Veggie Stir-Fry Template
tagged with: stir-fry, template, veggie"Stir-fry" is used loosely here, as I cook at home, without insanely hot burners that can singe the oil in the wok and create little smoky charred bits of food. Honestly it's probably closer to a steam/boiled veggie, but still tasty. If you do have a legit burner and a serious wok, you'll have to look up some real wok technique. Can't help you there. But I think the overall preparation and flavoring are generally applicable.
This is one of those things that have so many possible combinations and preparations. I'll try to give examples of what's possible, and general guidelines, but it's definitely encouraged to experiment outside of what's listed here.
Components
- A veggie (I'll list common veggies that I use in a table below)
- A base ingredient (Garlic is almost always used. Other times I'll use other ingredients to add extra complexity or an umami boost.)
- Simple seasonings (salt, pepper, MSG, sugar)
- A sauce (soy sauce, oyster sauce, or some mixture)
Preparation
Since I'm using weaker burners, sometimes it's helpful to parboil the veggie beforehand. This only applies to chunkier veggies that take a longer time to cook sufficiently, like broccoli, bok choy, or string beans. For leafier greens that cook quickly I usually skip this step. Simply parboil the veggies until they are cooked most of the way through and are ready for the stir-fry. Drain the veggies so they don't have much surface moisture. This will help them fry up better.
In a wok, heat up oil and add the base ingredients to draw out the flavor. Make sure the oil isn't too hot so that it burns these ingredients, but not cold enough so that the ingredients just soak up the oil. Since these ingredients provide the base flavoring for the rest of the dish, it's important to extract as much flavor as possible.
Add in your veggies and stir-fry. The veggies will likely start to sweat some moisture if you're on a weak stove. This is a major transgression for true wok technique, the goal of a stir-fry is to slightly char the outside of the food for flavor, and lock in the moisture. But if you care that much go get a portable burner or something.
When the veggies are mostly done, add in your seasonings or your sauce. My mom says adding the salt late in the stir-fry preserves the bright green of the veggie. I've never tested this, but who am I to distrust the woman who fed me for most of my life? When adding the sauce, make sure to coat the veggies, and let the heat of the wok cook it a little so there's more complex roasted flavors, and less moisture.
Table of combinations
| Veggie | Flavoring | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Broccoli | Base:
| Parboiling will help! You could also avoid parboiling by adding small amounts of water to let it steam/boil |
| Bok choy (青江菜) | Base:
| Parboiling will help! |
| On choy / water spinach (空心菜) | Base:
| After washing the veggies, snap the long stems into segments including the leaves so it's easier to handle |
| Yam leaf (红薯叶) | Base:
| After washing the veggies, snap the long stems into segments including the leaves so it's easier to handle. |
| Garlic chives (韭菜) | Seasoning:
| Chop into inch long segments |
| Bittermelon (苦瓜) | Base:
| After deseeding, and slicing the bitter melon into thin strips, toss the strips in some salt to draw out moisture and most of the bitter taste. |
| Eggplant | Base:
| After washing and chopping the eggplant into chunks, microwave it for a few minutes to cook through and allow it to soak up the sauces more. Instead of microwaving, you could also use a lot more oil when stir-frying to let it absorb more flavors. Eggplant is extremely oil hungry. |
The whole point of adding this table is to express the vast amount of combinations that are possible. I'm not cooking for a restaurant, I'm cooking so I have some fiber and greens for creamier poops the next day. And for healthy tasty meals. There's so many other veggies that I haven't mentioned, or other possible seasonings, spices, sauces, preparations, etc. The idea is to be able to understand the basics, and what's core to a stir-fry veggie dish. So, when you're at home, ready to make a meal, but find that you might be missing something, you can quickly adapt and still create something tasty.