Want to know how to make a bunch of different healthy Chinese meals with just a few basic recipes?

All you need to do is follow these steps.

BASIC CHINESE COOKING METHOD

Slice up 1/2 pound of the lean meat of your choice and marinate it for 30 minutes in the appropriate marinade/coating.
Wash and cut up 2-3 cups of fresh vegetables. Frozen can be used, but isn't as crisp
Optional: Mince 1 teaspoon each of garlic, ginger root, and/or green onion.
Prepare one of the sauces from the recipes below in a small bowl and set aside.
In a non-stick skillet or wok heated to medium high and coated with cooking spray, add the optional items (if desired) and stir fry until fragrant, then add the meat and stir fry until it is cooked all the way through. Remove from heat and set aside in another container.
Return pan to stove and spray a bit more cooking spray on it. Add vegetables and stir fry until cooked but still crisp--with green veggies, you can see the color change to a brighter green. (If you are using crunchy veggies like broccoli, carrots or cauliflower, add about 1/4 c. water and cover for 3-4 minutes to steam them a bit.)
Add the cooked meat back into the pan.
Add the prepared sauce and stir the mixture until the veggies and meat are evenly coated and the sauce thickens into a semi-transparent glaze.
Divvy the meal up into 2-3 servings (3 if you are female, 2 if you are male) and serve with 1/2-1 cup of brown rice.


Easy, huh?

Now here are the marinade and sauce recipes:

Add hot peppers, ginger root, green onions, garlic, etc to taste if they are not included in the recipe, and you like a little extra zing to your meals.

MARINADES (For best results marinate for at least 30 minutes)
-------------------
BASIC MEAT MARINADE (for 1/2 lb beef, pork, or chicken)
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. cooking wine or sherry
1 T. cornstarch

BASIC SEAFOOD MARINADE (for 1/2 lb shrimp, scallops, etc)
2 t. cornstarch
1 t. cooking wine or sherry
1/3 t. salt


SAUCES
-------------------
OYSTER SAUCE
1/2 c. water
1.5 T. oyster sauce
1.5 T. soy sauce
1/2 T. cooking wine or sherry
2 t. cornstarch
2 t. Splenda
pinch pepper
few drops sesame oil

BLACK BEAN SAUCE
2 t. fermented black beans, finely chopped
1 t. green onion, minced
1 t. ginger root, minced
1 t. garlic, minced
1/2 c. water
2 t. soy sauce
1/2 t. Splenda
pinch of pepper
1/2 T. cornstarch

WHITE SAUCE (dryer)
4 T. water
3/4 t. salt
1 t. Splenda
1 t. cornstarch
few drops sesame oil
pinch of pepper

RED/KETCHUP SAUCE
1 c. water
2 T. ketchup
1 T. Splenda
1/2 t. salt
pinch of pepper
1 T. cornstarch

CURRY SAUCE
3 T. curry powder or paste
5 T. flour
3 c. chicken stock or water
1 t. salt
1/2 T. Splenda
1/4 t. pepper
1 T cooking wine or sherry

BROWN SAUCE (dryer)
4 T. soy sauce
2 t. cooking wine
2 t. Splenda
4 T. stock or water
1/2 T. cornstarch

SPICY TOMATO SAUCE
1 T. garlic, minced
1 T. ginger root, minced
1/2 c. onion, diced
3 T. ketchup
1 T. fermented sweet rice or wine
1 t. hot bean paste
1/2 c. water
1/2 T. cornstarch
2/3 T. Splenda
1/2 t. salt

Was looking for Causticmuse's Orange Protein Pancake recipe, and found this. Awesome advice and makes good stuff!

-Allen

Thanks causticmuse. Ive totally avoided chinese food since I started changing my eating because I think the unhealthiness of a lot of restaurant chinese food psyched me out of it. But this sounds like a good way to sex up some of the bland veggies ive been eating lately!

Looks great, Thanks!

Bumping this up and adding a note that these recipes are GREAT for bulk prep and freezing for convenience.

Basically, mix up the meat marinade in a ziploc freezer bag and put the sliced raw meat in the bag. Squeeze out the excess air and seal. Squish the meat and marinade around until it is evenly distributed.

Next, put the ingredients for the sauce into a second freezer bag, squeeze out the excess air, seal, and squish to mix.

Portion out the recommended amount of frozen veggies into a third bag and seal. (Optionally, you can skip this step and just use fresh cut veggies when you are ready to stir-fry.)

Put all bags into a 1-gallon ziploc and toss into the freezer until you need a quick stir-fry meal. I recommend pulling a meal out of the freezer 24 hours ahead of your projected cooking time and allowing all of the ingredients to thaw in the fridge first.

In about 90 minutes you can easily set up over a dozen of these stir fry meals to store in your freezer. Double the ingredients if you want each packet to be enough for 4-6 meals.

Maggie, have you ever tried replacing the cornstarch with guar gum? I tried it today and it was great. Guar gum has 0 cals (you only need 1 gram or so) and acts as a thickening agent.