Wok Star Eleanor Hoh

Be a Wok Star!

cast iron wok

One-Dish Wok Meals

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Wontons and toufu with lettuce, straw mushrooms in soup.

In this post, I want to focus on weeknight dinners. Hence the One-Dish Wok Meals.

There are so many beautiful food blogs to get recipes from (see sidebar), so what I want to do is share a different approach to cooking. It’s stress free because you don’t have to run out for special ingredients, follow a recipe and there’s very little cleanup. Cook the gourmet dishes when you have more time.

Yes, I cook my wontons in my wok.

Single guys tell me they enjoy showing off their wok cooking to their dates! This made me laugh especially when they said it makes them look like they know what they’re doing.

My posts: Keep Cooking Simple and Tasty, Wok Up Your Own Creations and Stir Frying Without Recipes will give you the complete scoop on how to achieve this.

Why a wok? Because it heats up fast, cooks fast and washes up fast and best of all, you can use this one pan for cooking EVERYTHING, not just Asian stir frys. Less clutter, less oil, less washing up.

Toufu, green beans, cherry tomatoes, straw mushrooms cooked in CurrySimple’s Green Curry Sauce.

(I won’t repeat what I’ve already said in other posts about my preseasoned, lightweight cast iron wok. On my website, I explain in great depth and discuss different types of woks as well as technique to be successful.)

Simple stir fried bok choy and red bell peppers with dash of tamari and sherry.

Buy Char Siu (Chinese roast pork), mix with bok choy dish, dinner!

One-Dish Wok Meals is how my husband and I eat most weeknights and we never get tired of them. It’s really a no-brainer, it gives you the right balance of protein and carbs.

That’s how I was brought up, lots of veggies, less meat. I cut out eating starch a while back because I’m on the cusp of Type II Diabetes, I discuss this in Healthy and Delicious Snack Ideas. When my doctor first told me to cut back eating so much rice, I thought she didn’t realize I was Asian! Asians eat rice at every meal. I cut back a little at a time and finally didn’t miss not having it at all. When I understood starch drives up sugar levels, it was easy to give it up and see my energy soar. As mentioned, we’ll have quinoa more often than rice or noodles. I get into more depth about Diets on my website.

I hear amusing stories from many husbands who are relegated to washing dishes, so you’ll be pleased to know it takes less than two minutes to wash up for a One-Dish Wok Meal.

A typical washup takes less than 2 minutes.

As you can see, I use my cast iron wok for cooking many different things! I’d love to hear what you cook up in your wok?

Yummy Asian meatloaf steamed (ground turkey and omboshi plums)

Tilapia with veggies in soup.

Wok Breakfasts (updated)

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Here’s my last one for breakfast, usually set aside for Sundays. I’m posting this at the top and I know this is not usual but so what? Please don’t miss the other breakfast tips below. I really like the Artisan whole grain loaves from Costco. They are from La Brea Bakery in CA and come in a pack with two loaves. Best part, it’s the same price of one loaf at most supermarkets which makes me happy. Breakfasts always include fresh fruit. The mango looked green but was ripe and ready to eat, you can tell by the sweet smell.

I soak slices of bread in wash of egg, little milk and a drop of canola oil but my husband, Ralph fries them in our wok. He’s better at these, he gets them crispy outside and soft inside. Delish. You’ll notice we have another wok in the back. Yes, it’s “stereo wokery” at our house, people laugh whenever I mention this in my cooking classes.

Here’s our version of French Toast with Maple Syrup and side bowl of fresh fruit with all the toppings. See below.

Omelet with chopped scallions, leftover potatoes and tomatoes.
Toast and fresh fruit of cherries and papaya. Handful of toasted almonds.

People are constantly asking me what I eat for breakfast. Here are 3 to kickstart your day, all cooked in my lightweight, cast iron wok of course. Only one I’m missing is French Toast, so come back for that (I’ve posted it above.)

Also, watch Ralph’s amusing and popular video, Care and Feeding of Your Wok (over 56,000 views on Youtube!) in side bar on this blog. His omelet/pancake, “salmonbrocapricot” or some such silly name. DELICIOUS.

This is such an IMPORTANT meal because it fuels you with energy and sets you into a good mood to tackle ANYTHING…

Having lived in England for 17 years, I am a huge tea fan. I own a very rare embroidered tea “cosy”, I say rare because it’s difficult to find even in Asia! Ralph calls my tea drinking a “ritual” when we’re on road trips. Tea is still not a popular drink in America and you cannot get boiling water in restaurants so your tea doesn’t brew properly, looks grey instead of a rich black tea, very frustrating and annoying. My favorite is Early Grey and Indian black or red tea, I like to use loose leaf tea. I throw out the old leaves into my Bougainvillea, makes great compost. I’ll post with tips on composting soon. Oh, did I go off track about breakfast? To me, breakfast is NOTHING without a good cuppa (British term). I use my favorite mug given to us by Ralph’s old schoolmate, Luke. So, whenever I use the mugs, I think of Luke, so cool. That’s what people say when they use my cast iron wok. The right mug is so important because it has to have the correct “balance” and “feel”. These are perfect, I love the 50’s look. The Brits offer a cuppa as a “solution” for coping with every occasion, from a crisis to just relaxing, it’s hilarious. I miss British humor, very dry and sarcastic.

Steel cut oatmeal with dose of Quinoa flakes.
Add protein powder, soy milk, textured protein flakes.
Top with fresh fruit (always banana), toasted almonds and hit of granola.

Just eating oatmeal is too much carbs for me, I’m on the cusp of Type II diabetes, here’s more about this topic in Healthy and Delicious Snack Tip. “Minute” oatmeal doesn’t have any oompf or texture, it’s like baby food. It’s important for me to always balance protein and carbs so I don’t have a false high and a big dip.

My absolute fav is fried egg over easy on toast.
Side of fresh fruit and Cabot, Greek Style yoghurt with all the toppings as above.

Wok Breakfasts (updated)

By 6 Comments

Here’s my last one for breakfast, usually set aside for Sundays. I’m posting this at the top and I know this is not usual but so what? Please don’t miss the other breakfast tips below. I really like the Artisan whole grain loaves from Costco. They are from La Brea Bakery in CA and come in a pack with two loaves. Best part, it’s the same price of one loaf at most supermarkets which makes me happy. Breakfasts always include fresh fruit. The mango looked green but was ripe and ready to eat, you can tell by the sweet smell.

I soak slices of bread in wash of egg, little milk and a drop of canola oil but my husband, Ralph fries them in our wok. He’s better at these, he gets them crispy outside and soft inside. Delish. You’ll notice we have another wok in the back. Yes, it’s “stereo wokery” at our house, people laugh whenever I mention this in my cooking classes.

Here’s our version of French Toast with Maple Syrup and side bowl of fresh fruit with all the toppings. See below.

Omelet with chopped scallions, leftover potatoes and tomatoes.
Toast and fresh fruit of cherries and papaya. Handful of toasted almonds.

People are constantly asking me what I eat for breakfast. Here are 3 to kickstart your day, all cooked in my lightweight, cast iron wok of course. Only one I’m missing is French Toast, so come back for that (I’ve posted it above.)

Also, watch Ralph’s amusing and popular video, Care and Feeding of Your Wok (over 56,000 views on Youtube!) in side bar on this blog. His omelet/pancake, “salmonbrocapricot” or some such silly name. DELICIOUS.

This is such an IMPORTANT meal because it fuels you with energy and sets you into a good mood to tackle ANYTHING…

Having lived in England for 17 years, I am a huge tea fan. I own a very rare embroidered tea “cosy”, I say rare because it’s difficult to find even in Asia! Ralph calls my tea drinking a “ritual” when we’re on road trips. Tea is still not a popular drink in America and you cannot get boiling water in restaurants so your tea doesn’t brew properly, looks grey instead of a rich black tea, very frustrating and annoying. My favorite is Early Grey and Indian black or red tea, I like to use loose leaf tea. I throw out the old leaves into my Bougainvillea, makes great compost. I’ll post with tips on composting soon. Oh, did I go off track about breakfast? To me, breakfast is NOTHING without a good cuppa (British term). I use my favorite mug given to us by Ralph’s old schoolmate, Luke. So, whenever I use the mugs, I think of Luke, so cool. That’s what people say when they use my cast iron wok. The right mug is so important because it has to have the correct “balance” and “feel”. These are perfect, I love the 50’s look. The Brits offer a cuppa as a “solution” for coping with every occasion, from a crisis to just relaxing, it’s hilarious. I miss British humor, very dry and sarcastic.

Steel cut oatmeal with dose of Quinoa flakes.
Add protein powder, soy milk, textured protein flakes.
Top with fresh fruit (always banana), toasted almonds and hit of granola.

Just eating oatmeal is too much carbs for me, I’m on the cusp of Type II diabetes, here’s more about this topic in Healthy and Delicious Snack Tip. “Minute” oatmeal doesn’t have any oompf or texture, it’s like baby food. It’s important for me to always balance protein and carbs so I don’t have a false high and a big dip.

My absolute fav is fried egg over easy on toast.
Side of fresh fruit and Cabot, Greek Style yoghurt with all the toppings as above.