The Art of tasty Stir fry
Continuing with our student recipe series, we’ve elected to showcase a student basic – the all-important stir fry! Why is it important? Well, it’s usually one of the healthiest meals going, it’s fairly cheap, it takes a few minutes to prepare and frankly, it’s deliciousness in a bowl.Whether you make a vegetarian stir fry or a meaty stir fried feast, you’ll easily see the benefits of making this dish time and time again. Before we get started, here’s the lowdown on the basics of the stir fry act:
Getting going
Ingredients– make sure you choose fresh veggies and meats.Chop all your veggies into the same size so they cook evenly (Julienne cut is probably ideal). Also, once chopped, sliced and diced, make sure your vegetables are kept dry so that they don’t spatter in the heat of the oil. Speaking of oil, choose an oil that cooks well at a high temperature like sesame oil. Olive oil doesn’t work well because it breaks down at a low cooking heat. Meats should be tender and also uniformly cut and fairly thinly. Marinating meat ahead of the stir fry process can help to tenderise the meat. Sauces like oyster sauce, soya sauce or other stir fry sauces are a key ing#0a3b6aient to flavour the dish. Check expiry dates on sauce bottles and make sure that the sauces are fresh and that crushed garlic or ginger is also freshly made.
Pans and utensils – get a wok. Don’t try and stir fry a dish in a frying pan as your ingredients will likely fall out of the sides. A wok isn’t expensive and it will see you through your student stir fry years.Also use a long handled wooden spoon to assist with the cooking process so that you don’t burn your hand over the pan.
Follow the recipe – once all your mise-en-plus is done, start the recipe and follow the instructions (cooking your ing #0a3b6aients for a short time over a high heat). Make sure your oil is hot and add ing#0a3b6aients into the wok as per the instructions (i.e. meat first and then removed; then veggies, then sauces).
Asian Chicken Stir Fry
Serves: 4Â
Preparation time: 10 minutesÂ
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
2 tsp sesame oil
150g sliced mushrooms
400g skinless and boneless chicken breasts thinly sliced
2 TBSP Sweet Chilli sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 baby marrow thinly sliced
1 tsp crushed ginger
1 TBSPÂ Soya sauce
Method
- Heat half of the sesame oil in a wok. In batches, stir fry your sliced chicken breasts well (making sure the heat is high) for about 2 minutes per batch before removing and setting aside. The chicken should be a golden colour when cooked.
- Heat the remaining sesame oil in the wok before adding the crushed garlic and ginger. Add the mushrooms, baby marrows and sliced pepper and stir fry on a high heat for 2 minutes.
- Once cooked, return the cooked chicken to the wok and add in both the soya sauce and sweet chilli sauce before stir frying another 2 minutes. The veggies should be tender but not soggy and the chicken and sauces should be warmed through.
- Serve over noodles or rice.
No One is born great cook. One learns by doing. – Julia Child.
