10 Chinese Dinners for Seniors When You're Too Tired to Cook

You come home tired, the stove feels a mile away, and dinner turns into crackers over the sink or a piece of toast. You are not sick. You are simply finished for the day. On those evenings you still deserve something hot, filling and real, and it does not have to take more than fifteen minutes. My name is Mei Lin. I grew up in Guangzhou in the south of China, and I came to America in 1987. My mother came home from the dye works every night with blue fingers, and she still had dinner on the table in eighteen minutes. In this video I share ten Chinese dinners for the evenings when you are too tired to cook. Every one is hot, every one has something green in it, and most cost between one and three dollars a plate, at the prices I actually see in the store today. In this video: The three things to keep in your kitchen so dinner is always fifteen minutes away Egg flower soup, the real way to make the egg drop soup you know from takeout Rice porridge from leftover rice in fifteen minutes, soft enough to eat with no teeth at all Steamed egg custard, the silky dinner my grandfather called a cloud Lettuce with oyster sauce, the two minute Hong Kong vegetable dish Americans never believe Wonton soup from the freezer for about two dollars a bowl Ginger and green onion noodles for the nights you could fall asleep standing up Cold silken tofu that needs no cooking at all Steamed fish in the microwave in four minutes Hong Kong macaroni soup, the café breakfast that became my favorite tired dinner My mother's tomato and egg over rice, the first dinner I ever cooked alone in America Timestamps: 0:00 My mother's eighteen minute dinner 2:25 Three things to keep in your kitchen 3:17 Number 10: Egg flower soup 4:53 Number 9: Rice porridge in 15 minutes 6:19 Number 8: Steamed egg custard 8:12 Number 7: Lettuce with oyster sauce 9:34 Number 6: Wonton soup from the freezer 10:58 Number 5: Ginger and green onion noodles 12:11 Number 4: Cold silken tofu 13:14 Number 3: Steamed fish in the microwave 14:35 Number 2: Hong Kong macaroni soup 16:12 Number 1: My mother's tomato and egg 18:35 All ten dinners in one breath No fancy equipment, no long ingredient lists and no prices from thirty years ago. Just rice in the freezer, three bottles on the shelf and greens in the drawer. Always check that fish reaches 145°F, and keep cooked rice in the refrigerator no longer than a day or two, or freeze it. And please, on the tired nights, eat sitting down at a table, not over the sink. What did your mother cook on the nights she was too tired to cook? What was the fast dinner in your house? Tell me in the comments. I want to hear it before it is gone. I put out a new video every day. Subscribe so you do not miss one.