Mui Fan (budgetpantry.com)
Serves 2
Cost per serving: $2.50

What you need:

2 servings cooked rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 slices ginger
12 pieces prawns, with tail on
Half a carrot, sliced
2 fresh shitake mushrooms
Handful of leafy vegetables
3 teaspoons concentrated chicken stock (I used Woh Hup)
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Splash of Chinese cooking wine (hua diao jiu)
500ml water
1.5 tablespoon corn starch dissolved in 3 tablespoons water
Dash of white pepper
2 eggs, beaten

Steps:

Heat up the oil and fry ginger and garlic till fragrant. Add the carrots, mushrooms and prawns and fry for a minute.

Add the seasonings: concentrated chicken stock, oyster sauce, light soy sauce and fish sauce and stir fry to combine. Add the 500ml water and vegetables, then bring to boil.

Add the corn starch water and reduce heat to simmer till slightly thick. Hold a fork over your frying pan and drizzle egg mixture through it, ensuring the egg is distributed evenly. Finish with a splash of cooking wine and dash of white pepper.

Ladle on top of hot steamed rice and eat immediately.

How much I spent:

$4 for prawns (I use frozen shelled prawns with tail on)
$0.30 for mushrooms
$0.15 for carrot
$0.60 for eggs
Everything else from my pantry

Eggplant with Garlic Minced Meat Gravy 鱼香茄子 (budgetpantry.com)
Serves: 3-4 as part of a Chinese meal
Total cost per serving: $1.05

What you need:

2 long eggplants/brinjals, sliced into 3″ x 1″ length
200g minced meat (chicken or pork)
2 big red chilli, seeds removed and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Half tablespoon chopped ginger
1 stalk spring onion, chopped into 1″ length (separate white and green sections)
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon olive oil
Water and 1 teaspoon salt (for soaking the eggplants)

Seasonings
1 tablespoon chilli bean paste
Half tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon cooking wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water

Steps:

Soak the sliced eggplants (no need to remove skin) in salt water for 15 minutes. Remove and drain.

Heat up 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place eggplants flesh side down and let it cook under low heat until soft, about 10-15 minutes. Use a pair of chopsticks to rotate eggplant, making sure each side is cooked and soft. Remove from wok and set aside.

In the same wok, heat up the remaining teaspoon of oil and fry garlic, ginger, white part of spring onion and red chilli till fragrant. Add the seasonings and mix well. Add some water if too dry. Mix in the spring onions, do a final toss and serve hot with rice.

How much I spent:

$1.20 for eggplant
$3 for minced chicken (you can use pork)
Everything else from my pantry

家常便饭: Oyster Sauce Shabu Shabu Pork with Potatoes (budgetpantry.com)

Serves: 4 as part of a Chinese meal
Total cost per serving: $2.30

What you need:

400g shabu shabu pork collar
15-20 sweet peas, ends removed
2 small potatoes, sliced
1 large red onion
5 slices ginger
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
Half teaspoon dark soy sauce, for colour
Half tablespoon sugar
300ml water
1 flat tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon oil

Steps:

Heat up the olive oil and fry ginger and onion slices till fragrant. Add in the potatoes.

Add the pork slice by slice with a pair of chopsticks, ensuring as much as possible that they don’t stick together. When 70% done, add the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar. Stir fry quickly to mix. Add the water (you can add more if you like more gravy). Bring to boil and lower heat to simmer till potatoes are soft, about 5-8 minutes.

Add the sweet peas and cover immediately with lid for 3 minutes (don’t overcook the vegetables). Remove lid and add the cornstarch solution to thicken. Serve hot with rice.

How much I spent:

$6.80 for pork collar
$0.60 for potatoes
$1.50 for sweet peas
$0.30 for onion
Everything else from my pantry