Work smarter, not harder - making dinners that cook themselves
Alice Sun (@alicecsun) shares a unique view into her life through the ways she uses food to nurture wellness, cross cultural divides, and bring people together, all through the medium of storytelling.
Alice Sun
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July 7, 2026
Instead of expecting yourself to always have enough energy to cook after workouts, make things easier on yourself with these dinners that cook themselves while you shower!
This is a hot pot style dinner, where thinly sliced beef gets simmered alongside onions, because onions make everything better, and cabbage and thinly sliced carrot for both the fiber and light natural sweetness. Umami gets dialed up through the combination of dried kelp, soy sauce, mirin, and sake, and bouillon powder. Leave it to cook on low while you shower. Dinner’s ready when you’re out.
Slice up napa cabbage (¼ head) into bite size pieces, and thinly slice the onion (½).
If meal prepping, add the cabbage and onion to a ziploc bag with the frozen beef (1 lb).
Carrots get a weird texture if they’re frozen the cooked, so I prefer to prep carrot (1) day of cooking.
Take a vegetable peeler and peel the carrot into thin strips, which will act as the “noodles” in this dish.
To a pot, add water (2 ½ cups), the dried kelp (1 piece), and bouillon powder (3 tsp).
Bring to a simmer, then drop in the beef, onion, cabbage, and thinly sliced carrot.
Lastly pour in the soy sauce (1 Tbsp), sake (1 Tbsp), and mirin (1 Tbsp), then let it simmer for 20 mins.
Serve with a bit of rice and enjoy with lots of soup.
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