This lens is people who can't cook or won't, it is to let them know that a WOK makes cooking easy less messy and more fun. The Wok replaces the frying pan as the batchelor's essential kitchen utensil. Now I don't want to put any one off the Wok by telling that it can also improve their health.
The high sides of the Wok make cooking safer and less messy than say a frying pan!
Gonzo Cooking with a Wok
If you've only got one pan make it a Wok
Cook everything in your Wok, fry-ups, stews, stirfries there's no limit
But leearn how to buy a quality Wok and treat it properly below
Cook everything in your Wok, fry-ups, stews, stirfries there's no limit
But leearn how to buy a quality Wok and treat it properly below
A little bit about me
Finally learning to cook
I've been on a health kick for a while; I'm also a work from home house husband and somewhere along the line I've wanted to move on from boiled eggs and pizzas. I'm too impatient to really follow a recipe, so I've had fun experimenting with cooking food in a Wok. Woks make cooking fun and flexible now I've got a little confidence I want to learn about herbs and spices, textures, how to make a sauce and vinaigrette but in the mean time I have my Wok the most versatile cooking pan ever. Long live the Wok!Image from http://www.fromoldbooks.org/
P.S. If you learn just one thing from this page...
This Lens isn't the best Wok Lens and isn't about haut cuisine, but it is about how to have fun cooking, how you can eat healthier, get a buzz from the creativity of cooking and I find reduce your stress.
Women have kept secret the pleasure of cooking for far too long, men and especially young men are joining in.
Women have kept secret the pleasure of cooking for far too long, men and especially young men are joining in.
Basic Ingredients you need for Gonzo Cooking
(that you can add fresh items to)
Cans of chopped tomatoesSpices,Garlic
Vegetable Oil
Olive Oil
Jars of Sauces
Sauce Sachets
Cans of Vegetables (Fresh are better of course)
All sorts of Pasta
Spagetti
Rice
Pesto
Chick Peas
Eggs
Cans of Tuna,Sardines etc
My Favorite Kitchen Utensils
Cook for your Health, Cook for your Life
Fastfood restaurants are successful because they provide tasty food to hungry people returning from a day out or a night partying. Unfortunately they do this by packing in massive quantities of three ingredients Sugar, Salt, and Fat in the long term all of these are bad for you and can cause obesity and many obesity related illnesses. Microwavable Ready to eat Meals are often as bad. Almost anything you cook will be healthier than these, and as you increase your skills and knowledge of ingredients and cooking your cooking will get healthier.
Example: A Sausage and Mash with Gravy ready meal may contain half your daily salt and calorie requirements, and even though I will enjoy eating it I will likely be hungry again within the hour.
Example: A Sausage and Mash with Gravy ready meal may contain half your daily salt and calorie requirements, and even though I will enjoy eating it I will likely be hungry again within the hour.
Woks on Amazon
Helen Chen's Asian Kitchen Flat Bottom Carbon Steel 14-Inch Lidded Wok Set
Amazon Price: $33.95 (as of 12/14/2009) 
16 inch Traditional Cast Iron Wokset
Amazon Price: $39.95 (as of 12/14/2009)
Joyce Chen Classic 14-Inch Carbon Steel Flat Bottom 4-Piece Wok Set
Amazon Price: (as of 12/14/2009)
Mr. Bar-B-Q Cast-Iron Wok
Amazon Price: $37.99 (as of 12/14/2009)
WOK Recipe Number One for Left-Overs
The simplest recipe ever
Simply take all the left overs from the last few days in the fridge and place in the WOK, if not liquid enough add chopped tomatoes from cans, add spices to taste. Bring to boil them simmer for an hour.
Everyone Loves Pasta
Pasta is another friend of the Lazy Cook
- Pasta is easy to store, just needs to be kept dry.
- Is the best food for Sportsmen because of it's slow energy release
- Boil in slightly salted water for 10 minutes (fill saucepan with boiling water to speed things up)
- Pasta comes in a extraordinary variety of shapes, spaghetti, spirals, tubes buy a few different packs
- Once cooked drain and serve with a butter knob, may be a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese
- Make a vegetarian or mince sauce with tins of tomato
- Alternatively add portions of cooked or tinned fish
- Store surplus in the fridge, then fry two eggs and re-heat the pasta
- Really as a gonzo cook you can do anything with pasta
The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/14/2009)
Dreamfields Pasta Healthy Carb Living, Penne Rigate, 13.25-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12)
Amazon Price: $31.57 (as of 12/14/2009)
Rustichella Bucatini Pasta 1lb
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/14/2009)
Pesto Amazing Stuff
Pesto is an excellent healthy way to liven up reheated pasta, rice etc. Can rescue many a culinary disaster
San Remo Pesto with Olive Oil, 3-Ounce Jar (Pack of 6)
Amazon Price: $18.28 (as of 12/14/2009)
Simple Vegetable Stew
Obviously you can add spices to turn into a vegetable curry
Serves 6 Preparation: 30m Cooking time 30mIngredients
- 4 large carrots, diagonally sliced into 2-inch pieces
- 2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 1 can chickpeas, drained
Cooking
- Combine all the ingredients except the zucchini and chickpeas in a heavy, covered saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. Use Your Wok Cover
- Add the zucchini and chickpeas cook a further 10 minutes
You can of course add other seasonal vegetables e.g. swede, parsnip at will, feel free to experiment.
In the Fall look in the stores for "Autumn Vegetables" these contain a balanced selection of say carrots,parsnips,carrots and onions!
Less-Meatarian?
Most of the recipes here are vegetarian that's not out of any moral standpoint but simply that vegetarian meals are generally easier to cook and the ingredients normally keep much longer. I do believe that we are healthier for eating some meat rather than none at all. In particular good quality liver is packed with vitamins and minerals.
Nutrition For Dummies
Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 12/14/2009)
Simple Cooking Tips
- Peel and prepare vegetables while watching TV
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