Testing Kwoklyn Wan’s new super speedy cookbook

It’s that time of year when New Year’s resolutions start slipping.

Maybe you wanted to eat more healthily or do more home cooking – but as we have raced through the month of January, ordering takeaways might be looking increasingly enticing.

That’s why Kwoklyn Wan’s latest cookbook, 10-Minute Chinese Takeaway, couldn’t have come at a better time. If you are tempted to order dinner via an app, whipping up one of these meals will only take 10 minutes, and it will most likely be a healthier than ordering in.

But do the recipes really only take 10 minutes to make? And can you pack in enough flavour in such a short period of time? We tried the new book to find out…

Lisa Salmon tested: Eight treasure tofu

The problem with this easy, veggie-packed stir-fry was I couldn’t find one of the essential ingredients: the fermented chilli bean paste, or doubanjiang. But, undeterred, I did a little internet searching and tried my best to make my own version. Never having tasted real doubanjiang, I can’t tell you how far my attempt was from the authentic paste, but it contained beans (although not fermented ones), chillies and salt, so it must at least have borne some similarity. I hope.

To be honest, making the paste was the only hard-ish part – the rest was just chopping carrots, mushrooms and onions, opening cans of bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, and packets of peanuts, and throwing them all in the wok with the tofu and sauce (also just a load of thrown-in-and-stirred ingredients).

The end result was tasty, and I loved the peanuts with the tofu. I’ll definitely be making a version of this again.

Noreen Barr tested: Beef and onion with mixed peppers

Kwoklyn Wan is already a firm favourite in our house and the idea of being able to conjure up the same kind of deliciousness in 10 minutes really appealed but, truth be told, I didn’t come close to pulling it off within that time.

As I was making a double portion to feed four people rather than two, I expected to go over the four minute designated prep time, but it took me a good 20 minutes to thinly slice the (expensive) beef fillet, peppers and onions, puree the garlic and ginger and sort the simple sauce.

My finished dish looked pretty close to the target, with generous amounts of meat and colourful peppers, but the beef should probably have been more charred. As promised, the sauce was tasty and aromatic, and the background heat from the ground black pepper went down well.

 

Eight Treasure Tofu

Serves 2

 

2tbsp vegetable oil

150g diced onion

3 celery sticks, cut into 3cm pieces on the diagonal

100g sliced mushrooms

80g canned water chestnuts, drained and sliced

80g canned bamboo shoots, drained

80g sliced carrots

175–200g marinated tofu cubes

80g salted peanuts

For the sauce:

2tbsp fermented chilli bean paste (doubanjiang)

1tbsp Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing wine)

2tsp sugar

1tsp dark soy sauce

2tbsp water

Pinch of salt

Pinch of white pepper

1 tsp cornflour

 

Put all the ingredients for the sauce into a bowl and mix until well combined; leave to one side.

Place your wok over a medium-high heat; when hot add the oil followed by the onion and celery and stir-fry for one minute. Add the mushrooms and continue to stir-fry for another minute, then add the water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and carrots and stir-fry for another minute before adding the marinated tofu pieces.

Give the sauce mixture a quick stir and add to the wok. Once all of your ingredients are piping hot, add the peanuts, give everything a good mix and then transfer to your serving plate. Enjoy it as it is or with a bowl of steaming rice.

 

Beef and Onion with Mixed Peppers

Serves 2

2tbsp vegetable oil

200g sliced onion

200g sliced mixed peppers

300g beef fillet, cut into very thin slices

2tsp garlic purée

2tsp ginger purée

1tsp ground black pepper

For the sauce:

250ml chicken stock

1tbsp Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing wine)

1tbsp oyster sauce

2tsp cornflour

 

Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl, mix well and set to one side.

Place your wok over a medium-high heat, add the oil and stir-fry the onions and peppers for three minutes. Next add the beef with the garlic and ginger purées and stir-fry for a further 30 seconds.

Give the sauce mixture a quick stir and pour into your wok, bringing it to the boil and continuing to cook for another minute, or until the sauce has thickened to your preferred consistency.

Turn off the heat and add the black pepper, then give it all a good mix and transfer to a serving plate. This dish also works well when served with rice on the side.

 

10-Minute Chinese Takeaway by Kwoklyn Wan is available now