Anyone know the secrets to a good chinese stir fry?!
Anyone know the secrets to a good chinese stir fry?
How do I keep the veggies and chicken dry? What type of batter/seasonings to use on the chicken? What are the secrets to making a good sauce?
Answers:
This is a good question. It can be hard to reproduce restaurant-style stir fry in western kitchens. This article gives some good info on why that is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/stir_frying...
That being said, you can make some excellent dishes, and you can work with what you have.
A way to get around not having access to such a high heat source at home is cook the meat in small batches. Heat your wok or frying pan, then add oil & heat til sizzling, then the meat. The idea is to sear it quickly with high heat. If you add too much meat at once, the temp of the pan will lower and the meat will start to simmer in it's own juice. This is what I thought of immediately when you said how do I keep it "dry".
Keep in mind veggies have different textures- hard, med & soft. Hard veggies need longer cooking times and can even benefit from a teaspoon of water thrown in and being covered for a minute-like with carrots. Cook each veggie separately unless they have the same texture & you haven't overcrowded your vessel.
Cutting your veggies to uniform shapes help as well, since all your carrot pieces will cook in the same amount of time, all your zucchini pieces will cook in the same amount of time, etc.
Here's a real basic recipe that can be adapted to whatever meat/veggie combo you want.
Slice your meat thin (1/2-3/4 lb), across the grain and marinate for 15-30 minutes in:
2 t cornstarch
1/2 t sugar
1 t rice wine
1/2 t salt
1 T. soy sauce
Cut up veggies. For example, onions, red bell pepper and green beans. Since the green beans and long and thin, cut the onions into thin wedges and the pepper into strips.
Heat 2 T. oil and stir fry onion and peppers for 1 minute. These may be done together. If you want them softer add 1 T water and cover for 1-2 minutes. Add a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt and remove.
Now stir-fry green beans. Cooking time for them is about 3-4 minutes, and you can also make them softer as well with the water/lid method. Add the bit of sugar and salt and remove.
Add a bit more oil and a chunk of crushed ginger and a clove of garlic. Brown the aromatics and then cook the meat.
Add the veggies back in to reheat. Throw in some green onions for color and a splash of sesame oil and serve.
If you want sauce..well, most sauces are thickened with cornstarch. Very basic is 2 t. starch, 1/2 cup broth and 1 T. soy sauce. Add to the meat when it's almost done and then continue. You could use soy sauce w/sugar and garlic or use oyster sauce, or hoisin. Add chiles, or not. There's a million recipes for different sauces, and they'll all taste good with nice crisp veggies.
Have fun.