INGREDIENTS:

Two large rice bowls 2/3 full of quality steamed rice
2 pieces breaded pork of chicken fillet
1/2 an onion
1-2 cups of chicken broth
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirin
1 tsp sugar
2 eggs

1. Heat some vegetable oil (enough to cover what ever you will be frying) in your wok until it spits back when you flick water at it. I think it’s supposed to be 180 degrees celsius or something, but how the hell are you going to measure that?

Add the breaded meat fillets and deep fry until golden brown and crispy.

Remove, drain oil and slice the fillets into strips.

2. Mix mirin, soy sauce and sugar with the broth in a Wok of Skillet. Simmer.

3. Slice onion thinly. Add to the simmering sauce. Simmer for 4-5 minutes until onion is soft.

4. Add deep fried meat strips and simmer for a further 3-4 minutes making sure they are totally covered by the sauce.

5. Beat your eggs and pour into the sauce stirring as you pour.

6. Serve over steamed rice.

I make this one with mushrooms instead of meat, and no mirin (never heard of it until I saw this recipe!). Just fry the sliced mushrooms in with the onions, and add some chopped scallions.

PS If you like this, here are the rest of the tasty recipes on RiceAgain.

Get some of the medium-ground cornmeal… your local veggie market should have some in huge bags. Boil some water in saucepan, add the cornmeal slowly, and add a little salt. Boil until the cornmeal can’t absorb anymore water.  Polenta! Tastes like home, but made from easily available ingredients! What else could a China expat want?

You can eat it right away, but I stick the polenta in the fridge to solidify and then fry it up with veggies and/or cheese.

Ingredients

4 Large ripe tomatoes
4 Eggs (from Chickens, believe me in China you should specify)
Spring Onions
MSG* or Salt
About a heaped tablespoon of Corn Starch

Preparation

Finely chop your garlic and spring onions. Quarter your tomatos. Beat your eggs in a small bowl adding a pinch of salt to bring out the flavour.

1. Add a generous splash of oil to your wok and heat until it spits back.

2. Pour in your eggs as if to make an omlete. This part comes down to personal taste. Some people like their eggs in chunks others like it more scrambled, some even like to add the eggs after the tomatos so they mix in with the juice while they cook for a more sloppy mixture. Personally I like to add the eggs first, slowly turning over a high heat as the eggs cook. The idea here is not to make an ommlette but to allow the eggs to stay together into sizable chunks. I like to keep cooking until they are almost browned.

2. Next add the spring onions and stirfry with the egg quickly followed by the tomato pieces. The juice will ooze from the tomatos as they soften. Add a sprinkle of MSG* to bring out the flavours.

3. Take your cornstarch and mix in with about 2/3 cup of hot water stir out the lumps and add to your tomato-ey egg mixture in the wok. The diluted cornstarch mixture will thicken the tomato juice now in the bottom of your wok.

4. It’s at this point that you may decide to add some water for more sauce and MSG, or Salt to taste.

1 egg
1 can of tuna
cooking oil or butter
chicken broth (instant comes in a yellow packet called Maggie’s, with no surprise ingredients in the chicken broth!)
breadcrumbs (Western store only, try Parkson’s or Carrefour)
pasta

Drain the tuna, and mash it up with a fork. Add one egg, and mix well. (If you have some basil or some Bell’s seasoning from home, you can add it now.) Add breadcrumbs until the mixture is just moist enough to make balls, not sticking all over your hands. Make the tuna mixture into meatballs, and fry them lightly on all sides. Turn off the heat under the pan, then add enough chicken broth to almost-cover the meatballs, and put it back on to simmer. it’s done when the the meatballs are soft and the chicken broth has thickened.

Cook and drain the pasta — which in my case happens in the microwave since I only have one burner — then serve with the meatballs and sauce on top.

Verdict: You could say I got Stick ready for this with ground-turkey Swedish meatballs back home, but it turned out well. No leftovers!

The one compensation for this is the fresh, cheap, delicious produce of all kinds.

I’ve been looking for vegetarian recipes, but I seem to keep finding recipes that involve opening a packet of tofu chicken or the use of a food processor.

Rice Cooker Gourmet is about my adventures cooking in China!