A warning to the time-challenged: The recipes found in Mark Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks at Home (Broadway, 2002, $26) do require preparation.

Some, like Chicken Curry in a Hurry, take mere minutes, but others, requiring dicing, mincing and stirring, may take an hour or so. Still, that's not bad for flavorful dishes that ask for only modest culinary ability.

Bittman's updated collection of 99 recipes, crafted to "give you more flavor from fewer ingredients in less time," is a breezy, nonthreatening contribution to the canon of cookbooks geared toward those of us who like to cook but don't have all day and have never gotten around to perfecting their reduction prowess. (As it happens, Bittman offers a reduction-sauce method and claims it is easy.)

I like the way Bittman embraces curry powder, coconut milk, fish sauce and other slightly adventurous spices and flavorings to transcend the usual expectations for poultry, pasta, seafood and other fare. The Minimalist provides a happy compromise for those who enjoy putting extra effort into a Saturday night meal but can't start thinking about it until 5 p.m.

With each recipe, Bittman, who writes The Minimalist column for The New York Times, also includes options for variety's sake. Some are fairly obvious. He recommends adding sausage and/or peas, chicken and other ingredients to his Paella, Fast and Easy. But other suggestions are confidence builders for timid cooks or those who tend to follow recipes in exact measure. Green Beans With Lemon, for example, can be jazzed up with a "tablespoon or more of soy sauce," or a teaspoon of garlic added to the butter or oil as it cooks.

After preparing Shrimp in Yellow Curry the other evening, I felt triumphant. It was an entree of complex fragrances and flavors prepared from deceptively simple ingredients.

Shrimp in Yellow Curry

Time: 30 minutes

Makes 4 servings

2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

1 cup minced onion

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon minced fresh hot chiles, or crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

1 tablespoon curry powder, or to taste

1 cup fresh or canned coconut milk

1 1/2 to 2 pounds medium-to-large shrimp, peeled (see note)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons nam pla or nuoc nam (fish sauce, available at most supermarkets and Asian food markets), or to taste

1/4 cup chopped cilantro or mint leaves

Place the oil in a large, deep skillet and turn the heat to medium. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and chiles and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender and the mixture pasty. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring, another minute.

Add the coconut milk and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring only occasionally, until the mixture is reduced by about half.

Add the shrimp, a few pinches of salt and a little black pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimp release their liquid and turn pink, 5 to 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon nam pla, stir, then taste and add the rest if necessary. Garnish with cilantro or mint and serve with white or sticky rice.

Note: Boneless chicken or pork, cut into cubes, scallops or firm tofu can be substituted for shrimp.