This is a good thread -- lots of ideas that I plan to steal. Here are two of mine:
Thai shrimp curry: saute sliced onions and red bell peppers in oil for a few minutes, add a spoonful or two of Thai red curry paste, mix that around, then add a can of coconut milk, a squirt of fish sauce, and a squirt of sriracha. Add raw shrimp and and a handful of frozen peas; let simmer until shrimp are cooked through. Serve over rice. Maybe 20 minutes start to finish. I always have coconut milk and Thai red curry paste on hand and usually have a bag of frozen shrimp (I thaw them in a bowl of cold water while I chop the vegetables), and I often throw in other things if I have them: cilantro or basil, scallions, snow peas, etc. I've made it with chicken too: slice the chicken thin and saute it first, just enough to give it a little color, then set it aside, do the rest of the curry, and add the chicken back in at the end.
Fried rice (to use up leftover rice from the Thai curry): saute diced onion, red pepper, carrots, a bit of shredded cabbage, scallions, and frozen peas (basically whatever vegetables you have lying around, chopped small) over high heat for a few minutes, then add some minced garlic (if I'm feeling lazy, which is often, I leave the garlic out). Add some leftover rice and a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, and move rice around until it's all broken up. Add a few tablespoons of oyster sauce and stir until it's incorporated; add more if it seems like the rice is too dry. Clear a space in the center of the pan and add a few eggs, stirring them until they start to set and gradually incorporating them into the surrounding rice. I like a high egg-to-rice ratio, so maybe 4 or 5 eggs for 2 cups of rice, something like that. The oyster sauce is a Cook's Illustrated recommendation that I really like: adds the necessary liquid and flavor and keeps the rice from tasting overwhelmingly of soy sauce.
