CNY Leftovers Recipes
If you’re reading this, just want to congratulate you on another successful round of reunion dinners! Friends and family were well-fed, and everyone was impressed by the amazing spread you prepared for the annual steamboat feast.
However, if you’re anything like us, your fridge is now packed full with all the extra ingredients that you deliberately (or accidentally) bought more of for the past three days.
In the spirit of minimizing food wastage and making the most out of your ingredients, here are 8 easy, delicious recipes to make best use of your CNY leftovers.
P.S. Using leftovers can help you save money too! If you buy fresh ingredients now, they are likely to be more expensive than usual. Plus, freezing ingredients helps retain their freshness.
1. Yam Rice in Rice Cooker
This quick, convenient one-pot recipe is the perfect dish to make after all the hectic reunion dinner preparations! Aside from the rice, yam, pork belly and mushrooms that you might have leftover from your steamboat, this simple dish only requires a few other common kitchen ingredients such as hae bee (dried shrimps).
Test it out during one of your more nua days, perhaps when you’re recovering from a long, overnight game of mahjong.
Recipe: https://themeatmen.org/one-pot-yam-rice/
Preparation Time: 45 minutes. Serves 5-6 pax.
2. Tom Yum Prawn Pasta
Is 45 minutes still too long a cooking time in your holiday mood? We have something even quicker for you. Check out our 15-minute Tom Yum Prawn Pasta. This recipe is packed full of flavor and tanginess, making it super refreshing after so many heavyset meals. Even better, you get to use up all the prawns you couldn’t finish!
Pro-tip: Using a mostly-finished bottle of Tom Yum? Use a small amount of hot pasta water to “wash” all the leftover bits in the bottle and add it to your sauce – zero waste, 100% flavour.
Recipe: https://themeatmen.org/tom-yum-prawn-pasta/
Preparation Time: 15 minutes. Serves 2 pax.
3. Prawn and Vegetable Tempura
Check out this other recipe to put your prawns to good use. This prawn and vegetable tempura is something you might find in fancy Japanese restaurants, but it is totally possible to accomplish at home too. Other than prawns, you can also use any other vegetables or ingredients you have left stored aside, such as lotus root or green beans.
The trick for the perfect crunch is to use cold water to mix your batter to make your tempura even crunchier. Also, make sure the oil remains hot when frying, so fry in batches to make sure the temperature doesn’t dip too much at once.
Recipe: https://themeatmen.org/prawn-and-vegetable-tempura
Preparation Time: 45 minutes. Serves 3-4 pax.
4. Thunder Tea Rice
After several days straight of rich, jelak food, this Hakka Thunder Tea Rice might be just what you need to cleanse your system of the oils accumulated from all the bak kwa and sio bak.
We used brown rice in our recipe to make it even healthier. Feel free to mix up the ingredient list to add any greens you have lying around like cabbage and spinach. It’s a wholesome, healthy meal that your elders would enjoy too.
Recipe: https://themeatmen.org/thunder-tea-rice/
Preparation Time: 1 hour. Serves 4 pax.
5. Stir Fried Beef with Broccoli
This CNY, may the only beef between you and your loved ones be delicious like this Stir Fried Beef with Broccoli. Jokes aside, this is the perfect recipe for you if you’ve got leftover beef slices from your hot pot.
For a nice, crisp exterior for the beef, we recommend doing a shallow fry before sautéing with the other ingredients. Chock-full of flavor from the fresh beef, with a kick of spice from chili padis and the umami explosion from oyster sauce, it proves that meals don’t have to be boring after the main festivities.
Recipe: https://themeatmen.org/stir-fried-beef-with-broccoli/
Preparation Time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Serves 3-4 pax.
6. Claypot Yong Tau Foo
This recipe is the one you’re looking for if you have leftover fish balls, crab sticks and other steamboat ingredients overflowing from your fridge.
If you want, you can also make full use of your long break at home and create your own Yong Tau Foo pieces from scratch. It’s a great family activity for bonding this CNY.
Recipe: https://themeatmen.org/claypot-yong-tau-foo
Preparation Time: 1 hour. Serves 4.
7. Penang Char Kway Teow
Some of us are missing Malaysia, especially since visiting loved ones over there is difficult this year. Well, this 30-minute, spicy and fiery wok-hei-filled Penang Char Kway Teow is a nostalgic must-have. Practise this dish, and maybe you can show off your new wok-hei skills to Malaysian relatives next year.
Simply toss your leftover prawns, lap cheong (chinese sausage) and cockles into this dish. One bite will have you dreaming you’re back in Penang.
Recipe: https://themeatmen.org/penang-char-kway-teow/
Preparation Time: 30 mins. Serves 2-3 pax.
8. Seafood Yee Mee
This Seafood Yee Mee guarantee plus chop will help you to use up all your remaining ingredients. It takes all the pieces of food and combines them into a thick, rich stock to be poured over ee-fu noodles! Quick, easy and efficient, this dish is a life (or food) saver.
Recipe: https://themeatmen.org/seafood-yee-mee/
Preparation Time: 30 minutes. Serves 2 pax.
CNY Ingredients
Start the Lunar New Year well by making the best use of what you already have. Let’s be thankful for the abundance of family, friends and food that we’re surrounded by. If you decide to give these recipes a go, share your creations with us on the Meatmen FB Cooking Community! We’d love to see your take on them.
—-
More of what you might like:
- Bak Kut Teh – 肉骨茶
- Braised Pork Belly with Abalone – 卤肉炖鲍鱼
- Yusheng With Gin Beetroot Cured Salmon – 三文鱼魚生
P.S. We’ve got recipes for all your Singaporean and Asian favourites on our Youtube channel. Subscribe and share with your friends!
P.P.S. Can’t find a recipe you like? Drop us a comment or ping us on our socials.
—-
Get cooking with us:
Facebook | Instagram | Telegram | TikTok | Pinterest
