Vegetarian and vegan-friendly soup
1. Chop up vegetables (2-3 potatoes, 2 leeks, 3-4 carrots, and 1 onion), and cook in a pot with oil or butter until soft.
2. Add 4 cups of stock and seasonings (1 tsp. red pepper, 2 bay leaves, and salt and pepper to taste).
3. After boiling for 15 minutes, take out bay leaves and blend until smooth.
4. Add a 1/4 cup milk, cream, or alternative substitute.
5. (optional) Garnish with parsley.
Tip: To make this soup even easier, simply throw in all the vegetables and water in at the beginning and boil for 40 minutes before taking out your blender. The soup will be tastier if you cook your vegetables on direct heat, but it is not necessary if you have other things to do.
Click to page 2 for a traditional Chinese dish!
Steamed egg and minced pork (肉末蒸蛋)
1. Mix together 1/4 lb. of ground pork and seasonings (1 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tsp. ginger, 1 tsp. Shaoxing wine, and 1 tbsp. sesame oil), and cook for two minutes on high until it loses its raw look.
2. Beat together 3 eggs, seasonings (1 chopped scallion, 1/2 tsp. white pepper, and 1 tbsp. Shaoxing wine), and 1/4 cup of stock.
3. In a shallow bowl or ramekin, pour in pork and egg mixture.
4. Steam for 15-20 minutes.
5. Garnish with sesame oil and oyster sauce and serve with rice.
Tip: To make this dish vegetarian, you can either replace the meat with tofu or just skip the meat all together. Instead of oyster sauce, teriyaki sauce is a great substitute. While steamed egg over rice sounds ridiculously simple, there’s no dish more comforting than this.
