Sounds helpful

Interesting

never done that myself but yeah that should work

Year Of The Monkey!

Celebrate the Lunar New Year with some traditional Asian dishes! Chinese cuisine is infamous for being rather finicky and high maintenance, but some are simple and cheap, and common during the Eastern holiday season!

Baked Fish (2-4 spoons)

The Chinese phrase  年年有餘 means ‘may the new year bring prosperity’. And the character ‘餘’ (meaning prosperity) also phonetically sounds the same as ‘魚’, which means fish. So came to be that fish is essential in a traditional Lunar New Years meal. 

Common fishes eaten are catfish, flounder, bass, perch, and snapper. Take a gutted and scaled fish, head and all, and lightly rub with salt and mild seasonings and herbs. Cook in a preheated 400 F oven upon a baking tin lined with tinfoil for 30-35 minutes. Serve with soy sauce.

Dressed Rice (2-4 spoons)

It’s common to add supplementary ingredients to a pot of raw rice before it’s all steamed, making it a full meal with a single button press. Add raw prawns, cut potatoes and yams, slices of chicken or duck, quail eggs, chestnuts, bamboo shavings, and bay leaves.

Papaya Milk (3-4 spoons)

Blend the meat of one medium, overripe, seeded Jamaican papaya with a glass of milk. Sweeten with condensed milk or honey. Makes a good dessert!

Red Bean Soup (4-5 spoons)

Red beans are a common dessert ingredient all throughout Asia. Red bean soup is very easy to make, but does take more than a day; soak 2 cups of red beans (also known as adzuki beans) in cold water for at least five hours, maybe overnight if you can help it. Then, place the beans in a pot, add water to just about cover the beans, and boil for three hours, stirring occasionally. 

Add a cup of sugar and boil for 15 more minutes. If the beans aren’t softened by this point, some blend the mixture in a food processor. Commonly added is condensed milk for extra sweetness

Onigiri (Rice Balls) 4-5 Spoons

A popular lunch food all over Asia. These keep for a couple days in the fridge. Two rice balls make a full meal.

Ingredients (15-20 min cooking rice, 15-20 min prep)

Cook the (washed) rice in the 4 1/2 cups of water for 15-20 minutes, until fully fluffy and soft. Leave to cool.

Combined the salt with one cup of water into a small bowl, set aside.

Once rice is cool enough to handle, wet hands with the salty water and form rice into lumps. Dress and seal with a slice of dry nori. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

There are many different ways to shape rice balls. They can be plain spheres, or triangles, or cookie shapes, and beyond.

Rice Porridge/Asian Congee (2-3 spoons)

AKA oatmeal from the other side of the globe. Rice porridge is a traditional breakfast, and is often made with leftover rice. Rice porridge is mostly eaten as a savory meal.

Ingredients (takes 5-10 minutes)

1 cup cooked rice. It looks like very little, but trust me. It’ll expand.

Thirteen cups water for thin consistency. Eight cups water for thick consistency. And anything in the middle.

Add to pot, and boil until desired consistency is achieved! There are many ways to dress up your bowl of Asian congee. You can sprinkle prepackaged rice seasonings, or a pinch of salty dried meats/seafoods ... 

Or add some meats, tofu, and vegetables ... 

Or my personal favorite; the addition of a flavorful century egg.

Delicious porridge!

Sweet Rice Porridge (2-3) Spoons

You will need: Rice Cinnamon Sugar Water/Milk

Okay, so you take some rice, pour it in a bowl, pour in milk or water until it covers barely the top. Cook the rice until it is soft and the milk makes the grains stick together slightly. You may want to cover the bowl. Add cinnamon and sugar to taste. Fills up fast and very easy to make for any meal if you like

Ready-To-Cook Foods at the Asian Grocery

Next time you visit Chinatown, keep an eye out for:

Zongzi 粽子 (glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves)

This Chinese dish is sticky rice wrapped tightly in bamboo leaves and then steamed. There are sweet and savory varieties; some are sweet mango rice desserts, some are salty brown rice with slices of fatty pork. Usually sold frozen, they’re often very cheap at the grocery. They’re not mass-produced, so look in the marketmade sections of the store. Simply steam them for 15 minutes at home, and eat them with sweet hot sauces!

Lo Baak Gao 蘿蔔糕 (radish/turnip cakes)

Sold sometimes in circular cakes, sometimes in sliced squares, this dish is another marketmade dish. It’s more likely to be found in bakeries. They have a distinct radishy taste to them, are crispy on the outsides and soft inside. Commonly eaten with a soy sauce mix of sugar and vinegar. To cook, panfry the cake(s) over high heat for 10-25 minutes. 

Frozen baozi, wontons, dumplings

These are the foods that’ll sit in your freezer. Found in literally every Asian grocery at the frozen foods section, they’re mass produced and come in varying prices and quality. ‘Baozi’ are the larger, round buns that come in plain, sweet, and savory varieties, and must be steamed. Wontons and dumplings are commonly boiled, or they’re gently steamed or pan fried.

Cheesy rice and bean dip

I have relied on this often on low spoon days, and it reheats pretty well too.

Ingredients: 1 Old El Paso Cheesy Nacho Rice bowl (usually under $2 and can last w-3+ meals) Water as directed ½ can refried beans (usually the cheapest and most wholesome ones I can find are tucked away in “ethnic” sections 1 avocado 1 tbs chopped onion and tomato (optional but great if you have spoons) Sour cream (amt up to you) Chips or tortillas

Prepare the rice bowl as directed and pop it in the microwave. While it’s cooking, cut the avocado and put all of it in a ziploc, leaving as little air as possible. Next, my favorite part, squish the avocado bag with your hands to mush it up. Add onion and tomato if you so desire and squish more.

When the rice finishes, stir it, spread the ½ can beans on top and microwave another minute or minute thirty seconds until warm. If you are up to thinking ahead, put the mix in 2-3+ tupperwares for eating later.

Cut a corner of the avocado bag and squeeze it on top of each portion. Put the leftovers in the fridge, add sour cream if you want, grab chips or tortillas to fill and eat up!

I’ve found this to be a very satisfying and filling meal without much effort.

Cheesy Chili and Rice

Made this tonight for supper; I’ve made this before but baked it (don’t remember the temp or duration)

Spoons Required: 1-2

Ingredients

Directions

Pasta Sauce Rice

It can take a few spoons depending but I like it since it’s pretty easy to make a few day’s worth quickly and it’s good enough for if you need to make something to serve to others as well. (it can also be made on dorm kitchen resources which is good for college students like me)

1. take some instant/microwave rice and stick it in the microwave.

2. cut up veggies, tofu, or whatever else you have around which would go with whatever sauce you choose and throw it in a saucepan on high just as is. Dump some pasta sauce (I used classic vegetable pasta sauce) over it and when the rice is done dump that in too.

3. stir once in a while until it’s all warm and the tofu, if used, is the right consistency for you.

4. eat out of saucepan to save spoons on cleaning.

If you have the spoons to spare you can add in more of everything and dump a few portions into jars or some other kind of storage container to stick in the fridge for times when you’re not up for making anything.

Fried Rice (Spoons Level: Medium)

Fried rice is the stone soup of Asia. Every family has their own customized recipe for fried rice. It’s quick, cheap, flavorful, and very easy to make. It also keeps well, and can be eaten with supplementary meats and vegetables. 

Ingredients

Cooked rice (Any variety will work!)

Diced meats (optional) - popular choices include pork and chicken.

Frozen or fresh seafood (optional) - popular choices include shrimp, anchovies, cod, and crab meat.

Frozen or fresh diced vegetables - popular choices include carrots, peas, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, green onions, and corn.

Eggs

Soy sauce