The Principle of a Good Stir-fry
Stir-frying is a fantastic principle because it happens at such a high heat that veggies cook so quickly and in the process release jets of steam that actually keep the inside of the veg in more or less raw state meaning it retains nutrients better and also gives a delicious crunchy result. I fell in love with stir-frying whilst I was staying for two months with an old couple in Beijing. That was in connection with my Mandarin studies and by the time I went to stay with the old couple, I knew enough Chinese that I could insists on being in the kitchen and learning every time there was something being cooked. A stir-fry can both be a dish in an of itself, but I just as frequently use it to cook the vegetables element for my meals.
A stir-fry consists of a flavour base which always has some form of onion in it and very often ginger and chilli. The traditional Northern Chinese flavour base consist of finely chopped leak (white part only), garlic and ginger. But it could be anything really. As long as some kind of onion is involved. Of course, if you are allergic to onion or for whatever reason don’t eat it, you should still do stir-fries. If you do it meat, an element of the flavour base could be some finely chopped, good quality meat that along with the ingredients below will help the umami base flavour, which is the reason we all love a good stir-fry. If you don’t eat meat shiitake or any other mushroom can take it’s place.
The second element is the sauce which always contains some form of umami, that is, soya sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, etc. along with some form of acidity be it vinegar or citrus e.g. lime (if you’re doing something Thai or Vietnamese style); and some form of sweetness, which can be sugar, maple syrup, date syrup or agave syrup. Finally, most of the time, you’ll want to have some form of thickening agent in there, which can be potato, tapioca or corn starch. Viscosity of the sauce is super important for the final result. It’s not something that can be described in words really, because some people like their stir-fry sauces to be thick like a gravy whilst others will prefer more liquid format.
The third element is whatever vegetables you’re going to fry. These need to be cut into pieces of similar shape and size so they cook evenly and blend together well.
Before we go through the steps a great tip for doing stir-fries is to always have a some water handy, that is, ready in a small jug or container. You will use this to control the temperature, say, if the garlic starts to brown (you don’t want that because it will give unpleasant bitter notes to your dish) then you add a little splash of water to stop the burning process.
Here are the steps:
Get your wok smoking hot
Add neutral vegetable oil (peanut oil is particularly good) followed by the plant element of your flavour base (e.g. leek, ginger, garlic). Stir that for a minute or so.
If you are using meat or mushrooms to beef up the umami-ness you now add this and stir until it starts to take some colour.
Now add your sauce and cook through for 2-3 minutes. You might want to add water at this stage as well if it starts going to dry. What’s happening here is that your onion flavour base fuses with the wet ingredients to produce a delicious sauce.
Now add your veggies and cook them in the sauce. An alternative method that’s used a lot in Chinese style stir-fries is to stir-fry the veg before you go through the above steps. Some, if they are really nerdy, will even cook different veggies separately to get the each veg to just the right point. You can pre-fry the veggies either dry or using a little bit of fat.
Adjust seasoning and viscosity (thickness) by adding either plain water (if you want it thinner or you want more sauce) or water mixed with a little extra starch (if you’re going for a more gravy like result).
As with all of the principles the only way to get good at it is to do it. But rest assured, learning how to do a proper stir-fry is something no serious every day cook can go without.