Recipe Example

Now we know pretty much everything we need to know to actually get into the recipe.

Let’s first talk about the ingredients we need to make stir fried tomato and eggs a classic Chinese dish which actually I really enjoy making something I can actually make to make stir fried tomato and eggs you will need three eggs or more if you prefer to chopped and peeled tomatoes some people slice them some people cut them into wedges sesame oil salt sugar olive oil and scallions you can add diced Ginger if you like.

So that’s an option.

It’s an optional thing.

Also you’ll need steamed rice on the side.

OK so we’re not going to actually add that to the walk to the pan but we will need it when we actually eat it.

So I have steamed rice on the side.

So these are the ingredients.

This is what we need to actually prepare our dish.

Now let’s get into the recipe itself.

So we’re going to add two tablespoons of olive oil into a pre heated walk.

Remember that’s a kind of pan and wait for the oil to heat up next.

Add diced scallions to kind of it’s like an onion.

And when you smell the aroma of the scallions Beat the eggs Beat the eggs and pour them into the pan.

Once they are almost fully cooked pour them back into the mixing bowl.

So that’s really step one after we take the eggs and we pour them into the mixing bowl again.

Now the walk is probably cool.

So we need to reheated so reheat the pan and add another tablespoon of olive oil.

If you’re using Ginger if you’re using Ginger add that then immediately add the tomatoes and cook them until they start turning golden brown.

OK.

So that’s the condition we’re not going to use time.

We’re going to use a description instead of saying this many minutes because maybe you’re cooking on a higher or lower temperature until they start turning golden brown then put in the sesame oil a tablespoon of sugar.

That’s a measurement of sugar a tablespoon of sugar and a few pinches of salt to taste.

If you add something to taste that means basically you add it until it’s enough for you.

Some people like saltier food.

Some people like food that’s less salty.

So add it according to what you like add a few pinches of salt to taste.

Finally add the eggs into the walk and stir fry for another two minutes.

So now we want to use time because we want to make sure we don’t overcook the tomatoes or overcooked the eggs.

We’re going to cook only for two minutes more.

Stir fry for another two minutes.

OK.

And then it’s done.

Basically we could say add the eggs back into the walk.

You could say back because they’ve been in before and you could say stir fry for two minutes or until and then you could make a description if you want to do that.

That way you want to make sure it’s not overcooked.

So for example if you say or until the tomatoes start getting very soft.

So in other words if they start getting very soft before two minutes then take everything out.

Sometimes having two instructions a time or a description can make sure something that you don’t want to happen doesn’t happen.

Finally turn off the heat and let it cool for five minutes.

Serve over steamed white rice.

OK.

So just turn it off that means turn off the burner.

We can sometimes call that a burner and just leave it there.

Don’t touch it.

Then after five minutes can put it on top of steamed rice when we serve something over something then we don’t mix it in.

You don’t want to mix it into the rice.

Here’s the white rice.

Here’s the tomato and egg on top of it.

And then people can sort of mix it as they’re eating it if they want to or not.

That’s the difference between mixing things in and serving over hopefully at the end of this lesson you feel more comfortable talking about food and how to prepare it in English at the beginning we talked about cuisine and how we can describe our feelings about cuisine.

Some common cooking actions and some useful phrases and then we actually looked at a real recipe including the ingredients that we need for that recipe.

Now to practice this what I’d like you to do is write down a recipe describe a recipe in detail.

Talk about the ingredients and all of the actions the amounts and then give it to a friend and see if it comes out OK Have them make it and then maybe go over to their house and see if your description of the dish actually worked.

Remember to do it only in English.

That’s a real test of how well you’re able to describe a particular food that you know how to cook.

So good luck with that and I will see you in the next lesson.