Prep Raw, Eat Fresh: 8 Chinese Vegetarian Recipes for the Whole Week

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This is the hub for the Prep Raw, Eat Fresh vegetarian video. It covers the full system: the two sauce jars, the one-pot blanching guide, the steaming safety guide, and links to all eight individual recipe posts. Bookmark this page.

What Is the Prep Raw System?

On Sunday afternoon you spend a few hours prepping raw ingredients and packing them into containers. No cooking, no stove, no heat. Everything goes straight into the freezer raw. Then on weeknights you pull out whatever looks good, put it in the steamer, and dinner is ready while you are doing something else. No oil on the stove. No pile of pots. No deciding what to cook at seven o’clock when everyone is already hungry.

Eight high-protein plant-based dishes that freeze beautifully and steam fresh every night. My family of five has been eating this way for years.

The Two Sauce Jars — Make These First

Before you touch a single vegetable, make both sauce jars. They keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Sauce 1 — Garlic Dipping Sauce 万能蒜蓉料汁

This jar does everything — dipping sauce, cooking sauce frozen into dishes, finishing drizzle on rolls. Makes one 16oz jar.

Ingredients:

• 250g garlic (about 3 heads), minced or blended very fine (蒜泥)
• 2–3 small red chilies (小米辣), finely chopped
• 3 tbsp green onions (葱花), finely chopped
• 2 tbsp white sesame seeds (白芝麻)
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 8 tbsp light soy sauce (生抽)
• 4 tbsp black vinegar (陈醋)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil (香油)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar

Directions:

1. Place minced garlic, chilies, green onions, and sesame seeds in a large heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the neutral oil in a small saucepan until just smoking. Pour immediately over the garlic mixture — loud sizzle. Stir immediately. The garlic compresses and reduces in volume significantly.
3. Add soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, salt, and sugar. Stir well. Taste and adjust.
4. Pour into a 16oz jar. Store in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

Sauce 2 — Sweet & Sour Sauce 糖醋酱

Only for the stuffed tofu puffs. Always poured AFTER steaming, never before. Makes one 16oz jar.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 1 tbsp (255ml) water
• 9 tbsp sugar
• 8 tbsp light soy sauce (生抽)
• 2 tbsp black vinegar (陈醋)
• 4 slices fresh ginger
• 4 star anise (八角)
• 2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 6 tbsp cold water

Directions:

1. Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Cook until steady bubbles.
2. Add soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and star anise. Simmer 1–2 minutes.
3. Stir cornstarch mixture, pour slowly into simmering sauce while stirring. Thickens and turns glossy in 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
4. Remove ginger and star anise. Pour into 16oz jar. Cool completely before refrigerating.

The One-Pot Blanching System

One pot of water, one session. Bring to a full rolling boil. Add 1 tsp neutral oil and 1 tsp salt — the oil seals color and shine into every vegetable as it comes out.

Blanching Order — Always Light to Dark

1. Carrots (shredded or sliced) — 1 to 2 minutes. Ice bath immediately.
2. Lotus root slices — 1 to 2 minutes. Ice bath immediately.
3. Napa cabbage whole leaves — 30 seconds. Ice bath immediately.
4. Napa cabbage strips, chopped — 15 to 30 seconds. Ice bath immediately.
5. Spinach stems and leaves — 30 seconds. Ice bath immediately.
6. Broccoli florets — 45 seconds, always last. Ice bath immediately. Broccoli turns the water green.

The Squeeze Step

After draining any blanched leafy green — spinach, cabbage — gather in both hands and squeeze firmly. Keep squeezing until almost no more water comes out. This step is not optional. Wet vegetables make soggy fillings, watery containers, and poor freezes.

Mushrooms — Soak, Do Not Blanch

Dried shiitake: soak in warm water 20–30 minutes, squeeze firmly dry. Save the soaking water — it is rich vegetarian stock. Dried wood ear: soak 20 minutes. Never use fresh mushrooms in these freezer dishes.

The Steaming Guide

All eight dishes steam directly from frozen. There are no fixed times in these recipes — your steamer, stove power, container fullness, and altitude all affect the time. Learn to check for doneness instead.

How to Check Doneness

• Insert a thin chopstick or skewer into the thickest part. Hold 3 seconds. Touch to your inner wrist. Hot = ready. Cool = more time.
• For veggie balls: press gently with a chopstick. The crust should feel firm all the way through, not soft in the center.
• For rolls: wrapper fully soft, filling feels hot when pressed.
• For the egg dish: whites fully set, no clear jelly areas.

Starting Times by Density

• Dense dishes (veggie balls, stuffed puffs, layered dishes): start checking at 20–25 minutes from frozen.
• Medium dishes (cabbage rolls, noodle dishes, tofu skin rolls): start checking at 18–20 minutes from frozen.
• Light dishes with pre-blanched vegetables (broccoli and lotus root): start checking at 15 minutes. Do not exceed 20 minutes.
• Fresh made, not frozen: start checking at roughly half the frozen time.

The 8 Dishes

• Dish 1 — Tofu Spinach Veggie Balls 菜团子
• Dish 2 — Napa Cabbage Tofu Rolls 白菜豆腐卷
• Dish 3 — Crack-an-Egg Veggie Base 白菜笋笋蔓蛋
• Dish 4 — Black Bean Mushroom Stuffed Tofu Puffs 豉汁酿油豆腐
• Dish 5 — Steamed Preserved Mustard Greens with Tofu Rolls 梅干菜响铃卷
• Dish 6 — Garlic Cabbage Yuba Noodles 蒜蓉白菜腐竹粉丝
• Dish 7 — Garlic Broccoli & Lotus Root 蒜蓉西蓝花莲藕
• Dish 8 — Tofu Skin Veggie Rolls 豆腐皮素菜卷

If you make any of these dishes, come back and tell me in the comments. Which one did your family ask for again? And if your kids ate the spinach without knowing what was inside the veggie balls — I really want to know.