you can add an ice cube to make it extra cool. Also, when you serve it, you can add some toppings such as hard-boiled egg, cucumber, or croutons.

Related read: 1-Week Itinerary for Costa del Sol

2. The UK – Shepherd’s pie

This British recipe is one of the heartiest and richest in flavors. It also has other names such as cottage pie. However, there is a debate on how it should be called. Apparently, cottage pie is made with beef mince whereas shepherd’s pie is made with lamb.

But many British would refer to shepherd’s pie to what is supposed to be cottage pie.

Apart from the type of meat, a good shepherd’s pie must definitely have mince, gravy, and mash potatoes.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 celery stalk
• 100g peas
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 garlic clove
• 500g beef mince
• 1 beef stock cube
• 1 bay leaf
• Olive oil
• Salt

Ingredients for the mash

• 3 tsp milk
• 1 kg of potatoes
• 50g butter
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

To cook the mince

1. In a large pan, add olive oil and sauté the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic on medium heat.
2. Once they are cooked, add the beef mince and fry until the meat is completely done.
3. Add the can of tomato, tomato puree, beef stock, and bay leaf to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, fill the empty tomato can with water, and add it to the mixture.
4. Bring to boil and leave it to simmer for 15-25 minutes.
5. Add the peas, stir well, and remove the bay leaf.

To make the mash

1. Peel, chop, and boil the potatoes for 25 minutes or until they are done.
2. Once the potatoes have steamed, drain and put them in a big bowl and mash.
3. Add butter, milk, salt, and pepper. Stir well and add more butter or milk if needed.

To assemble

1. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C.
2. Get a rectangular oven dish, put the mince and top with the mash.
3. Ruffle with a fork and put it in the oven for 20 minutes until golden.
4. Optional – add some cheese on top and put it in the oven again for 5 minutes until the cheese melts.

3. India – Dahl

The word dahl means dried pulses and it makes sense since its main ingredients are pulses. You can also find it written in other ways like dal and dail.

It’s a humble meal that also contains vegetables and sometimes meat.

Although there isn’t much about its origins and some people believe that it was served to guests in ceremonies, and there isn’t a unique dahl recipe because its preparation varies across the different regions in India.

This is a delicious and vegan version of dahl:

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 400ml light coconut milk
• 400g canned chickpeas
• 1 ½ cups dry red lentils
• 140g baby spinach leaves
• 1 bunch coriander
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 3 tsp madras curry paste
• 1 tsp extra olive oil
• Lemon
• Steamed rice

Instructions

1. Finely chop the onion, grated the ginger, crush the garlic cloves and separate the coriander stems from the leaves.
2. In a big and deep pan, drizzle some olive oil and heat on medium heat. Then, add onion, ginger, garlic, and coriander stems and let them cook for approximately 3 minutes until the onion is soft.
3. Add the madras curry paste and stir well for a minute or so.
4. Drain the canned chickpeas in a colander and add them to the pan. Immediately, rinse the lentils and add them too.
5. Add the coconut milk and a glass of water to the pan and stir well.
6. Bring to boil and then reduce the heat to low.
7. Leave to simmer for approximately 25 to 30 minutes until everything is tender.
8. Put the spinach and squeeze the lemon.
9. Serve with steamed rice and decorate with coriander leaves.

For a better food experience, serve it with warm naan bread or chapatis.

Read also: 6 Tips on growing a vegetable garden

4. North Africa and the Middle East – Shakshuka

Shakshuka, which means “all mixed up”, is believed to have originated in Yemen, however, it’s now traditionally cooked from the Middle East to North Africa.

Apart from the traditional shakshuka, there are other variations like green shakshuka made with spinach, mangold, and cream.

It’s simple, tasty and you can have it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 red pepper
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ or ¼ chili powder (depending on how hot you want it)
• 1 can peeled tomatoes
• 4 eggs
• Salt and pepper
• 1 bunch of fresh cilantro
• 1 bunch of fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Wash, chop the pepper and remove the seeds as well as chop the onion.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan and add the pepper and onion. Cook them for 5 minutes on medium heat until the onion is translucent.
3. Finely chop the garlic cloves and add them to the pan with all the spices.
4. After a minute, pour the can of peeled tomatoes in with its juice and break the tomatoes using a spoon. Season and leave it to simmer.
5. Make small holes in the sauce using the spoon and crack the eggs in each hole.
6. Cover the pan and cook until the eggs are done.
7. Garnish with cilantro and parsley.
8. Serve in bowls with crusty bread on the side.

You can also use toppings such as crumbled feta cheese or pitted Kalamata olives for a dairy-free version.

5. Mexico – Shrimp Tacos

When you think about Mexican foods – one of the friendliest cuisines for gluten-intolerant travel – tacos is usually one of the main dishes that come to your mind. Despite being a national dish, its origins are uncertain. It’s believed that it originated in the Mexican silver mines.

There’s much more than street food tacos! Mexicans put dedication into making great tortillas as well as filling them with delicious toppings. The most traditional taco is tacos al pastor that is filled with slow-cooked and marinated pork, however, there are many variations.

This is a simple and delicious variation of the traditional taco.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

• 20-25 deveined and peeled shrimps
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 1 and ½ tsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• Salt
• A squeeze of a lime

Ingredients for the salsa

• 5-6 Roma tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• ½ jalapeño (add more if you want it spicier)
• ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro including stems and leaves
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• A good squeeze of a lime
• Salt
• Optional – add some chopped avocado.

Instructions

To cook the shrimps

1. In a medium/big bowl, add the minced garlic, cumin, olive oil, chili powder, and salt. Whisk all the ingredients together and then add the shrimps. Make sure you toss them to coat completely.
2. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes up to a day. The longer you leave it, the richer they will be.
3. Add olive oil to a pan and cook the shrimps on medium-high heat until they are done.
4. Turn off the heat, squeeze some lime, and put them on aside.

To make the salsa

1. Chop all the veggies: tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, and cilantro. If you’re adding avocado, chop it too.
2. Put the veggies in a medium bowl and mix them together.
3. Add salt, squeeze the lime and mix again.

To assemble

1. Optional – warm up the tortillas in a grill.
2. Spoon the salsa over the warm tortilla.
3. Add the shrimps.
4. Squeeze a bit of lime.
5. Optional – drizzle some sour cream.

Do you know of any other travel-inspired and healthy world recipes? Send us a message, we’d love to add them to this list!

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