Easy week night suppers – Chilli Egg and Tomato and some Gok Wan specials

I had asked Shane to prepare his version of Shan’s Xinjiang Spaghetti with Lamb which I tried out last week and this is what I got instead:
Xinjiang Spaghetti with Lamb (without the spaghetti or lamb)
Shane says:
“Shan was in the mood for a veggie dish, so I cooked up my version of her Xinjiang Spaghetti dish. Veggies only, with eggplant (aubergines), chilli peppers, onion and garlic. Tossed with tomato and soy sauce. Served with rice.
Also threw together chilli egg and tomato (Xi Hong Shi Chao Ji Dan).
Yummy!”

I was interested in the Chilli Egg and Tomato dish so I asked him for the recipe. He says
“Easy enough really. Another staple dish in Chinese cuisine.” So here goes
Xi Hong Shi Chao Ji Dan
Ingredients:

• 2 Eggs
• Half a large green chilli, chopped to triangles
• 1 ½ large tomatoes, chopped to small pieces
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped to thin slices
• Salt

Cooking:

• Scramble the eggs in a wok in a small amount of hot oil until they are start to turn golden
• Remove the eggs to a separate bowl
• Throw the garlic and peppers into the wok with 1 tbs of oil
• After a minute, add the tomato, cook and stir until the juice comes out
• Add some salt to taste
• Add the scrambled egg, breaking it to make sure you don’t get big chunks of it later
• Stir over heat for another minute or two and serve in a bowl

“That’s about it,” says Shane. “Only takes a few minutes to make..”
This could make a simple store cupboard supper or a weekend breakfast. It looks delicious.

Meanwhile back in Dublin it was possible to rustle together a cheap and cheerful Chinese supper in about 20 minutes:

• Poppa Wan’s Simple Soy-glazed Chicken Thighs from Gok Cooks Chinese
• Spicy Cucumber and Spring Onion Salad also from Gok Wan
• Ma Po Dou Fu from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Sichuan Cookery.

This traditional Sichuan tofu dish uses a small amount of minced beef (just 15og) and Sichuan chilli bean paste, made with broad beans. It also uses ground roasted Sichuan pepper. I had difficulty finding Sichuan chilli bean paste without MSG. This one came from one of the employees at China Sichuan.

The tofu was a Natural Green Foods variety, (GM free the label says, phew!) from Asia Market
Served up with Sunday night’s leftover rice fried off with an egg scrambled in some groundnut oil in a wok and with the small amount of left over Sichuan sea-food mixed through, this made a very satisfying, tasty and economical Monday night dinner.