It seems like every recipe in an Asian cookbook requires 20 billion ingredients and takes half a day. Granted, they usually taste pretty good.
But what are some good quick and easy ones?
Slice a few pork chops into strips about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch wide. Dump 'em in a well-mixed marinade of soy sauce, minced garlic, and rice vinegar and about a tablespoon of cornstarch. Leave 'em in there for about 45 minutes or so.
Heat some peanut oil in a wok. Add pork to wok. Throw in about a cup or so of frozen corn, and a cup of julienned carrots. Add anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon of hot chili oil, depending on how hot you like it.
Stir-fry until the meat is done, and the carrots are just slightly crunchy. Throw in a can of straw mushrooms if you like at this point, stir until they’re warm, then serve over rice or noodles.
It was pretty damn good.
All it takes to make a Chinese-style side dish is to saute some minced garlic in sesame oil, then add appropriate vegetables (cabbage, summer squash, green beans, spinach, whatever you have on hand) until crisp-tender, then toss with a teaspoon or two of mirin (sweet rice wine) or sherry. Sprinkle on some sesame seeds, if you like.
Here’s my favorite way to whip up stir fry: In a wok, heat some soy sauce, grated fresh ginger, and some white wine, or mirin, or sherry. Add cubed tofu and toss over heat until the sauce is absorbed. (Marinate, schmarinate. This works just as well, and is faster.) Transfer the tofu to a bowl. Add some sesame oil to the wok, and saute some garlic and veggies (e.g. some chopped bok choy) until they’re done. Mix in the tofu and reheat it if that’s necessary (probably not) and serve over rice or noodles.
Twice cooked BBQ Pork with Chinese greens is my favorite Chinese dish. I make a quick, spicy version of it at home using leftover Pork Chops. It’s very easy to make and very tasty, the classic pork and cabbage combo. Make extra porkcops for dinner and use the extras the next day for this dish.
Slice 2 cold cooked porkchops from the bone into strips. Slather the meat with a bit of sriracha or other chili sauce. Bring the wok to the highest temperature, add about 2 tblsps. of vegetable oil and immediately add the marinated pork chops. Stir fry for a minute or so, then add a large head of Bok Choy cut into 2-3 inch pieces. Stir fry for another minute or so and then add 4-5 cloves of minced garlic, if you like spice you would also add some whole dry chiles or crushed red pepper at this point. Stir fry another minute.
Add a cup of water or chicken stock, 2-3 tblsps. of soy sauce, about 4-6 Tblsps. of Oyster Sauce (more or less to your taste), and 1 tsp. of sugar. Bring to a boil and cover the wok with a lid or large pan and let simmer for 6 minutes. Uncover and thicken with a slurry of 2 tblsps. of cornstarch mixed with some stock or water. Finish with a couple of drops of sesame oil (optional). Serve with rice.