My suggestions for what to cook this weekend include everything from Cambodian chicken rice porridge and Chinese style sticky pork ribs – or char siu pork, which is what we’re having – to a North Indian feast, for which I’m making a tamarind eggplant recipe from Rajasthan, a Punjabi chole or chickpea curry, a cauliflower and potato curry, which I’ll serve with raita and rice.
I’ve pulled together a collection of some of our favourite Asian recipes for this week’s edition of what to cook this weekend, from Chinese style pork ribs and char siu pork to Hokkien noodles from Singapore, a Cambodian sour soup, a Thai green papaya salad, and a handful of North Indian recipes.
If you don’t find anything that takes your fancy, below, then click on Grantourismo at the top of the page and browse some of the new recipes we’ve shared in recent weeks, such as my white bean chilli recipe for a gently-spiced crowd-pleasing bean chilli to Terence’s succulent Italian roast chicken recipe with peppers, olives and capers.
You should also find some cooking inspiration in our collection of 28 recipes to cook in February, one for every day of the month; our round-up of the most popular recipes of January, which are the recipes our readers searched for, spent time on, and (we hope!) cooked; and our What to Cook this Weekend recipe archives.
But before I share my ideas for what to cook this weekend, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is partly funded by its readers. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon, which you can do for as little as the price of a coffee.
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Now let me share my ideas for what to cook this weekend.
What to Cook this Weekend – Rice Porridge, Sticky Pork Ribs and Tamarind Eggplant
Here are our What to Cook this Weekend suggestions for meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner for Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday Breakfast – Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe for Borbor Sach Moan
One of my first picks for you for what to cook this weekend is one of the most comforting breakfasts you’ll eat and it’s what I’ll be making on Saturday morning, this Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe for Cambodian congee.
Called borbor sach moan in Khmer, it’s thought that this chicken rice porridge is a dish of Chinese origin and part of the Cambodian-Chinese culinary heritage rather than a Khmer dish, but no matter its provenance it’s become a comfort food favourite of all Cambodians and expats here in Cambodia.
While it’s typically breakfast food, the Cambodian take on Chinese congee is a classic Cambodian comfort food favourite that is eaten at any time of the day. During our many years here, we’ve observed Cambodians tuck into big bowls of borbor for breakfast, brunch, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner (especially if feeling unwell), and a late night supper (i.e. hangover cure).
Here in Siem Reap, this rice porridge is made with anything from chicken, pork, fish, dried fish, seafood, snails, and frog legs. An array of condiments is a must, from dried fish floss and pickled vegetables to the condiments we love to use: fish sauce, chilli flakes, chilli oil, and fresh fragrant herbs.
Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe for Borbor Sach Moan, Cambodia’s Congee
Saturday Lunch – Sour Beef Soup with Morning Glory
This Cambodian sour beef soup with morning glory recipe makes a wonderful green vegetable-driven broth called samlor machou kroeung sach ko in Khmer and it’s another of my top picks for what to cook this weekend, especially if you’re in the northern hemisphere where it’s still chilly.
Two Cambodian recipes in a one day. Well, we’ve been sharing a lot of European recipes lately and Cambodian food is so good, more of you need to know more about it (which is why we’ve been working on a Cambodian cookbook for (gulp) almost a decade.
This super is super-easy to make and if you’re not a fan of tang you can easily adjust the seasonings to suit your taste. You will need to make a Khmer yellow kroeung, a Cambodian herb and spice paste, for this dish, but it keeps a while and you can also freeze it.
The yellow kroeung gets used in dishes such as this nom banh chok, which for me is Cambodia in a bowl, the sumptuous fish amok and these smoky beef skewers. A green kroeung can also be used. Kroeungs are all explained on the yellow kroeung link, above.
You will need a mortar and pestle to make the kroeung, and if you don’t one yet, this KROK mortar and pestle is the best mortar and pestle. It’s handcrafted in Thailand and takes three days to make by local craftsmen in Chonburi’s Ang Sila village. I look for any excuse to use it these days.
Sour Beef Soup with Morning Glory Recipe for Samlor Machou Kroeung Sach Ko
If it’s not soup weather wherever you are, how about making this Cambodian green papaya salad recipe for bok lahong or this funky but refreshing som tam recipe for a Thai style green papaya salad. They’re what we call ‘same same but different’ here in Southeast Asia.
Classic Thai Som Tam Recipe for a Thai Green Papaya Salad Plus Tips for Jazzing Up Your Som Tam
Saturday Dinner – Sticky Pork Ribs or Char Siu Pork
This sticky Asian pork ribs recipe is another of my top picks for you for what to cook this weekend. Terence’s recipes makes deliciously addictive Chinese style baked ribs that are a whole lot faster than most Asian roast pork ribs recipes.
Terence brines the pork ribs first, which helps tenderise the meat and keeps the pork succulent, while also making the cooking time over a grill quite short. They can also be reheated and will remain moist.
Here in Cambodia we often eat the pork ribs simply with stir-fried morning glory and steamed rice but traditionally they’d be eaten as one of an array of dishes as part of a shared family-style meal.
That might include fried spring rolls, dumplings, fried rice, Chinese leafy greens, and a stir-fry or braise, such as Cambodian cashew chicken or Vietnamese braised pork belly.
Sticky Asian Pork Ribs Recipe for Chinese Style Baked Ribs with Sesame
I can’t get enough of those pork ribs, but I have had cravings for another pork dish, so here’s a bonus idea for what to cook this weekend for Saturday night. This char siu pork recipe makes a char siu that is sweet and sticky on the outside and tender and juicy.
While you could use a store-bought char siu sauce if you really wanted to, we think they’re too sweet to make that shortcut worthwhile and for an extra 10 minutes of prep you can have a far superior homemade sauce, fine-tuned to your own taste.
This Chinese barbecue pork recipe is also very versatile. Like the ribs, above, you can eat char siu pork with steamed rice and Chinese greens or as part of a family-style meal with several other dishes. See the links above for ideas.
But there’s also so much you can do with char siu leftovers. We put leftover char siu in everything from fried rice and Hokkien noodles to Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and another Vietnamese speciality, cao lầu. See my Sunday breakfast idea for another way to use leftover char siu.
Sunday Breakfast – Char Siu Pork Omelette Recipe
If you made our char siu pork recipe last night and you’ve enjoyed some of the Asian eggs recipes we’ve shared over the years in our Weekend Eggs series, such as this decadent crab omelette recipe or this soft scrambled eggs with Chinese barbecue pork and chives – then you’re going to love this char siu pork omelette.
It makes a delicious breakfast or brunch dish from char siu pork leftovers wrapped in a fluffy omelette and garnished with crunchy bean sprouts, Chinese celery leaf, finely sliced red chillies, and Sriracha sauce.
A tip: to achieve the correct shape for a perfect omelette, you need the right pan. For a four egg omelette like the omelette you’ll be making for this recipe, you need a 20cm (8-inch) omelette pan. These pans have steeper and taller sides than many all-purpose fry pans.
If you’re up for a second cooking project, you could make this homemade Sriracha sauce recipe too
Char Siu Pork Omelette Recipe with Crunchy Sprouts, Chinese Celery Leaf and Sriracha
Sunday Lunch – Hokkien Noodles with Char Siu Pork
If you haven’t overdosed on char siu pork yet, then this Hokkien noodles with char siu pork is another fantastic use of those leftovers from last night and another of our top picks for what to cook this weekend – which has got me thinking I need to compile a collection of leftover char siu pork recipes for you.
If you made the sticky pork ribs recipe instead, then any leftover ribs would also work in this Hokkien noodle recipe. But if you’re anything like us, you probably don’t have pork rib leftovers. Chicken, beef and shrimp are also fantastic in this dish.
While the original recipe for this dish called for Chinese cabbage, we also use bok choy. A different kind of cabbage or other firm leafy Asian greens would also work.
Fresh bean sprouts might also be hard to come by in some places, but you can omit it if necessary, you’ll just lose that fresh crunch.
Hokkien Noodles Recipe with Chinese Barbecue Pork or Char Siu Pork
Sunday Dinner – Tamarind Eggplant Recipe from Rajasthan
A North Indian feast is my last suggestion for what to cook this weekend because that’s what I’m making Sunday night and we’ll have plenty of leftovers to eat Monday. I’m making this tamarind eggplant recipe from Rajasthan, for a sweet, sour, savoury and saucy tamarind dish from Christine Manfield’s cookbook Indian Cooking Class.
I’ll also make Christine Manfield’s chole bhatura recipe for a Punjabi chole or chickpea curry from the Punjab region of Northern India, which straddles India and Pakistan, and this aloo gobi recipe for a cauliflower and potato curry, another traditional Punjabi dish that has become a much-loved dish all over the world.
That’s a vegetarian feast right there, which would be fantastic with a tomato and cucumber yogurt raita on the side, plenty of basmati rice and some Indian flatbreads, though I’m tempted to make this Indian-style Burmese curry, a coconut rice and maybe this raw Burmese cabbage slaw – which we’ll also serve with the assortment of pickles and chutneys we have in the fridge.
Tamarind Eggplant Recipe from Rajasthan from Indian Cooking Class by Christine Manfield
Please do let us know in the comments section below if you make any of our suggestions for what to cook this weekend as we always love to hear how our recipes turn out for you.
