I love to cook the simple stuff. I have no passion for complicated sauces and techniques that require years of practice. I'm interested in sharing the simple pleasures of a quick meal made from fresh ingredients.
It really is simple to stir fry. It's just a sautee at the highest heat your oil will stand. To impart the Asian flavors, you just need a couple of key ingredients. And the technique couldn't be easier; you just have to know which order to put the ingredients into the wok.
Asian cuisine is not something I cook too often. Mostly because my wife is not a big fan of it, but also because I tend to end up in one flavor profile. I am by no means an expert on Chinese cooking. For that, check out Ching-he Huang on the Cooking Channel. I could watch her cuteness all day, and she has taught me so much about the simplicity of wok cooking.
So, I won't make this a series or anything, but here is my very simple stir fry recipe. You can build on this recipe to make all sorts of stir fry dishes with beef, pork, chicken, seafood, or tofu. Just cook off the meat first and add it after the sauce has started to build.
Serves 4
1/2 cup peanut oil
1 large red onion, sliced
2 cup broccoli, roughly chopped
2 cup cauliflower, roughly chopped
1 cup asparagus, chopped
2 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large tomato, diced
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
Cook the vegetables:
In a hot wok, heat the peanut oil until just shy of smoking point. Stir fry the red onion until slices are limp. Add broccoli and cauliflower and stir fry for about a minute. Season with salt and pepper while stirring. Add asparagus, season further, and continue stirring. Add mushrooms, season, and stir briefly.
Build the sauce:
Add the garlic, tomato, sesame oil, vinegar, and soy sauce and combine thoroughly, tossing the vegetables in the sauce. Allow up to two minutes for the sauce to thicken and the vegetables to begin exchanging their water. It is done when the sauce coats everything and doesn't drip off easily.
Serve with sticky rice. Garnish with green onion and/or fried rice noodles.
I look forward to hearing your suggestions for expanding this basic recipe.
Update: Some folks correctly pointed out that 1 cup of oil is too much. You need enough oil to coat the veggies, which in this recipe should be 1/2 cup at most.