5 Food and Cooking Hacks That I Forgot My Mom Taught Me

As a mother of 2 with a husband who has a stomach the size of a basketball player inside a small Chinese man, I cook A LOT!

One day as I was restocking my pantry, I glance at the items and I realized it looks almost identical to the ones I grew up with. I had unknowingly cloned my childhood tastes and flavours into my own household.

And who was responsible for that when I was growing up? My mom.

Here's an ode to my mom…with a couple of recipes included

Like that Chinese song…

In This World, Only Mama Is Good. "世上只有妈妈好"

1. COP (Carrots/Celery, Onions and Potatoes)

Root vegetables are hardy and they can stay in your crisper for a fairly long time before they start to go bad. That's why I always have these in my fridge, to bulk up any dish with some fibre and vitamins.

I put a slash between carrots and celery because currently, celery is ridiculously expensive. I think there was a recent health craze about the magic of celery in solving everyone's problems.

Skin issues? Celery

High blood pressure? Celery

Can't sleep? Celery

A horrible boss? Celery

The high demand drove the price up and so celery only exists in my crisper when it's cheap (like less than 99 cents/lb Canadian prices). These are crazy prices compared to when my mom was raising us.

Inflation?

Weather?

GMO?

Can someone explain to me the economics of celery?

Anyway, my mom is the queen of vegetables. Her lifestyle and prioritizing her health are what I'm striving for as a mom. She's a health-conscious nut. When I was a teen, I'd be chilling in front of the TV and she'd be at the gym after a hard day's work as a seamstress.

Now that she's retired, she prides herself on taking 4 hours long "siestas" at the local recreation centre.

She'll start on the treadmill, then the elliptical, working her way through 10 different weight machines (she's got the v-shaped back to prove her dedication), and cool off by doing multiple laps at the pool (only breaststroke to avoid getting chemicals in her hair), warm up in the sauna (sometimes getting hit on by 40 something-year-old white dudes) until she's dripping with sweat again, another few laps, then relax in the hot tub while massaging her leg muscles.

That's just another Monday for this Chinese grandma in her late 60's.

When I was growing up, she loved hiding vegetables in everything we ate.

It was never just mapo tofu. It was ground pork and tofu WITH onions, celery, carrots, peas, and mushrooms.

It was never just a curry chicken. It was chicken WITH onions, celery, carrots and potatoes.

It was never just homemade pork and shrimp wontons. It was pork and shrimp wontons WITH minced up onions, celery and carrots.

Like many immigrant families, my parents experienced the struggle to survive and make ends meet. With 3 kids to feed, my mom knew meat was expensive compared to grains and vegetables. She wanted her children to have a healthy diet; she realized that COP veggies were the most affordable and lasted a long time in the fridge. So she made sure to have these stocked up, ensuring her family was nourished in as economical and as healthy a way as possible.

And when I started my own little family, COP unknowingly became a regular item on my grocery list. I'll notice there are only a few carrots left and I'll immediately feel a need to replenish my stock like Pavlov's dog.

Having grown up with these flavours has influenced the way I cook. Sure, I can splurge for more expensive ingredients like parsnips, radishes, fennel, radicchio and asparagus (and I do when they're on sale) but COP is a regular in my household.

2. Just "Ding Yeet" it - Power of the microwave

"Ding" as in the sound the microwave makes.

"Yeet, 热" as in "hot" in Cantonese.

So my mom would often say, "Ding Yeet" not just for leftovers but a slew of other things.

My mom pretty much worked my entire childhood. She took some time away to take care of my older sisters and me but she went back once I went into Kindergarten.

Side note: She eagerly wanted me to start school so she could work. And because I was born in January, she enrolled me in Kindergarten a year early. But the school system found out and I ended up having to repeat Kindergarten. Doing it twice makes it easier? No, it does not. It makes you confused AF (Why are all my friends in the other classroom now?). And no, I do not resent her for this…anymore.

She valued making her own money and hated depending on my dad for things she wanted to buy for herself. She didn't like him questioning her purchases (and of course, dependence on a man).

So dinners needed to be quick and easy (a la Martin Yan).

One of my favourite dishes that she made was a microwave chicken.

She'd marinate a few whole chickens (BONUS TIP: it's cheaper to buy a whole chicken than just its parts; "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.") with soy sauce, sugar, green onions, garlic, ginger, and oil. Then she'd freeze them (See next point).

On days when there were no leftovers, she'd take a chicken out from the freezer, let it defrost overnight and then when she came home from work, she's pop that baby into the microwave on high for like 30 minutes while she got the veggie dish ready. Rice was probably already done (either my dad, I or one of my sisters made it)

Et voila, dinner is served.

And the microwave has been my best friend since. Only using it to reheat meals is for amateurs.

I use it to cook noodles (dried, fresh, frozen), soups, eggs, fishballs, defrost frozen ham, vegetables, pre-heat ANYTHING so that it cooks faster on the stove…etc.

3. Freeze, Freeze, Baby

My other best friend is my deep freezer.

My parents actually have 3 freezers, a mini-fridge with a freezer, a deep freezer, and a regular fridge with a freezer. Maybe it's their survival instincts but they always have food in their house, canned, frozen, jarred, dried…stocked and ready to go.

In addition to marinating whole chickens (and other meats) and freezing them, my mom loved freezing cooked meals. She'd make meatballs, cook them in the microwave and then freeze them. Then, she'll add them to a pasta sauce and again, dinner is served.

My parents went grocery shopping every Saturday morning while I and my sisters went to Chinese school. When we came home, it was time to "分肉" (Split meat). They'll buy club-sized ground pork and chicken (buy more, save more), split them up into bags and put them in the freezer.

When my husband and I moved out of our small downtown apartment and into our current home, one of the first things we bought was a deep freezer and I've filled that thing up ever since.

One thing my mom didn't do that I do: freeze vegetables.

Freeze entire cauliflowers when they're on sale (like under 2.5 bucks a head nowadays). Defrost those babies, wash and rough-cut the whole thing (YOU CAN EAT THE LEAVES! DON'T THROW THEM OUT) and add them to mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, fried rice, congee, soup, quick and easy stir-fry..etc.

Freeze kabocha squash, yams, zucchini, and pretty much any hardy vegetables that are on sale. You'll need to wash and cut it up before freezing. But man, they're great when you're out of fresh vegetables.

4. Now wok it out, wok it out

My mom and her wok were like dance partners.

She'd wear her platform slippers every time because she's too short to get a good grip and leverage over her wok. She'll turn on the kitchen hood and stove, then spin around to prep her ingredients.

She'd wait until the wok was hot, pour the cold oil in, throw in the ginger and garlic to explode "爆油" and then toss in the onions and whatever meat she had marinated.

Psssssssssssssssssss…snap…crackle…pop…sssssssssssssssssssssss

The sizzling sound and smell of the meat and onions cooking would waft through the house and my stomach would rumble, excited to know what was for dinner that night.

I use my wok for almost everything I make. The curved lid and sides (more surface area and volume) allow so much food to be cooked in a short time. I'm sure there's a science to the way the convection steam currents go that makes it work. The Chinese think of everything.

One of my favourite things to make in a wok is steamed ground pork and Chinese mushroom patty.

My mom used to make this but I totally kicked it up a notch.

Soak about 7–10 Chinese mushrooms in warm water until they're soft (probably a couple of hours).

Chop them into little cubes.

Mix the following together with the mushrooms:

1lb ground pork

A couple of tbsp of soy sauce (I usually drizzle it in a couple of circles)

A drizzle of hoisin sauce

1 Tsp salt

3–4 tsp sugar

Large tsp black bean garlic sauce

Couple tsp corn starch

A few tablespoons of flaxseed (I like to add it as a binder and for its fibre and omega)

Optional: chopped up a can of water chestnuts which I didn't have in my pantry. They haven't been on sale and I like the ones from Thailand.

Throw some frozen yams or kabocha squash on the bottom of a wok with some oil.

Spread the meat and mushroom mixture on top…cook on medium heat until the meat is cooked. I think approx 30 mins since I did a yoga routine while it cooked.

This totally beats steaming it on top of a rack with water. It keeps the flavour in and your yams/squash soak up all the fat, juices and flavours.

5. Set it and forget it

My mom is incredibly resourceful. She made a lot of soups (dessert and medicinal) and congee when we were growing up.

There were countless times when I'd be in the kitchen and she'd tell me to watch the pot; when it starts to steam, turn the heat to LOW. During that time, she'd go and do something for herself, either dying her hair, going on a hike, putting on some face mask, showering, going out to get a massage, shopping etc. When she'd come back, she'll do a quick stir and turn off the stove. It's done and she'll serve the piping hot, nutritious and tasty concoction.

And I've followed suit. I love making set it and forget it meals. From soups, stews, casseroles, and congee, slow cooking is my favourite type of cooking because it's effortless. And you don't need an Instapot to do this, just a normal pot with a lid.

Here's a loose recipe for one of my favourite soups: Hong Kong cafe style Russian borscht

*Feel free to sub and/or add beets (instead of cabbage) and beef shank (instead of ham)

A small head of cabbage (or 2/3 of a big one) chopped up.

An onion or two (chopped up)

Some garlic cloves (I've put in one and I've put in 10…however garlicky you want)

A ham bone (I usually buy a whole ham, cut it up into chunks, put it into bags and freeze the bone)

A large can of tomatoes (like 500ml or something)

A small can of tomato paste

A tsp of salt and pepper (white pepper if you can find it) to taste

A few spoonfuls of sugar

Herbs (I use a Persian sabzi blend)

2–3 full teaspoons of chicken broth powder (Knorr one)

Enough water to cover the ham bone

Throw everything together into a pot. Heat until the water starts to boil, turn the heat to between low and medium (like a 3.5/10) and let it simmer.

Go do some self-care for an hour and come back to a yummy and delicious soup. You can get one of those sweet Chinese buns from T&T Supermarket but I like to eat my soup by itself.

How do I envision my kids viewing food and cooking?

Cooking is an art and a skill; food is love for not just the stomach but for the heart and soul. It brings people together, providing a warm presence in the home whenever a meal is being made and consumed.

As you can tell from the looseness of my recipes, I don't really do recipes.

I want to pass down to my kids my mom's resourcefulness, my openness to try new things, the technical skills to slice and dice, the innate ability to add certain ingredients to fix a dish, the creativity to make things from scratch and ultimately, a love for food and family and that they go hand in hand.

So Readers, do you cook? What are some tips that your parents have ingrained in you?

This was originally published on my website on June 10, 2020