cooking in china
i am living abroad and struggling with cooking quite a bit. i make most of my meals fried in sesame oil or just microwaving veggies with water... im absolutely clueless because i am without an oven!!
does anyone have any great dishes that might be "china" friendly... meaning, i have a wok, a microwave, and one plug-in burner. i have many many vegetables to choose from, and soy products are everywhere.
my most common ingredients are:
mushroom
green pepper
onion
spinach
sweet potato
egg plant
ginger
garlic
pumpkin
and the only fruits i can find locally are dragonfruit, banana, apple, orange, kiwi, and pear this time of year.
my spices are very limited. i have salt, pepper, 5 spice, soy sauce, brown sugar, and tons of spicey pastes to choose from.
i am ESPECIALLY craving pumpkin... i can get as far as microwaving it for a couple minutes and eating it plain but i think there are much more creative things to do with it.
thank you so much!!!
Get to steaming! Steamed tofu and spinach is yummy. You can add a little minced ginger and soy sauce for additional flavor too. You could make a pumpkin curry with soy milk. I remember having lightly breaded fried pumpkin and sweet potatoes many times when I was in China. It would also be easy to throw together a tofu and spinach soup. So yummy.
Also, garlic stir fried eggplant was probably my favorite dish! I have tried to recreate it since coming back.
medium eggplant, skin on, chunked bite-sized and soaked in water with a tablespoon of salt for 10 minutes
2-3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
mix a sauce of 2 1/4 tsp soy sauce, 1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cornstarch (or other thickener), 1/4 tsp chili oil (or, if you don't have any, add a few diced chilis without the seeds)
drain the eggplant
fry eggplant and garlic in vegetable or sesame oil for about 5 minutes, until tender and turning brown
pour sauce in and cook until thickened
I want some now!
I can't wait to get back to China. I thought eating out was so easy, especially compared to Europe. I never had to cook for myself though. Do you like the sesame breads and scallion pancakes at the street vendors? I loved that stuff! Where are you? Are you teaching, working, or learning? I have other recipes you could probably make. Email me at: seesaw.foddergmailcom
soup! you can get miso i'm assuming? just use water, veggies, miso. mmmm. I made lots of soup while i was living abroad. not many dishes either!! i really liked that part. and i could use a hodge podge of ingredients and it always tasted yummy.