Recipes

7/11/24

Updated 8/25/25

Contents

  1. Fried eggs
  2. Omelets
  3. Egg-fried rice
  4. Garlic noodles
  5. Boiled bok choy
  6. Sautéed onions
  7. Sautéed chicken livers
  8. Baked salmon
  9. Braised pork belly
  10. Protein bars

Fried eggs

Fried eggs are easy to work with, so there are a lot of different ways you can make them. The essential ingredients are the eggs, some kind of fat, and seasoning.

Tools:

  • Frying pan

Ingredients:

  • Eggs
  • Butter || Vegetable oil || Olive oil || Bacon grease
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Instructions:

  1. Put butter in the frying pan. Turn on the stove to medium heat. Let it heat up.
  2. Crack the eggs into the frying pan.
  3. Add a pinch of salt.
  4. Cook how you like it.

Instruction variations:

  • For sunny side up, cook the eggs on one side only.
  • For scrambled eggs, mix the yolks and whites together before putting them in the pan.

Omelets

After you master fried eggs, you can try incorporating cheese to make American omelets. Omelets are like fried eggs, but you can put more things in them.

Tools:

  • Bowl
  • Frying pan

Ingredients:

  • Eggs
  • Butter
  • Cheese
  • Salt
  • Other things you like

Instructions:

  1. Combine the eggs and salt in a bowl.
  2. Put butter in the frying pan. Turn on the stove to medium heat. Let it heat up.
  3. Pour the eggs into the frying pan. Let them cook for a bit.
  4. Add cheese and other things you like. Let them cook for a bit.
  5. Fold the eggs in half.

This is a good way to use up leftovers. I like to add mushrooms, spinach, and pork bits to mine. Meat usually takes longer to cook than the eggs, so you have to heat them up a little bit before you put them in the omelet.

Egg Fried Rice

Egg fried rice is another one of those dishes that you can add anything to.

Tools:

  • Rice cooker
  • Frying pan

Ingredients:

  • Rice
  • Eggs
  • Butter
  • Salt
  • Oyster and soy sauce
  • Other things you like

Instructions:

  1. Cook the rice in the rice cooker. Don't add too much water, but don't forget to wash it first.
  2. Put butter in the frying pan. Turn on the stove to medium heat. Let it heat up.
  3. Estimate how long it will take to cook each ingredient, and then add them to the pan in order. My order is usually bacon, rice, and then eggs. a. With bacon, you want to render the fat out first. Just cook it slowly at low heat with a splash of water. It'll crisp up eventually. b. With rice, you want to cook it in fat until it's a little crispy. I use the bacon grease from before. You can add oyster sauce and soy sauce once the rice is good. c. With eggs, you want to make a little pit in the rice, and let the eggs cook in there for a bit. Add salt to the eggs to give it a bit of a punch. Then you can mix it all together.

Garlic Noodles

Tools:

  • Stock pot

Ingredients:

  • 1 lbs dry spaghetti
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 20 cloves garlic, minced
  • Oyster sauce
  • Soy sauce

Instructions:

  1. Put butter in the frying pan. Add a lot of garlic. Let it cook for a bit for flavor.
  2. Add oyseter sauce and soy sauce and stir. Remove from the heat.
  3. Boil water in a pot. Add the spaghetti. Stir. Cook around 2 minutes short of the package instructions.
  4. Add the spaghetti to the frying pan. Cook on high.

You can also add Parmesan cheese at step 3, or top it off with scallions at the end.

This is based off of Kenji's garlic noodle recipe in the New York Times.

Boiled bok choy

Tools:

  • Large mixing bowl
  • Stock pot
  • Tongs

Ingredients:

  • Bok choy
  • Salt
  • Water
  • Sesame oil
  • Soy sauce

Instructions:

  1. In the stock pot, add water and salt. Bring to a boil.
  2. Wash the bok choy and separate them into leaves.
  3. When the water is boiling, add the bok choy and cook for less than a minute.
  4. Pick the bok choy out with tongs.
  5. Add sesame oil and soy sauce to taste.

Sautéed onions

Tools:

  • Frying pan
  • Spatula

Ingredients:

  • 1 large yellow onion
  • Olive oil
  • Salt

Instructions:

  1. Cut the onion into slices. First peel the onion. Then slice the top and bottom off. Cut the onion in half vertically, and continue making verticaly cuts until you have thin circles of concentric strips.
  2. Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, and sprinkle in salt.
  3. Stir frequently until the onions are soft and browned in spots. This might take around 10 minutes.

Sautéed chicken livers

Tools:

  • Frying pan
  • Tongs

Ingredients:

  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 1 lb chicken liver
  • Olive oil
  • Salt

Instructions

  1. Saute the onions until they are almost done. Then push them to the edges of the pan.
  2. Add the livers to the middle of the pan. Sprinkle salt over them.
  3. Let the livers cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Then flip them over with tongs and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Chicken livers taste best fresh off of the stove, when they're still a bit tender and juicy. I don't recommend keeping them as leftovers.

Baked salmon

Tools:

  • Sheet pan
  • Small bowl
  • Tongs

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb salmon fillets
  • Olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp paprika

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  2. Put the salmon fillets on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil.
  3. Combine the olive oil and minced garlic. Brush half of the mixture over the salmon
  4. In a small bowl, combine the spices.* Drizzle half of it over the salmon.
  5. Turn the salmons over with the tongs. Add oil, garlic, and spices on that side too.
  6. Make sure that the salmon is skin-side up and put it into the oven.
  7. Bake the salmon for 15-22 minutes.

*You can also use Trader Joe's salmon rub, which is a mix of salt, garlic powder, and paprika.

Braised pork belly

Tools:

  • Stock pot

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 lbs pork belly
  • 2 tbsp canola oil || vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp rock sugar || granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup Shaoxing wine
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 3 cups water

Instructions:

  1. Add pork to a pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and boil for about 1 minute. Take the pork out and clean the pot.
  2. Over low heat, melt the sugar in the oil.
  3. Raise the heat to medium and add the pork. Cook until the pork is browned.
  4. Turn the heat back down to low and add Shaoxing cooking wine. Cook for a few minutes. Then add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water.
  5. Cook over medium heat for about an hour. If there is still a lot of liquid, uncover the pot, turn up the heat, and stir until the sauce has been reduced.

This is based off of the Shanghai-style braised pork belly recipe on The Woks of Life.

Protein bars

Tools:

  • Large mixing bowl
  • 8x8 inch pan

Ingredients:

  • 3/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup protein powder
  • 3/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch salt

Instructions:

  1. Mix the ingredients together in a bowl. It should be soft but not dry or crumbly.
  2. Press into a 8x8 inch pan.
  3. Refrigerate for an hour before cutting into bars.

Optional: You can melt chocolate for 30s at a time in the microwave, and pour it over the bars before refrigerating.