Recipes: Chinese

My friend, Min (from Singapore), taught me how to cook good fried rice. This is her recipe and she was kind enough to serve up some good advice along with it. Remember:

The key to cooking good Chinese food is to have all your ingredients prepped ahead of time.

This is also a great dish for using up bits and bobs of leftover roast meat and vegetables.

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked Jasmine (or fragrant Thai) rice

1/2 cup each: frozen peas, sweet corn kernels, carrots

3 oz. pre-cooked ham, chicken, or turkey (diced) or

Vegetarian Option: diced extra-firm tofu or black beans

1 medium onion, chopped

2 spring onions, chopped

3 eggs, scrambled

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp Chinese rice wine

3 Tbsp vegetable oil (I like to sub safflower or canola oil - it's a bit healthier)

pinch of salt and pepper

First, prep all your ingredients and have them ready to go.

In wok, heat oil until slightly smoking. Stir fry onion, meat (in this case I used leftover turkey), soy sauce and rice wine until onions are translucent (about 2-3 minutes).

Add rice and scrambled egg, then stir fry for 2 minutes.

Next, add salt, pepper, and vegetables. Stir fry 2 minutes more.

Finally, add spring onions. Stir fry another minute then transfer to serving dish.

Occasionally, I like to add some toasted cashews (if I've got them lying around) for a little variety. Add the cashews (if you desire) in the last step of the cooking along with the spring onions.

You can easily transform this dish into a vegetarian meal by substituting diced extra-firm tofu or black beans in lieu of the meat.

Here is another crockpot recipe that I acquired from a friend. The prep is easy, the slow-cooker does all the work, and the kids can enjoy eating something messy with their hands! The Asian flavoings in the sauce lend well to a side dish of fried rice.

Ingredients:

3 lbs. pork ribs

1/4 cup oyster sauce

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

4 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp rice wine

1/2 cup ketchup

Mix together everything except the ketchup in a small mixing bowl. Put ribs in slow cooker and pour sauce over the top. Slow cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours.