Chinese Cooking for One

If you cook for one, you know this

Every recipe is written for four, and cutting it in half never comes out right.

You buy a bunch of green onions, use two, and throw the rest away on Sunday.

You make one big pot and eat the same dinner until Thursday.

Takeout costs fifteen dollars, and it's too salty anyway.

The rice cooker or air fryer your children gave you is still in its box.

Six o'clock comes and you wonder if it's worth cooking for one.

So you open a can, or a box of crackers, and call it dinner.

It is not you. Nobody teaches cooking for one. Every cookbook in the store is written for four people, or six, or a holiday.

You are not the only one

The numbers

28%

of Americans aged 65 and over live alone, about 16 million people.

Source: Administration for Community Living, 2023 Profile of Older Americans

1 in 3

older women in America lives alone.

Source: Administration for Community Living, 2023 Profile of Older Americans

3–4 days

is how long cooked leftovers keep safely in the refrigerator.

Source: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service

What's inside

Ten chapters, seven recipes in each. Every chapter opens with a story from my mother's kitchen.

The Small PantryThe few bottles that make every dish in the book, plus sauces and pickles you mix once and use all week.
Rice Cooker DinnersRice and dinner cook together in one pot. Press the button and walk away.
Air FryerChar siu, crispy pork belly and salt and pepper shrimp, with restaurant crunch from one small basket.
Soups for OneSeven small bowls of soup, quick to make, with no big pot going sour in the fridge.
Jook and NoodlesSoft rice porridge for cold mornings and quick noodles for tired nights.
Eggs and TofuCheap, gentle dinners: silky steamed egg, tomato and egg, and a mild mapo tofu.
One-Pan Stir-FriesBeef and broccoli, kung pao chicken and garlic bok choy. One pan, one plate, no takeout.
Steamed and BraisedSlow, soft food for one: steamed fish, soy sauce chicken and red-braised pork.
One Chicken, All WeekOne supermarket roast chicken turned into a week of dinners, and the bones into broth.
Warm Drinks and Little SweetsGinger tea, red bean soup, egg tarts and Hong Kong milk tea, sized for one.

A free lesson from chapter 1

Start with one jar

Here is my mother's trick for green onions, so you never throw half a bunch away again. Cut off the white roots, leaving about one inch above the root, and stand them in a small glass of water on the windowsill. In a week they grow back. Cut what you need and they grow again.

Everyday Sauce

Makes enough for about 8 dinners · 2 minutes

I put this sauce in more dishes in this book than any other. Mix one jar on Sunday and the week is half cooked.

You need

8 tablespoons light soy sauce (½ cup)
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
4 tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon white pepper

Make it

Put everything in a clean jar with a lid.
Shake until the sugar dissolves.
Keep it in the refrigerator. Shake again before you use it.

Why it works. Soy for salt, oyster sauce for depth, wine for fragrance, sugar to round it off, sesame and white pepper for the smell of a Chinese kitchen. Every stir-fry needs all six, and measuring six bottles every night is the reason most people give up.

If it went wrong. Too salty? Next time use low-sodium soy sauce and keep everything else the same. The sugar has settled at the bottom? It always does. Shake the jar.

What you get

Chinese Cooking for One, the complete PDF: 125 pages, 70 recipes, a photo for every dish
The Large Print Edition, the same book on full-size letter pages in bigger type (181 pages)
“Why it works” and “If it went wrong” notes on every recipe, so you know how to fix it next time
A “For two” line under the dinners, for when someone comes to eat
The Quick Card: all the safe temperatures and storage times on one page for your refrigerator
Your first trip to the Asian market: a checklist, aisle by aisle
Two weeks of dinners for one, with a short shopping list for each week
A glossary of the Chinese ingredients in the book, in plain words

$19 one time, instant download

Less than one takeout dinner.

Get the book for $19

From the channel

Real comments from viewers of Mei Lin's YouTube channel, quoted as written.

“❤excellent❤thank you so much for delicious recipes, and clear easy instructions for use of a rice cooker.”

@tommieheavener4527

“Fabulous presentation. The picture corresponds with what you are saying, which doesn't always happen. Thankyou so much. I shall use all your knowledge.”

@paulinelee9694

“Thank you ! I can use now my rice cooker for a meal”

@esteladelacruz8825

“I’m going shopping right now. I am getting excited. Oh I’ve subscribed, yes indeed.”

@CaronBoler

“Thanks so much for showing us how to cooked in Rice cooker different DISHES!!! I LOVE IT.🎉🎉🎉 UK”

@HenriettaIlarina-m2r

“Thank you for your easy recipes. Greetings from Australia.”

@dorothygoh2798

Questions

I'm not much of a cook. Is this for me?

Yes. The recipes are short and written in plain words, and each one tells you what to do if something goes wrong. The first chapter starts with a sauce you make by shaking a jar.

Do I need a rice cooker or an air fryer?

No. Most of the book needs only a stove, one pot and one frying pan. One chapter is for rice cookers and one is for air fryers, for people who have them.

Where do I find the ingredients?

Almost everything is at an ordinary American supermarket. A few things come from an Asian market, and the book has a checklist for your first trip.

How do I get the book?

Right after you pay, you get a download link by email. Open it on your phone, tablet or computer, or print the pages you want.

Is the print big enough to read?

There is a Large Print Edition included at no extra cost, on full-size letter pages with bigger type.

What if it isn't for me?

Ask for a refund within 30 days and you get every penny back. No questions.