Simple Chinese Feast

The great thing about these recipes is that they are quick and easy to cook with little preparation and cooking time! So you can make a couple in the time it might take you to make one usual dish in some circumstances! They also go really well together, so we make a few and eat them over a couple of nights together!

The first dish in our asian feast is Stir-Fried Rice Noodles. The ingredients for this dish are:
500g of Fresh Rice Noodles3 tablespoons of Light Soy Sauce1 teaspoon of brown sugar1 cup of bean sprouts1 teaspoon of sesame oila sprinkling of dried chili flakesGet the wok going and cook the sugar and soy sauce for ten seconds, then add the noodles and stir fry for 1 minute. Then stir in the bean sprouts and the remaining ingredients. Done! This is a perfect accompaniment to any dish and the fresh rice noodles are fantastic.

The second dish is Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Garlic. The ingredients for this dish are:
1 bunch of choy sum3 bunches of bok choy1 teaspoon of sea salt (or less if you don?t like it too salty)5 cloves crushed garlic2 tablespoons of waterhalf a teaspoon of sesame oil2 tablespoons dry sherry (or shao hsing wine if you can get it)Once you?ve heated some oil in the wok (preferably peanut), add the salt and garlic and stir fry for ten seconds adding in the bok choy and choy sum and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the dry sherry, stir fry for another 30 seconds, add the water and stir fry until the leaves are tender. Stir in the sesame oil and its ready to eat! A very earthy greens accompaniment to any dish.


The two stand out dishes of this feast are the potatoes and the pumpkin! The ingredients for the potatoes are:
500g baby new potatoes (which have been boiled until soft)5cm piece of ginger2 tablespoons of brown sugar2 tablespoons of shao hsing wine (or dry sherry)1 tablespoon of light soy sauceHeat some peanut oil in the wok, add the potatoes and stir fry them for a minute or until they are browned all over! Don?t panic if they break up a bit but try not to mash too much. Add the ginger and stir fry for 30 seconds, then add the sugar, wine and soy sauce and stir fry it for another minute or until its caramelised. Yum!

Last but by no means least, our favourite dish out of the lot is the Stir Fried Pumpkin with Black Beans! You will need to get some salted black beans, which can be bought at China Town, we use the fermented salted black beans.
500g of pumpkin5cm piece of ginger (chopped)quarter of a cup of dry sherry (or shao hsing wine)2 teaspoons of brown sugarquarter cup of water1 tablespoon of brown rice vinegar1 tablespoon of light soy1 teaspoon of sesame oil1 tablespoon of salted black beansYou need to cut the pumpkin into small stir fry pieces. Heat some oil in a wok and add the pumpkin and ginger and stir fry this until its lighty browned. Then add black beans and stir fry for one minute before adding the dry sherry and sugar and stir frying for another minute. Then add the water and stir fry for 2 minutes. Finally add the vinegar, light soy and sesame oil and stir fry for the final 2 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked to the consistency you like. Serve immediately!

As mentioned previously the great thing about these recipes is that they are quick in preparation and cooking time! They don?t use a lot of ingredients and most of them are fairly simple! So this makes a great humble feast for when you can?t be bothered spending long hours in the kitchen!