Do you avoid buying fresh ingredients and vegetables because you are worried that you cannot cook them all before they spoil? We can relate!
To make the most of your ingredients, it is best to have different recipes that requires the same ingredients so there wouldn’t be any surplus left forgotten in the fridge. Here are two easy recipes which are great weeknight quick dinner fixes and with the same ingredients: Chinese Fried Noodles and Egg Fried Rice.

Chinese Fried Noodles

Egg Fried Rice
The ingredients are pork shoulder butt, eggs, French beans, carrots, dried Shiitake mushrooms, garlic, ginger, soya sauce, sesame oil, Chinese cooking wine (hua diao chiew), cornflour, salt, and pepper. Each recipe uses half of the packaged amount you get at the supermarket for the vegetables and pork.
*As the preparation for both dishes similar, the steps shown are for Egg Fried Rice where the ingredients are diced into small cubes. However, when preparing for the Chinese Fried Noodles, take note to slice the ingredients into strips instead. The cutting styles are to suit the shape of the rice or noodles and ensure that there will be a bit of each ingredient in every spoonful of rice or forkful full of noodles.
Let’s get started with the first step which is to marinate the pork.
Cut the pork before marinating.*

Dicing pork for Egg Fried Rice
Place the cut pork into a bowl and add all of the marinade ingredients. Mix well to combine. #cookingtip cornflour gives pork a smooth texture!

Simple five ingredient pork marinade

Mix cut pork with marinade sauce
Let the pork marinate for at least 20 minutes, but for maximum flavour you can marinate it overnight.
Next, prepare and cut the French beans, carrots, and mushrooms.*

Chopping French beans for Egg Fried Rice

Chopping carrots for Egg Fried Rice
Remember to soak your dried mushrooms overnight before cutting them. If you have forgotten to do so, simply soak the mushrooms in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes and let sit for 20 minutes with the fire off.

Chopping mushrooms for Egg Fried Rice
#cookingtip for the health-conscious cooks, use more fresh vegetables so you can add lesser noodles or rice in the dishes and still be full!
The next step is to stir-fry the pork and vegetables. **To ensure a great tasting dish, there are some slight differences in the cooking steps here for the two dishes, so if you are starting with Chinese Fried Noodles first, skip on down. However, essentially these are the prepared ingredients for both dishes.

Prepared vegetables and meat for Chinese Fried Noodles and Egg Fried Rice
Cooking up a plate of Fried rice is simple and you can use any ingredients you love! Peiwen’s rule-of-thumb for a plate of great tasting Fried Rice is “Dry” and “Fragrant”. Hence, prepare two frying pans when cooking as frying the ingredients separately reduces the amount of gravy or oil that will turn the rice mushy.
Stir-fry the pork for three minutes until it is fully cooked.

Frying pork for Egg Fried Rice
Set the pork aside. Using a clean pan, sauté the garlic and vegetables until cooked and season them with salt and pepper. A clean pan retains the vegetables’ original flavour and prevent them from soaking up the taste of the pork for more complexity to the dish. Set the cooked vegetables aside on a plate.

Fry vegetables until soft for Egg Fried Rice

Set cooked vegetables aside
In the last step, we will fry the rice and assemble the dish. Add some cooking oil and three eggs into the pan. Give the eggs a quick stir and add in the pre-cooked rice.

Give eggs a quick stir

Coat each grain of rice with egg
Coat the rice with the egg by tossing and stirring it until cooked dry. The rice has to be fried at high heat to remove any excess liquid and to ensure that every grain has the fragrances of the egg.

Cook until rice is visibly dry
Add in the stir-fried vegetables and pork and fry for two minutes to let the flavours come together.

Add the pork and vegetables to the rice and fry.
When the wok is smoking, season the rice with some soy sauce. The Egg Fried Rice is ready to be served!

Easy Egg Fried Rice
**For the Chinese Fried Noodles, stir fry the pork first, as for the Egg Fried Rice, and set aside. This time, we will be cooking the eggs first before the vegetables.
In a bowl, season the eggs with soya sauce and pepper and beat them.

Season and beat the eggs evenly
To a clean pan, add some cooking oil and stir fry the eggs until slightly brown. Set the cooked eggs aside.

Cook the eggs until there are brown spots on them
In the same pan, add some cooking oil and stir fry the garlic and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper and add some water to the pan.

Stir fry the vegetables and season
Once the vegetables are soft, add in the pre-cooked noodles and pork and combine with the vegetables. #cookingtip after boiling the noodles, rinse them with tap water to prevent them from overcooking and becoming too soft.

Add the pork and noodles to the vegetables

Mix the noodles with the ingredients
Season the noodles with some soy sauce and add in the cooked eggs. Mix well and cook for another 2 minutes before plating.

Add the eggs to the fried noodles and mix well
Garnish the Chinese Fried Noodles with some chopped spring onions and you are done!

Garnished Chinese Fried Noodles
Peiwen’s Meal-for-two was created for newly-weds and couples who have just moved into their new homes, have a beautiful kitchen to work in, but have no idea what to whip up. These recipes are by Loo Peiwen, herself, who is an avid home cook, has a passion in culinary, and enjoys creating dishes using her love for food. These recipes have been tried and tested, are authentic, delicious, and perfect for two! These meals are easily achievable, just simply follow our steps and instructions! Most importantly, you can be sure both of your appetites would be satiated at the end of the day!
Get the full recipes below!
- 125 g french bean diced into small pieces
- 125 g carrot diced into small pieces
- 4 small dried Shiitake mushrooms soak overnight and diced into small pieces
- 3 eggs
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tbsp soya sauce seasoning
- white pepper powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 cup white rice cooked
- 160 g pork shoulder butt cut into strips
- 1 tbsp ginger grated
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp soya sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp chinese cooking wine aka hua diao chiew
- Cut the pork into thick slices and then into cubes
- Add all the marinade ingredients into the bowl and give it a good mix. Marinate it for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight.
- Remove the pork from the fridge and let it sit in room temperature for 15 mins.
- Heat up a pan and fry the pork for 3 minutes till it is fully cooked.
- Give it a taste test and season with more soya sauce as desired.
- Heat up a clean pan and add in 1 tbsp oil and garlic. Fry till it's fragrant.
- Add in mushroom, French bean, carrot, ½ tsp salt, a dash of pepper and 3 tbsp water. Fry till soft. Give it a taste test and ensure that it’s well seasoned.
- Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- In the same pan, add in 1 tbsp oil.
- Add in the beaten eggs, give it a quick stir. Add in the rice and mix to coat the rice with egg. Keep frying on high heat until the rice has visibly dried up.
- Add in the pork and vegetables, fry it for 3 mins. The rice is ready when the wok smokes and the rice starts to jump.
- Season with soya sauce and pepper. Give it a good stir and it’s ready!
- 3 bunch bean mee also known as Tau Chiam (noodle)
- 125 g french bean cut into strips
- 125 g carrot cut into strips
- 4 dried shiitake mushrooms soak overnight and cut into strips
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tbsp soya sauce seasoning
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp water
- 160 g pork shoulder butt cut into strips
- 1 tbsp ginger grated
- 1 tbsp soya sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tbsp chinese cooking wine aka hua diao chiew
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 tsp soya sauce
- 1 dash pepper
- Cut the pork into slices and into strips.
- Add all the pork marinade ingredients into the bowl and give it a good mix. Marinate it for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Cook the noodles as per instructions on the packaging.
- After the noodles are cooked, rinse the noodles with tap water to stop it from cooking further. Drain and set aside.
- Remove the pork from the fridge and let it sit in room temperature for 15 mins.
- Heat up a pan and fry the pork for 3 minutes till it is fully cooked.
- Give it a taste test and season with more soya sauce as desired. #Tip: Make sure the pork is well seasoned at this step so that it will have a distinct savory taste.
- In a bowl, crack in eggs and add in soya sauce and pepper. Beat the eggs evenly.
- Heat up a clean pan on medium low heat, add in 1 tbsp oil.
- Pour in eggs and fry till there are visible brown spots. Remove from pan and set eggs aside.
- In the same pan, add 2 tbsp of oil and garlic. Fry till fragrant.
- Add in mushroom, french bean, carrot, ½ tsp salt, a dash of pepper and 3 tbsp water. Fry till soft. Give it a taste test to ensure that it’s well seasoned.
- Add in the cooked noodles and pork, use chopstick and give it a good mix. To prevent noodles from breaking, do not overmix.
- Add in the egg and 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce and give it another round of good mix. The fried noodles are now ready!
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