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Eggplant stir-fry

There is nothing fancy about this dish but I eat it a lot because it checks off all the boxes: Protein? Check. Fiber/healthy-ish carb? Check. Flavor? Check.

Ingredients:

  • 1 eggplant cubed
  • 1/4 of an onion (chopped)
  • 3 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1 stalk of chopped green onions
  • 3 slices of minced ginger
  • 1 tablespoon of fermented black beans (optional)
  • 2 oz of ground pork (optional)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 tablespoon of canola oil

Tips:

  • I don’t actually cube my eggplant, I do it  滚刀块, which basically roughly translates to “cutting diagonally into chunks.” This exposes the most surface area of the inside of the eggplant. (I think.)

How to serve:

  • You can serve it with rice but I like to eat it on its own.

Directions:

  • Heat up a non-stick pan and place the ground pork into the pan.
  • Flatten the ground pork and try to separate it into little pieces.
  • Throw a pinch of salt and very little soy sauce into the ground pork once it starts to brown.
  • Place the chopped onions into the pan with the meat and stir-fry until fragrant.
  • Set the meat and onions aside.
  • In the same pan, heat up the canola oil.
  • Place the eggplant into the plan and stir-fry until you start to see it browning a little bit.
  • Put in half of the allotted water and cap the eggplant to allow it to cook and soften.
  • Open the cap and throw in the rest of the water, green onions (reserve a few pieces of the very green ones for garnish later), ginger, and garlic and then immediately cap it again. (Now would also be a good time to add in the fermented black beans.)
  • Wait about 1-3 minutes.
  • Open the cap and toss the eggplant around; at this point, the eggplant should be tender.
  • Add in salt the soy sauce and toss for another 1 minutes.
  • Put the dish into a bowl and garnish with the green green onions.
  • Ready to serve.


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Chinese egg pancakes

This is the sort of food you find at one of the stands right by your home in China. When I was in elementary school and living in China, I’d run downstairs every morning to get an order of these and bring back upstairs to eat with my parents.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup of water
  • Salt to taste
  • Green onions
  • Canola oil for cooking

How to serve:

  • You can put pork sung in it and roll it up to eat.
  • As a snack!

Directions:

  • Chop the green onions.
  • Mix the egg and water together well in a bowl.
  • In a separate bowl, sift the flour into it.
  • Add the egg into the flour bowl and mix well.
  • Add the salt and green onions and mix well again.
  • Heat up canola oil in a non-stick pan.
  • Pour 1/3 cup of the mixture into the heated pan and move the pan around to create a circle. Cook for about 1 minute and flip to cook another 1 minute.
  • Repeat this until you have no more mixture.
  • Ready to serve.

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Ribeye

When I first started making steak, I thought, “How hard could this be?”

I was very wrong. I’ve done the reverse-sear (where you bake the ribeye in the oven and then sear it). I’ve attempted the put-it-on-the-cast-iron-BUT-DON’T-TOUCH-IT. I’ve tried just searing it, just baking it, basting, no basting, meat thermometer, or just poking. And after many trials and errors and attempting different ways of making the ribeye, I’ve finally found a go-to.

Ingredients:

  • The finest ribeye you can find (1.25 inch thick)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 sprigs or fresh rosemary
  • 2 tablespoons of butter

Tips:

  • If you dislike butter, like my best friend (why), this recipe works just fine with olive oil!
  • If your steak is a bit thicker or thinner, you can adjust the cooking time.
  • Definitely use fresh rosemary.
  • User a timer for the two-minute sagas.

How to serve:

  • I love it with zucchini, but you can serve it with any old standby such as mashed potatoes, seasonal veggies, or a salad.

Directions:

  • Make sure the steak is FULLY defrosted. It should soft to the touch.
  • Pat the steak as dry as you can; the more moisture you have in the steak, the more you have against you in achieving the perfect crust.
  • Season the steak generously both sides with salt and pepper, and don’t forget the tops and bottoms of the steak as well.
  • Heat up 1 tablespoon of butter in your cast iron and wait for it to get smoking hot.
  • Place your steak into the cast iron once hot enough and cook this side for 2 minutes.
  • Flip to the other side and cook for another 2 minutes.
  • Flip the steak and cook for 2 minutes
  • During this 2 minutes, add in the other tablespoon of butter, the garlic and the rosemary during
  • Baste.
  • By now, your steak should have been cooking for 6 minutes total. Flip it over again, cook for another 2 minutes while basting.
  • If your steak is on the thin side, it should now be a nice medium rare pink and you’re done.
  • If your steak is on the thicker side, flip it over and cook for another 2 minutes while basting.
  • Remove your steak from the cast iron and rest for 10 minutes.
  • Ready to serve.

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Rotisserie chicken rice soup

I came home tonight to a very sick siggy otter, which called for this very comforting dish for dinner. I definitely feel like he got notably better after eating it.

Ingredients:

  • 1 rotisserie chicken
  • 4 cups of organic chicken broth
  • 3 cups of water
  • 1 cup of diced celery
  • 1 cup of diced carrots
  • 1 chopped yellow onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup of raw rice
  • 1 tablespoon of oregano
  • Half to 1 tablespoon of salt
  • 2 teaspoons of black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Tips:

  • If I had more time, I would have made my own broth. But if you have 1 hour or less, this is a great go-to.
  • Go for a lower sodium organic chicken broth.
  • Go light on the salt while cooking because you can always add more salt and pepper into your own bowl.

How to serve:

  • To a sick siggy otter.

Directions:

  • Work on the rotisserie chicken:

    1. Separate and tear the meat into large pieces. (Keep the thighs, wings and drumsticks bone in)
    2. Separate the white and dark meat.
    3. You should have three groups: bone in dark meat, white meat, and chicken bones.
  • Chop the garlic, carrots, onions, and celery.
  • In a pot, heat up the olive oil.
  • Add the garlic and onions; cook until fragrant.
  • Add the carrots and celery; cook until a little bit translucent.
  • Add in the chicken bones, chicken broth and water; put the cap on and bring it to a simmer.
  • Add in the oregano, thyme, a little bit of salt, and black pepper; put the cap on and simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Add in raw rice and bring to a boil; then simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Take the chicken bones out of the mixture.
  • Add in the bone in dark meat you had set aside. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Add more salt and pepper to taste.
  • Ready to serve.


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Chinese spare ribs

Funnily enough, I don’t see this dish in Chinese restaurants at all. But actually, there is really no other dish that reminds me more of my childhood in China.

Ingredients:

  • 1 -2 pounds of spare ribs
  • 3 pinches of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 2 pinches of brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of corn starch
  • 2 tablespoons of rice wine
  • Garlic
  • Ginger
  • Green onions
  • 2 star anises
  • 4 dried chili peppers
  • 1 tablespoon of fermented black beans
  • Laoganma (optional)

Tips:

  • Marinating this dish will definitely make it better, but it tastes great if you don’t marinate it too.
  • I like to save some rice wine, soy sauce and brown sugar for when I actually cook it in the pan instead of using all of the ingredients in the marinade. But it works both ways.

How to serve:

  • Best with rice!

Directions:

  • Mince the garlic.
  • Mince the ginger.
  • Dice the green onions.
  • In a large mixing bowl, put in spare ribs, salt, brown sugar, soy sauce, corn starch, and rice wine (mix the spare ribs each time you put something new in).
  • Let marinate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
  • In a pan or wok, add the star anise, chili pepper and the fermented black means; stir-fry til fragrant.
  • Add in the spare ribs; don’t worry about crowding.
  • Brown each side for a few minutes.
  • Add in garlic, ginger and part of the green onions.
  • Add a little bit of water and put the lid on the pan.
  • Cook for at least an hour.
  • Open the lid every 10-15 minutes to stir, adding in more soy sauce, brown sugar and rice wine (and water) with each stir.
  • Garnish with the rest of the green onions.
  • Ready to serve.

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Make-ahead meatballs

This recipe is my secret for the endless potlucks during the Holidays. These are easy to make, store, and reheat. People will be wondering how you’re able to spawn these delicious meatballs at the drop of a hat when they unexpectedly pop by for an early Thanksgiving dinner.

Ingredients:

  • 3 pounds of 90% lean ground beef
  • 1.5 cups of Italian breadcrumbs
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon of black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of Garlic powder
  • Half a cup of minced fresh onions
  • 1 teaspoon of parsley

Tip:

  • Use your hands when mixing to achieve the best results. Get in there.
  • Let them cool and put them in the freezer to eat at a later time!

How to serve:

  • You can serve these with marinara sauce and spaghetti as spaghetti and meatballs.
  • Throw some cranberry sauce on them and put some toothpicks in for a delightful appetizer.
  • Just eat them as they are.

Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • Chop/mince the onions.
  • In a large mixing bowl, mix everything together evenly.
  • Form 1.25 inch balls and put them in a greased cookie sheet.
  • Pop them in the oven for 10 minutes.
  • Turn the cookie sheet and bake for another 10 minutes.
  • Take them out and let them cool for 10 minutes to enjoy now!
  • Or let them cool completely and put them in your freezer for later

To reheat:

  • Take them out to thaw in your refrigerator the night before.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Put the meatballs on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.
  • Ready to serve.

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Cucumber fried rice

My mom used to make this braised cucumber dish, with fermented black beans and garlic. It’s one of my all-time favorite dishes. In college, I came up with the idea of putting this type of cucumber into rice and now I never make fried rice any other way!

Ingredients:

  • Half of an English cucumber
  • 1/2 cup or cooked white rice
  • Two eggs
  • 1 thin carrot
  • 1/4 of a yellow onion
  • 3 mushrooms
  • Garlic
  • 2 tablespoons of cooked ground pork (optional)
  • Salt
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of fermented black beans
  • 1 tablespoon of Laoganma hot sauce

Tips:

  • I often will not have very exact ingredients for this dish so the amount of each ingredient can absolutely be adjusted based on preference.
  • Microwave your leftover white rice with a bit of water before putting it into the pan is a super useful method to make sure the rice softens.

How to serve:

  • By itself or with anything else.

Directions:

  • Dice the carrot, yellow onion, mushrooms, cucumber.
  • Mince the garlic.
  • Beat the two eggs.
  • In a wok or pan, heat up canola oil.
  • Place the ground pork in with salt and soy sauce; cook until no more juice and you see a little bit of char; set aside.
  • In the same pan, heat up a bit more canola oil.
  • Add in the fermented beans and cook until fragrant.
  • Add in the minced garlic and cucumber; cook for 1 minute.
  • Add the carrots and cook for another minute.
  • Add the onions and stir-fry the mixture for 5 minutes.
  • Add in mushrooms, salt and soy sauce and cook the mixture until fragrant.
  • Add the ground pork and rice into the pan.
  • Use your spatula to soften the rice and mix well with the rest of the ingredients.
  • Make a hole in the middle of the pan and add in the beaten eggs.
  • Scramble the eggs in the middle and then mix with the rest of the ingredients.
  • Add more salt and soy sauce to taste.
  • Add one tablespoon of Laoganma oil to the mixture and mix well.
  • Ready to serve.


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Roasted rack of lamb with rosemary

You can do a lot of things with lamb: cumin stir-fry, skewers (Chinese or Greek style), grilled steaks of lamb, braised leg of lamb etc. But I think oven-roasted rack of lamb has the least amount of fuss and ingredients!

Things you’ll need:

  • 2 racks of lamb
  • Lots of rosemary
  • Garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Sat and pepper

Tips:

  • Make sure you have enough ingredients to cover the entire racks of lamb. Don’t skimp!
  • Definitely try to use fresh rosemary; dried rosemary works but you won’t get that amazing aroma.
  • This recipe also works very well grilled and can be quite the crowd pleaser at summer BBQs.

How to serve:

  • I love to eat this dish with sliced and lightly seared zucchini.
  • Rice pilaf or even mashed potatoes work very well too!

Directions:

  • Chop and mince garlic and rosemary; put them in a bowl with olive oil.
  • Trim the fat on the lamb until it’s the desired thickness of fat; there will be a lot of fat, so be patient and use a small, sharp knife.
  • Rub the garlic/rosemary/olive oil mixture all over the two racks of lamb generously. If you run out of mixture, make more!
  • Marinate for 1 hour; overnight is best.
  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  • Put the racks of lamb in the oven fat side up.
  • Roast for about 15 minutes; rotate your baking sheet and bake for another 15 minutes.
  • Take your lamb out and rest for 15 minutes.
  • Use a meat-carving knife and cut alongside each bone.
  • Ready to serve.

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Tuscan chicken

This is a personal fave! I made this dish a lot when I was on Keto since it’s a great way to consume a lot of fat. But I like it so much that I still make it often even though I’m no longer Keto. (Shout out to my work pal, who’s doing great on her 30 day Keto challenge!)

Ingredients:

  • 4 chicken thighs (skin on)
  • 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup of water
  • Salt and pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • Chili powder
  • 2 shallots
  • Garlic
  • 1 roma tomato
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 1 tablespoon of canola oil
  • 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
  • Parsley for garnish

Tips:

  • I used chili powder for a bit of a kick! Cayenne pepper or paprika work quite well as well.
  • The amount of heavy whipping cream can be adjusted; for a very creamy texture, you can use 2 cups of heavy whipping cream instead of just 1 cup. If you do that, you can scratch the water.
  • USE A CAST IRON.
  • Make sure the cast iron is not too-too hot; heat it up slowly on medium heat.

How to serve:

  • Fettuccini or Zoodles

Directions:

  • Pat the chicken thighs very dry.
  • Season the chicken thighs generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
  • Heat up canola oil in a cast iron on medium heat.
  • Place the chicken thighs into the cast iron, skin side down; it’s fine if they touch.
  • Cook for at least 15 minutes on medium heat.
  • Mince the garlic and shallots.
  • Dice the Roma tomato.
  • Once the skin is crispy and brown, flip the thighs and cook for another 15 minutes.
  • Take the chicken thighs out and set them aside on a plate.
  • In the same cast iron, throw in minced garlic and shallots. Cook until fragrant.
  • Throw in the Roma tomato and cook for 2 minutes.
  • Add the cream, water, salt, pepper, and chili powder and bring the mixture to a simmer.
  • Add in the Parmesan cheese.
  • Place the chicken thighs back into the cast iron on top of the mixture.
  • Simmer for another 10 minutes.
  • Melt the butter into the mixture.
  • Add more salt, pepper, chili powder to taste.
  • Garnish with parsley.
  • Ready to serve.


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Butter chicken (with veggies)

I love this dish because I feel comfortable making it on a weeknight with very little fuss and cleaning. There is no marinating or prep beforehand; you just come home and make it.

Ingredients:

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1 small cauliflower
  • 2 small carrots
  • 6 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 shallot
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of Cumin
  • 1 tablespoon of Brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of Garam Marsala
  • 1 teaspoon of Indian chili
  • 1 teaspoon of Yellow curry powder
  • Garlic
  • Ginger
  • 1 small can of tomato sauce
  • Fresh or dry parsley

Tips:

  • Chicken thigh meat also works for this recipe. I like using chicken breast because the sauce is already quite fatty.
  • Feel free to substitute the veggies with any other veggies that you enjoy (eggplant, bell peppers, potatoes etc. will all go well)!
  • Searing the chicken in batches helps brown every single piece; if you are not picky about the chicken’s texture, you can also feel free to stir fry it.

How to serve:

  • This dish is best served with Naan or basmati rice.
  • Jasmine rice will also work.

Directions:

  • Cut the chicken breast into 1-inch big.
  • Cut the cauliflower into florets.
  • Dice the shallots.
  • Cut the carrots into 1-inch big.
  • Mince the garlic and ginger.
  • Toss the chicken breast in salt, pepper, Indian chili
  • Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan.
  • Place the chicken piece by piece into the pan; work in batches if you want that nice brown searing. Place the half-cooked chicken in a bowl and set aside.
  • Place your vegetables into the same pan and stir fry until cooked. Place the cooked vegetables in a bowl and set aside.
  • Heat another 2 tablespoons of butter in the same pan.
  • Put in the diced shallots and cook til fragrant.
  • Add the garlic, ginger, garam marsala, cumin, cayenne pepper, Indian chili, Yellow curry powder and cook until fragrant.
  • Add in the 1 can of tomato sauce and cook until a little bit bubbly.
  • Add in the 1 cup of cream and cook until a bit bubbly again.
  • Add in 1 cup of water and bring the whole mixture to a simmer.
  • Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in.
  • Add some brown sugar and more of the spices based on preference.
  • Simmer the mixture for 15-30 minutes, depending on how thick you like your sauce.
  • Ready to serve.