Ginger Garlic Shrimp Fried Rice is one of those deliciously simple concoctions that’s perfect for when you’re at the bottom of your refrigerator, or you haven’t had time to run to the grocery store lately. With a few well-chosen pantry items, you’ve got a delicious and easy dinner. If you have a food processor for […]
Rice, Noodles & Pasta
The Woks of Life Rice, Noodles & Pasta Recipe Collection
Campfire Curry Ramen – An Easy Camping Meal
Kaitlin totally outed me in her Pho Ramen post from a few weeks ago. We had planned to blog this campfire curry ramen recipe while camping in the woods of California’s Sequoia National Park, but I forgot the curry powder to make it. It was a devastating blow. Of course, we ended up with an off-the-cuff Pho […]
Penne alla Rosé
There’s something extremely invigorating about being a girl (Woman? Lady? Gal? I’ll spare you all my existential quarter-life crisis) and completely embracing PINK. The bar is one such place where so-called “cool” decision making is put under a microscope. Are you ordering the super local, single-batch, no name manly man IPA or the pink, coconut […]
Easy Curry Beef Rice Bowls
When Sarah and I were in school, weekends sometimes entailed trips to Chinatown (Manhattan, natch) to visit relatives. When we rolled through Chinatown’s main thoroughfares, we always made a trip to Great NY Noodletown for a couple of orders of Beef Curry over rice. The sauce was deliciously glossy with an intense aromatic curry flavor, […]
Pho Ramen (Over a Campfire…Or Your Stove!)
When it comes to camping and cooking, we have a long and storied legacy–braised lamb shoulder, rice and beans, rotisserie chicken, fried fillets of large mouth bass, smoked turkey legs, apple cobbler–these are ALL things that we have cooked at one point or another, OVER A CAMPFIRE. Over the top? Perhaps. An epic good time? […]
Stir-fried Carrot Noodles with Chicken
After a long period of resistance and general skepticism, I have finally discovered the awesomeness of vegetable noodles, specifically carrot noodles. It happened kind of by accident. I was planning on doing a noodle dish with chicken, ginger, and spinach, and I––in pretty typical fashion––forgot to buy the noodles. Derp. What I did have, though, was […]
Udon Noodle Soup with Chicken & Mushrooms
I want to love Udon Noodle Soup. Usually though, if by some random turn of events (i.e. I’ve suddenly decided to forgo the sushi/sashimi option, which is rare), I order it at a Japanese restaurant, I’m always a little disappointed. Because udon noodle soups––in American Japanese restaurants anyway––can be a little bland. I love the thick, chewy noodles and the […]
Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Seared Pork Chops
I’m usually pretty good about packing a lunch to bring to work everyday. More often than not, it’s leftovers from whatever massive blogging session we had the previous weekend. But for those weeks when we didn’t blog recipes, and I didn’t end up cooking at all, I’m not above ordering out. One of my favorite places […]
15-Minute Lazy Noodles
It’s an exciting day here at The Woks of Life. Because today, I have an AWESOME noodle recipe for you guys and it’s a lazy noodles recipe! We all know how amazing Dan Dan Noodles are. They’re the perfect balance of spicy, savory flavors. But as any of you who’s seen––or actually managed to tackle––our […]
Chicken Yakisoba – A Japanese Favorite
Hey guys, it’s Sarah again. Told you I’d be posting a noodle recipe today. So much for low carb, eh? I’m particularly excited about this one, because it used to be one of my go-to’s at Japanese restaurants, before I discovered that I really like sushi. Every time I go to a Japanese restaurant now, I kind […]
Vegetable Chow Fun, A Vegetarian’s Delight
This Vegetable Chow Fun recipe is one for all the vegetarian Woks of Life readers out there! Sometimes the meat-eaters get it all: Beef Chow Fun, Pan Fried Noodles with Chicken, etc, etc. To date, one of our only other vegetarian/herbivore-friendly Cantonese noodle dishes is Cantonese Soy Sauce Pan Fried Noodles––and it’s always been one […]
Cantonese Beef Rice Bowls
Like my sister’s epic chocolate cake post, this recipe is more public service announcement than anything else. For those of you who are regular readers, you may have noticed that this recipe looks a bit similar to our Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese. Well, you’d be right. This Cantonese Beef Rice bowl recipe is almost the same […]
Braised Glass Noodles with Pork & Napa Cabbage
Braised Glass Noodles with Pork & Napa Cabbage, or 白菜猪肉炖粉条, is a traditional dish from Northern China, and I’m pretty certain that most northerners have their own creative ways of cooking it. Some like to use sour cabbage instead of fresh cabbage, and some like to add chili. Some prefer it saucy, and others prefer an almost soup-like […]
The Perfect Spaghetti Carbonara
Spaghetti carbonara is one of my biggest food weaknesses. It’s also a dish that I used to mess up all. the. time. If you’re not familiar, spaghetti carbonara is made with bacon (you can use pancetta, guanciale, or even regular breakfast bacon), cheese, and eggs. The eggs create a silky smooth sauce, and the cheese […]
Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)
If you love Thai food, then you’re probably already familiar with drunken noodles, or pad kee mao. There are a few theories about the origin of the name, but the most common explanation is a simple one: these noodles are perfect after a night of drinking with friends. One disclaimer I must make is about the […]
Shrimp Lo Mein Just Like Chinese Takeout
Shrimp Lo Mein is an easy dish to make at home and tastes just as good as any restaurant version. You can even prepare all of the ingredients ahead of time for an easy weeknight meal. I’ve always found that cooking is a great way to unwind from a stressful day of work, have a nice meal, pack […]
Gyudon (Japanese Beef & Rice Bowls)
Now that I’m living in the New York City area, I’m finding that one of the things I miss most about my two years in Beijing is: lunchtime. Every weekday at noon on the dot, there would be a mass exodus from office buildings across the city, as coworkers headed out to grab a meal. Lucky for me, […]
Beef Bulgogi Bowls, A Korean Favorite
Recently, “bowl” recipes have become a rather Big Deal. It’s hard to turn somewhere without seeing healthy salad bowls, rice bowls, quinoa bowls—heck any sprinkling of ingredients will do, as long as they are in a BOWL. Well, I decided to throw together these delicious beef bulgogi bowls, which are topped with juicy, tasty pieces of bulgogi—i.e., […]
Classic Beef Fried Rice – A Chinese Takeout Recipe
Beef fried rice is probably one of my favorite dishes on a standard Chinese takeout menu (at least when you get to the fried rice column). Stir-fried beef with onions, peas, and of course, a little wok hei is a powerful combination that is often taken for granted. Judy would agree with me because, shortly […]
Homemade Rice Noodles
After Bill posted his Homemade Cheung Fun recipe a while back, I have been wanting to post this homemade rice noodle recipe. It’s perfect for stir-fried rice noodle dishes like Beef Chow Fun. But this recipe is mostly for readers who don’t live near an Asian market. If you do live near an Asian market, […]
Winter Pasta with Mushrooms, Sausage Meatballs, Walnuts & Crispy Sage
Sometimes, I’ll build an entire recipe around a single ingredient, deliberating idea after idea for how to showcase that one ingredient in its best light. This time around, it was a $6 bag of “farfalloni,” which a quick Google search has just told me are just a slightly bigger version of your regular everyday bow tie […]
Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese – A Fusion Recipe
You’re probably thinking, “Did I just read that right? Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese?!!” Yep, that’s right–Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese. The name popped into my head as I was making this dish for the family. It’s ground beef in a silky Chinese-style brown sauce with plenty of delicious Asian flavors. Cooked until fragrant, mixed with green peas, and tossed with […]
Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Ramen
The day after Thanksgiving is a wonderful day. Not because of Black Friday sales, but because the day after Thanksgiving is the day to make something new and exciting with all the leftovers in the fridge, like a good Turkey Ramen! I’m kind of ridiculously militant about preparing enough food on Thursday, just so we’ll have […]
Classic Chicken Fried Rice
Today, I give you the easy, classic chicken fried rice recipe that you can make for a quick dinner any day of the week. Take-out restaurants generally don’t do justice to this dish, as the chicken bits are usually small, or they used dry, stringy precooked chicken. This is the reason why chicken fried rice is generally […]
Rainbow Noodle Salad with Fruity Ginger Soy Vinaigrette
Fall is officially in full swing. As I was driving to the grocery store today, I noticed that the leaves on the trees had already begun to change. When I got to said grocery store, there was a huge bin full of on-sale pumpkins outside the entrance, bags of Halloween candy on display by the […]
Salmon Bibimbap Korean Rice Bowl
By now, I think Korean food has become mainstream enough that just about everyone who gives a damn about Asian food has eaten a decent bibimbap. I myself always thought that it was a rather complicated dish, what with all those fancy hot stone bowls out there, but the truth is that bibimbap just means […]
How to Cook Rice Without a Rice Cooker
Rice. The ultimate side dish. A versatile accompaniment to everything from stir-fries to stews. One of the most important staple foods in China and the world over, and the one (very large) barrier to me going on a low carb diet. I’ve known how to make rice since I was in the second grade. I […]
Young Chow Fried Rice
Young Chow fried rice (AKA Yung Chow fried rice or Yeung Chow fried rice) is actually a dish that originated from the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province. Early Chinese restaurant owners had to translate the name of the dish in their own dialect to the English spelled words, so we now find ourselves eating […]
Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Capers, Mint & Parsley
Sometimes, when I’m far from home and in a new place, surrounded by strangers, foreign languages, and unfamiliar surroundings, all I want to do is cook. There’s something about wandering into the local market, buying ingredients, and putting together a meal that makes you feel at home anywhere. We did a good amount of cooking on […]
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Hainanese Chicken Rice (海南鸡) originated––perhaps unsurprisingly––in Hainan, China, a tropical island located at the southern tip of the country. In recent years, it has become one of the top tourist destinations in China, probably due at least in part to the abundance of delicious plates of Hainanese chicken rice. Hainanese chicken rice has become a famous […]