Here are three simple dishes that would work well together as a quick, healthy meal, and the whole lot could easily be done in less than 30 minutes, so long as you’re organised. Make sure to start with the preparation: get all the ingredients for the noodles and the cabbage ready, then get to work on the fish: once it’s been put on to steam, stir-fry the Singapore noodles, give the wok a little clean, then finish off with the cabbage. You may be surprised how easy it is to cook three dishes so quickly.
Singapore noodles
Don’t skip the step of drying the soaked noodles before adding them to the wok, or they’ll stick together.
Prep 5-10 min
Cook 8 min
Serves 2
100g rice vermicelli
6 large raw prawns
1 egg
½ onion, finely sliced
½ red pepper, finely sliced
1 handful bean sprouts
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
The spices
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp chilli powder
½ bird’s eye chilli, finely chopped
The sauce
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp light soy sauce
½ tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Soak the noodles in hot water for three minutes, drain and leave to dry on a clean tea towel.
Meanwhile, put the prawns, spices and sauce ingredients in three separate small bowls. Now build what I call a wok clock, which is just a round plate on which you set out the prepared ingredients. Put the egg at 12 o’clock, then arrange the onion, pepper, prawns, bean sprouts, noodles, spice and sauce bowls in order clockwise around the plate, and finish with the sliced spring onion.
Put a wok over a high heat, add the oil and heat until smoking. Crack in the egg, carefully fold over the egg white with a spatula so as not to burn it, then break the yolk and use the spatula to cut the egg into pieces.
Push the egg to one side of the pan to allow space for the veg and, once it’s smoking hot again, add the sliced onion and red pepper and stir-fry for a minute. Add the prawns and stir-fry for 30–60 seconds, until lightly browned. Add the bean sprouts, stir-fry for 20–30 seconds, then add the noodles and stir-fry for a minute. Tip in the contents of the spice mix and sauce bowls and cook, still stirring, until the noodles have dried out a little and are just starting to stick slightly to the bottom of the wok. Scatter over the spring onion and serve.
Flash-fried sweetheart cabbage with dried chilli and sweetened soy
This works as a vegan main meal in itself when served with steamed jasmine rice on the side.
Prep 5 min
Cook 6 min
Serves 2
5–10 large dried red chillies
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
1 medium ripe tomato, cut into eight wedges
1 sweetheart cabbage (300-400g), cut into largish chunks (if your cabbage is on the larger side, you may prefer to use only half of it)
1–2 tbsp vegetable oil
For the sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar, or rice vinegar or even a thin balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
½ tbsp sugar
¼ tsp dark soy sauce
½ tsp salt
Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, then build your wok clock (see previous recipe) as follows: put the chillies at 12 o’clock on the plate, then arrange the garlic, tomatoes, cabbage and, finally, the sauce bowl clockwise in order around the plate.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok set over a high heat until smoking hot, add the dried chillies and garlic, and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the tomato, cabbage and a little more oil, if need be, and stir-fry for a minute more, still on a high heat. Pour in the sauce, bring to a vigorous boil, stir-fry for two to three minutes, then serve.
Steamed hake with chilli bean, garlic and ginger oil
Steaming is the classic Chinese way to maintain the natural texture of fish. Don’t be scared of cooking the fish for such a short time, because it’s far better slightly under- than over-cooked, and the residual heat will continue to cook the fish even after you’ve taken it off the hob. (That said, we usually steam fish whole, which takes a little, but not much, longer.)
Prep 5 min
Cook 12 min
Serves 2
1 x 200-250g hake fillet (or similar-sized, sustainably sourced white fish fillet), descaled
For the chilli bean, garlic and ginger oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 thumb-sized pieces fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 spring onion, trimmed and finely diced
½ tbsp chilli bean sauce – I like Lee Kum Kee, which is widely available on the world food aisle of supermarkets
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar
¾ tbsp vegetable oil
Put all the ingredients for the chilli ginger oil apart from the vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl. Heat the oil in a wok until smoking, pour over the mix from the bowl – it should sizzle – stir to combine, then tip into a bowl and set aside.
Put the fish fillet on a suitable plate for steaming. Put a steam stand in the wok and fill the pan with enough boiling water to come at least a third to halfway up the sides. Place the fish plate on the stand, cover the wok with a lid and leave to steam for eight to 10 minutes, until the fish is cooked. To test whether it’s done, poke a toothpick into the thickest part of the fillet: if it goes through without any struggle, the fish is ready.
Remove the plate from the wok, spoon over the ginger oil to coat the fish well and serve at once.
Jeremy Pang runs School of Wok, London WC2, and is a presenter on BBC1’s Ready Steady Cook, now on iPlayer.
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