Weeknight slop. That caught your attention didn’t it? Yes, you read that right. It’s my go-to weeknight recipe. Faithful, tried, and true.
This is not a recipe that is search engine optimized. It is not a recipe that is particularly pretty. It is not going to win you effusive compliments with the dinner party set.
But it is a weeknight recipe that is made of just a few ingredients. It’s a weeknight recipe that comes together quickly when you’re juggling a hundred other things. And it’s a recipe that pulls the curtain back on what this food blogger really eats when she is desperate to eat something good and fast.
A Longtime Go-To
I’ve been eating some version of this for the past 6+ years, and it has saved me from many a night of eating sad leftovers, ordering disappointing takeout, or just languishing on the couch beset by my own laziness at the end of the day. I walk in the door just a hungry zombie with a singular mission.
On auto-pilot, I can throw this together in 15 minutes as long as I have eggs, avocado, and rice on hand (fairly standard millennial staples, yeah?). Bonus if you have a really ace rice cooker like mine that works like lightning with 1 cup of uncooked rice.
What Is Weeknight Slop?
So what IS weeknight slop and what does it entail? Grab some cooked rice—probably leftover from the night before, fry an egg, mash an avocado over the top, drizzle with soy sauce, a dollop of chili oil or my preferred #1 spicy bae, chiu chow oil, and toss in a big chopstick-full of chili bamboo shoots (i.e., not actually that spicy, delightfully salty, and kinda smelly in that very particular pickled/jarred Chinese way that I personally love.
They can be bought jarred or you can make them yourself with my chili bamboo shoots recipe. Pickleheads, please try. Those averse to strong smells, maybe skip this one.).
Sprinkle over some white pepper for some multi-dimensional heat. Mix in earnest with a spoon until everything’s broken up (it’s kind of like the laziest Chinese spin on bibimbap you could possibly conceive), and dig in. (It also makes for a great lazy brunch!)
While it doesn’t sound like much and in fact may be entirely bizarre to just about anyone reading this, the reason why this weeknight recipe has endured in my regular rotation is because it’s really, really, really TASTY.
I can’t guarantee that everyone will love it, but if you make it and like it, you may just end up converted. Try it! This is literally the lowest bar we will probably ever set on the blog, so you may want to take advantage now.
Recipe Instructions
Make the rice or take out your leftover cooked rice and reheat it. Put it in a serving bowl. One that is easily held while sitting in front of the TV or huddled over your computer.
Fry the egg–to your liking! Scrambled or hard-boiled will do just fine too.
While the egg is cooking, grab the avocado. Halve it, seed it, and cut it up. Or just scoop it out over the rice.
Add your preferred concentration of chili bamboo shoots (optional, but this is one of my favorite parts. Make your own chili bamboo shoots with my recipe!)
Fetch your preferred spicy chili oil agent from the fridge. Add in a scoop of that to taste.
I’m also partial to our chiu chow chili sauce.
Drizzle the soy sauce over the whole thing. Add a pinch of ground white pepper too if you like.
Stir to break up the egg and avocado, and enjoyyy.
