One pot meal...

[khiemtran]

So, it's Sunday night and we've just got back from afternoon tea at the neighbours. I've got half an hour to get dinner ready. I have half a kilo of pork mince, some pork steaks, assorted vegies and tofu, and an electric wok.

Step 1: I cut up and eggplant and put it in the microwave for ten minutes. While it's cooking, I stirfry the pork mince with a spoonful of bean paste and a splash of Chinese wine, then top and tail some green beans for the next dish. When the eggplant is done, the beans go into the microwave for another ten minutes, the eggplant does into the wok with some more bean paste, a splash of soy sauce and a quarter of the pork mince.




The beans are ready now, so they come out and I stirfry them with a splash of Chinese wine and a touch of sesame oil and another quarter of the pork mince. Meanwhile, I quickly slice the pork steaks into slivers for dish #3.



This time I'll use a sweet-sour-salty sauce made of Chinese wine, balsamic vinegar, soy and sugar. Plus some chopped garlic, celery and a shake of black pepper. While that's going, I slice the tofu...



Next up, I put the next quarter of the pork mince into the wok with the sliced tofu and some more bean paste. This part is not actually stirfrying because you have to be really careful not to break the tofu up to much. I flavour it with sesame oil and a dash of soy sauce, making sure the water all boils down and the tofu is nicely brown on the bottom. Next I open a can of champignons and cut them into quarters.



Last dish! It's mushrooms with the last quarter of the pork mince, and this time I'm using ketchup and sugar, with a tiny splash of soy.



I realise this turned out to be "Pork Five Ways", but all the sauces are quite different and only two of the dishes have meat as the main element. That's the real beauty of the wok - once you've got it fired up, you can churn out a lot of dishes in quick succession and they can all be quite different, even if you're just using the same limited set of ingredients in different combinations.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

That all looks very tasty. So is using the same meat in different sauces and with different ingredients a legitimate Chinese meal? I've done it occasionally when I've realised that I didn't have any other meat or that the chicken I thought would last a few more days actually has to be used NOW!, but I thought it was just me making the best of it.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I don't know about China, but it's certainly legimate in this house! Although, come to think of it, I've also been to restaurants in Malaysia which specialized in pork dishes and you could have a banquet with every dish containing pork. Of course, the other thing to note is that a lot of Chinese dishes might contain meat, but only as a flavouring element. For example, you could think of last night's dinner (and tonight's leftovers) as two vegetable dishes, one tofu, one mushroom dish...

Hmm. I've also got some chicken breasts in the fridge, so we may be due for Chicken Three Ways tomorrow...

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Thankfully I just ate, so I don't feel compelled to rush into the kitchen and start trying out different sauce/mix flavors. :P

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

:) I'll be looking forward to seeing what food you discover when you get to Egypt...