We're doing this. It's happening. We are cooking dinner, and we are not using a recipe. I am sitting at my computer and thinking about throwing things in a frying pan and hopefully you are actually throwing those things in a frying pan. So I guess this is a recipe. But you'll quickly find that you don't need to follow it at all. I'm going to put the actual recipe parts in bold, since I have a whole lotta random talking and information in with it all.
The first dinner: STIRFRY. Magical, delicious, stirfry. Here's what you need:
Tools:
A pot
A frying pan
A cutting board
A knife
A wooden spoon
Ingredients:
Two cups of rice
A pound of ground beef
An onion
Vegetables (my recommendations are red or green peppers, carrots, broccoli, and spinach - though if you're feeling fancy you can buy bok choi or something that actually fits the food you're making... I guess)
Vegetable or sesame oil
A small chunk of ginger
A clove of garlic
Salt & pepper
Cumin, chili powder, Chinese five spice, or any other Asian spices you have on hand
Soy sauce, chili sauce, etc.
Lemon juice
1. Cook the rice according to the instructions on the bag. Follow them exactly. This is not something I am good at, and as a result, I have only successfully made rice in a pot a half-dozen times or so - I used to make my roommate do it for me! I grew up with a rice cooker that did all the work for me (hint: making rice is not a lot of work) and I am spoiled by it. But its because I always forgot to set the timer or turn it down enough or whatever and I'd end up with a ton of rice stuck to the bottom of my pot! Gross. Avoid following in my footsteps there. Anyway: rice takes a while, so it can just be quietly cooking while you do everything else.
2. Dice the onion. This means "cut the onion into small pieces." For this you can make them as large or as small as you want, based on your level of laziness/taste/ Maybe you want strips or rings? Cool, whatevs. Later I will post a video of how to cut up an onion. That might sound crazy, but there's actually a trick. Put a little bit of vegetable oil (or sesame oil, if you have it) in the frying pan at medium/low. The amount you need will vary for the size of your pan - I usually use about a tablespoon. You can always add more later, if you need it. Let the oil warm up for a minute, then toss in the onion. You'll know if the pan is the right temperature if the onions sizzle a bit and start to smell nice but aren't burning/sticking to the pan. Cook them for about five minutes, until they're getting nice and soft.
3. Cut up the garlic and add it. Cut it up all tiny-like! Just keep chopping away and then toss it in. And then keep an eye on it, because garlic burns sorta easily, and you don't want that! By now, your kitchen should be smelling totally delish.
3. Add the ground beef! It will also sizzle nicely. If it goes in as a giant lump, break it up with your wooden spoon. Ground beef also has a lot of liquid, so you might want to pour some of it off before you add anything else in.
4. While the beef is cooking (and you can do it while the onions are cooking!), was and cut up your veggies. Just make everything bite-size. Cut the carrots pretty thinly because otherwise they won't really soften that much. Unless you like crunchy carrots! I don't know your life, man. Make however much you want. Maybe you want one carrot and nothing else, maybe you want an entire head of broccoli. Doesn't matter!
5. Toss the vegetables in. Different vegetables take different lengths of time to cook, so toss them in order! Basically if things start out really firm, put them in before the things that start soft. So carrots and cauliflower would go in early, peppers and broccoli can wait a bit. Leave any leafy greens out until the last minute. Like, the very end.
6. Ginger! Peel it, cut it up, throw it in.
7. By now everything should be cooking all nice. Just keep an eye on it, stirring every little while, until the veggies are mostly soft. Stick a fork in there and taste it! Then start throwing in some spices and sauces. Start with soy sauce - maybe a tablespoon. Then up to a teaspoon of chili-sauce, though you might want more or less, depending on how much you like that burning sensation in your mouth. Throw in some cumin and chili powder and salt and pepper. If you're not sure how much to use, just add everything by the half-teaspoon. Add a squeeze of lemon juice for contrast.
8. EAT THAT SHIT. Put some rice on a plate, put some stir fry on top, eat. That's it. Then put the rest in a container and eat it tomorrow! Hooray!
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