Jimmy’s cookbook

Currently, perhaps my worst financial habit is that I spend a lot of money on lunch whenever I go to the office. I’ll be the first to say that most of us spend far too much at restaurants and cafes. Starbucks in the morning (thankfully, I don’t do this as my office has free coffee), lunch and milk tea with colleagues, and pizza or takeout for dinner. Things get worse if we add alcohol and soft drinks to the mix.

It’s unhealthy - for both our bodies and our bank accounts. These days, I’m fortunate that I can have home-cooked meals for dinner. However, over the years, I’ve lived alone and/or lived on a budget several times, and I’ve learned how to make a number of different meals that can easily sustain my family if need be. I’ll share a few recipes in this post.

“But wait,” you might think. “I really don’t have the time or energy to buy groceries, never mind cook several dishes after a long day at work and then wash all the dirty dishes afterwards.”

Well, you’re in luck because I’m probably lazier than you (and I dislike cooking, to be honest). There are solutions to all these problems.

I live in Shanghai, where Hema (盒马) delivers for free as long as the total bill is ¥49 or more. (Amazon Fresh should have something similar in North America.) Most importantly, I have a rule; I only make meals that:

• Have a prep time of 30 minutes or less
• Requires just one cooking pot (an exception is made if I need to boil something on the side)

Cleanup is super easy because we’re usually just cutting up some vegetables and dumping them into one pot. There was a recent period when I cooked with a pot so often, my family gave me the nickname “锅大厨” (pot chef).

Read on for some of the easiest family-sized meals one can make.

Bacon, Basil, and Tomato Pasta (serves 2-3)

Place about 250g of dried pasta (eg. spaghetti) in a pot of boiling water and add a pinch of salt. Stir often and drain the pasta when it's soft. (This can be done in parallel with the sauce instructions below.)

Chop ~200g of bacon into bite-sized pieces.

Heat 3-4 tbsp of vegetable oil in a saucepan and add the bacon pieces. Cook the bacon to your desired level of crispiness, then drain away the oil.

Add half a jar of tomato-based pasta sauce (~250ml) and a can of chopped tomatoes (~500ml) to the saucepan and stir until it comes to a boil.

Optional: add minced red pepper (or pepper flakes) to your desired level of spiciness.

Add ~20g of basil and stir it into the pasta sauce for about 1-2 minutes.

Turn off heat and serve with the pasta.

(Aside: if you’re in the UK, Tesco’s meatballs are amazing. Swap them in for the bacon and basil and voila, you’ve got spaghetti with meatballs! Add grated parmesan cheese if you’re feeling fancy.)

Thai Curry Seafood (serves 2-3)

Cook some white rice in a rice cooker approximately 30 minutes before you begin cooking the curry.

Heat ~2tbsp of vegetable oil in a large pot. Add a 50g packet of Thai curry paste (I prefer green curry) to the pot and quickly add about half of a 250ml can of coconut milk. Stir until the paste is mixed well with the coconut milk.

Once the pot’s contents come to a boil, add ~200ml of water, one chopped large potato, and one chopped large zucchini. Bring the pot to a boil again and add the rest of the coconut milk.

Add any assortment of seafood you prefer. I generally add small clams, baby squid, and a few prawns.

Add ~20g of basil and approximately 20 cherry tomatoes (each cut in half) to the pot, place a lid and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Turn off heat and serve with white rice.

Kimchi Tofu Hotpot (serves 2-3)

Cook some white rice in a rice cooker approximately 30 minutes before you begin preparing the hotpot.

Add gochujang, kimchi, and water to a pot and bring to a boil. To serve 2-3 people, I’d typically add one tablespoon of gochujang, 150-200g of kimchi, and about 200ml of water. (Use a Korean stone pot if you have one, but it’s definitely not necessary.)

Add any assortment of seafood (or pork if you prefer). Bring the pot to a boil again.

Add enoki mushrooms and tofu to the pot. (For the tofu, just use a tablespoon and scoop out the tofu, one spoonful at a time.)

Let it simmer for 1-2 minutes and serve. If you’re using a normal pot, you could put it on an induction heater at minimum power to keep it boiling at the dining table.

Turn off heat and serve with white rice.

Sukiyaki (serves 3-4)

Heat a large pot to medium heat and spread a tablespoon of butter on the surface. Add sukiyaki sauce (I prefer Kikkoman) and water to the pot at a ratio of about 1:3. Bring it to a boil, and add a handful of sliced long onion (negi onion) to the pot.

This is literally just hotpot - add sukiyaki beef and eat once it’s cooked. In my experience, it’s best to finish all the beef first before adding other stuff.

Other stuff can be whatever you like; for example: more negi onion (大葱); chrysanthemum greens (茼蒿); enoki mushrooms; konjac jelly (魔芋丝); tofu.

Towards the end of the meal, add a package of frozen udon.

Aside from the main dishes above, there are also some other easy-to-make snacks that I can recommend.

Breakfast

Unsweetened yogurt, drops of honey to taste, museli/granola, and fresh blueberries. This is seriously amazing in the morning.

Lunch

Lightly toast two slices of bread. On a frying pan, grill 3-4 slices of ham and fry an egg (over firm style). Slap everything together and you’ve got a ham and egg sandwich! Spread a touch of honey mustard on the bread if you’re feeling fancy.

Snacks

Freeze some berries (or buy a package of pre-frozen berries); I prefer a mix of blueberries and strawberries. Add some of the frozen berries and an unfrozen banana into a blender and add milk to taste. I also like to add a Yakult (养乐多) to the mix. Blend everything together and you’ve got a fruit milkshake!

A combination of various nuts and dried cranberries/blueberries also makes for a great energy snack.

Egg Fried Rice

You can cook this whenever you have leftover white rice from the day before.

Add a drop of sesame oil and a few drops of soy sauce into a bowl, crack two eggs into the bowl and mix everything together.

Heat a frying pan (or wok) to medium heat. Add a few drops of vegetable oil and then add the mixed eggs to the pan. Quickly spread the mixture over the surface of the pan and flip it over once it begins to solidify. Break the egg into bite-sized pieces with your spatula and empty everything into a bowl.

You may need to rinse the frying pan to wash off some egg remnants on the surface.

Reheat the frying pan. Add 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add whatever protein and veggies you have available (some ideas: a few frozen shrimp, a hot dog cut into bite-sized pieces, bean sprouts, frozen peas/corn kernels/carrot pieces).

Add the leftover rice and try your best to break it apart on the surface of the frying pan.

Before anything starts to burn, add the egg pieces back to the pan and add soy sauce to taste (~2 tablespoons is probably about right). Stir for 1-2 minutes.

Turn off heat and serve.

There are numerous other easy recipes out there. A couple that I thought of recently and look forward to trying soon are: beef chilli (which is just ground beef, various kinds of beans, diced tomatoes, and pinches of several spices to taste), and avocado toast (the ingredients are literally in the name; add two halves of a boiled egg, a few slices of smoked salmon, and some walnuts to be extra fancy).

If we set appropriate parameters, cooking really doesn't have to be time consuming or difficult. Keep things as simple as possible to sustain the habit, and you'll likely end up healthier (and richer!) as a result.