Chinese New Year 2025: Jan 29: celebrate with easy make-at-home Chinese dishes: lower fat/ salt, wallet-friendly

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The qualities of the Year of the Snake (starting January 29) are Challenge and Opportunity for growth, we're told.  Adapatability, learning and patience are needed but unexpectedly there is a biological dimension!  Males apparently find the year exciting while females are urged to develop collaborative abilities with supportive colleagues.  

None of that applies to the Chinese food found in many Chinese homes during the two week celebration, and year-round.  Most of the recipes here are easy-peasy, wallet friendly and lower calorie.

                                 Un-fried Rice

Cleaner', 'skinnier', gorgeously plumped-up version of Fried Rice

Better for your health: all the ingredients without the fat; soft, easily digested base for Oriental dishes 

           

HOT CHOW MEIN NOODLES

Think Chow Mein is boring?  Think again. This recipe is absolutely moreishly delicious.  It's also budget-friendly and easy, and especially for those not used to Cooking Chinese, includes lots of pictures!

As good as Chinese take-away but much much healthier & cheaper

  

Chinese Ramen Noodles:

Quick, frugal & healthy, a bowl of noodles, protein, veg and rich broth is hard to beat...Triple Duty; suits carnivores and vegetarians/vegans 

With rising food prices, this delicious and satisfying budget bowl doesn't sacrifice flavour or good health 

Chicken Thighs in Simple Sherry & Soy Sauce  

Easy Chinese comfort food for nutritionally deficient pensioners that pleases the rest of the family, too; wallet-friendly,

Almost-Instant Crispy Noodles with protein, chilli, veg & gravy 

(the chinese equivalent of Sunday lunch?)  Just Wow! Restaurant quality but cooked frugally at home.

Salmon & Chinese Cabbage with Garlic Honey Sauce

Sensationally delicious easy meal for frigid weather::

  low-fat, health giving & satisfying; from pot to table, 15 mins 

Seriously good one-pot dinner is great for singletons or families, especially in cold, damp weather 

                          Vegan Tofu with Chillis & Broccoli 
               Colourful and appetising with chicken option

If you like a little heat, you'll love this!

                        Jasmine Mint Tea 

Restorative, cleansing, sugar-free, possibly fat-busting 

Oriental tea with Mid-Eastern twist

 

These recipes have been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  They may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.  

Sugar-free Chinese meat rub for that charred spicy sweet rib taste: lo-fat, dairy free

This recipe is worth its weight in gold for easy, tasty week-night meals...
                                                                                                                    updated 1/2025; original 2015

Healthier Chinese Spicy Belly Pork Strips/Ribs ' 

(option for beef/lamb ribs, chicken thighs/wings and other cuts of meat )

' ...lovely and juicy; I usually avoid ribs because they're so messy!' Taster

                                                                                      

Here's a spiced marinade that will give any cut of pork, beef or chicken the quintessential flavour of  Chinese Spare Rib. 

Post Christmas - or anytime - the great thing about the rub is that it's almost-no-sugar.  And because the meat is barbecued, roasted, or grilled on a rack, excess fat is released and drains away.   

There's no gloopiness; the meat becomes tender, exotically flavoured and covered with crunchy burnished bits. The sauce is much healthier than take-aways or supermarket offerings.  

Winter or summer, prep the meat the night before and it'll be ready by dinnertime.  

Some less expensive cuts may need poaching beforehand which will tenderise the meat so that is is nearly falling off the bone.  Poaching also reduces fat. 

The recipe has been in 67's cookbook for ages but may have been adapted from the (London) Times.

Feeds: 6-8 (as part if a 3-4 course meal) 
Cost: depends on the meat; £5-10'ish?? (Jan 24) Recipe halves nicely

Ingred:
1 kilo/2 pounds meat (pork ribs, chops, tenderloin, belly, shoulder or pork butt; beef ribs, flank or other from-the-belly steak; strips of rump steak; chicken breasts, legs, wings) 

4 tbsp dry sherry or white wine or grape juice
4 tbsp reduced-salt (not low-salt) soy sauce (if there are blood-pressure issues, replace half the soy sauce with good stock)
1 tbsp sugar (opt)
4 cloves garlic, grated or minced (opt)
1/2 tsp each dried cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
1/2 tsp salt
2 rounded tbsp Dijon or other mild mustard

Method: 

Crispy Noodles with Protein, Chilli, Veg & Gravy : protein leftovers, wallet friendly,

Easily create this rich crunchy Chinese restaurant favourite at home... 

updated jan 25; original 2015  

 The Chinese Sunday lunch?? Crispy Noodles with protein, veg & lots of gravy

What's your favourite comfort/indulgence food at your family Chinese restaurant?  Before we all became so cholesterol concscious, the Blogger's was Crispy Fried Noodles with Chicken Veg and Gravy.

It isn't possible to produce a low-fat version but 67's offering is definitely lower in fat. It is also wallet-friendly, using up leftover proteins (especially after Christmas and Easter), and has plenty of fibre rich veg.

Cost: min £1-2.50 depnding on leftovers (jan '25)

Feeds:1 but multiplies easily 

Ingreds per person:

1 nest noodles

50-100g cooked meat

min 80 gm easy cook veg: green beans, mange route, tender stem broccoli, small cauliflower florets or carrot sticks OR frozen veg

scant 2/3 cup gravy either (i) leftover meat gravy OR (ii)leftover or freshly made mushroom gravy OR (iii) if you must, Bisto granules 

Method:

How to.. Chinese Cabbage/Leaves :low fat & carb, vegan wallet friendly, easy, high fibre

Both  Photos from Stock

Chinese Lettuce (also known as Napa Cabbage) is a lettuce-like leaf with a hard base and core which keeps well in cold temperatures.  It's like a cross between lettuce and celery, and adds plenty of fresh healthy fibre to your winter diet. 

The leaves are pale and tightly wrapped; they have crisp, broad, white ribs lined with frilly tops and edges that reduce in size as you get closer to the centre. Both ribs and frills are succulent with a delicate, mild, sweet flavour and they are equally tood stir-fried or raw in a salad.

They're highly recommended.

Chinese Leaves are about the same price as romaine lettuce but go much further.  Chinatowns are the freshest source; the price of a large Chinese Cabbage will come in at about £3 -- it keeps well but not forever.  If your household is small, 67 recommends going halvsies with another singleton or couple.  

UK supermarkets M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury's stock Chinese Leaves but their offerings are smaller and lower priced. 

  

Prep is easy peasy.  Remove bottom 1.5 inches; separate leaves; blanche in a 9:1 solution of water and vinegar 20 mins.  Drain.  Keep refrigerated wrapped in paper towels in a plastic bag until ready to use.

Shred the frilly bits and finely slice the white core.  To cook, add to a hot lightly oiled pan and stir fry OR try the recently updated Salmon, Chinese Leaf, Chilli & Sweet Garlic Sauce.  

In summer, Chinese cabbage is ideal for make-ahead salads -- no sorry-looking wilted specimens here.  Prep as for cooked leaves;  add cucumber and a simple vinaigrette or a creamy yoghurt-y dressing for a tasty side, OR use as a base for something more complicated.  Nuts, seeds and fruit (fresh or reconstituted dried) provide something texturally stunning. 

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This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.