beef and beans stiry fry

• brown rice (I used Chinese take out)
• pre-cut stir-fry beef (that's a lot of hyphens)
• Chinese 5 spice (optional)
• 1 bag of green beans and carrots
• soy sauce
• mirin
• sesame oil
• rice vinegar

Combine equal parts soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil and vinegar together, set aside. Sprinkle beef with a little Chinese 5 spice and brown in a little wok oil over high heat. Once cooked set aside and drain wok of any residue. In a little more wok oil cook veggies for about 5 minutes or until bright green. Turn heat off and add beef and sauce. Serve immediately over brown rice.

The dish: This an easy dish that can be made with a few instant ingredients and some stuff from your well equipped Asian pantry, we talked about that already, remember? We also went over some basic wok skills a while back, so you should be an old hand at this point. If you don't own a wok, go get one. There's no need to spend a lot of money, I have a cheap one and it's held up quite nicely throughout the years. Stir-frying is a great way to whip up a healthy (in spite of the name) dinner that can be ready in less time than most "instant" meals require.

udon and vegetable salad

• udon noodles
• snap peas
• broccoli florets
• baby corn
• shredded cabbage
• 1 large yellow pepper, cut into matchsticks
• 1 large orange pepper, cut into matchsticks
• green onion, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoon mirin
• 1/2 lemon

Combine juice of lemon, with mirin, soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil. Mix well, set aside. Cook udon noodles (available in the Asian section of the supermarket) according to package. Drain cooked noodles and rinse with cool water and combine with vegetables and dressing. Serve cool.

The dish: Successful cooking begins with keen shopping and a well stocked pantry. If you want to cook your own Asian dishes you first have to build your Asian pantry. I suggest starting with keeping these basics on hand:

• a good quality light soy sauce
• sesame oil (if adding to anything hot, put it in at the last minute as it's a very delicate oil)
• wok oil (flavorless oil with a high smoke point)
• rice vinegar

Don't be afraid to keep these on hand as they will keep forever and your Asian dishes will improve so much that you'll use them often. If you'd like to branch out from there, I suggest:

• mirin (sweetened sake- use sparingly as it's 8% alcohol)
• Chinese 5 spice (never use more than a tiny pinch)
• black sesame seeds

Keeping this stuff on hand will open you up to a whole new selection of dishes that you can easily prepare. I've had great luck with the sushi chef and house of Tsang brands, and both are available in most supermarkets.