Stir-fry onions first, then add hard vegetables such as carrot and broccoli. Quick-cooking vegetables, such as snow peas, leafy greens and bean sprouts, should be added towards the end of cooking. If using vegies that have a combination of both textures, such as gai laan, add the stems first and the leaves later.
Sear meat first.
This creates a good texture (the process of marinating and pre-cooking meat for stir-fry is called “velveting”) and seals in any juices, so the meat doesn't overcook while you're cooking the vegetables.
If sautéing more than one vegetable at a time, what vegetables do you sauté first? Start with the hardest vegetables first, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, or cauliflower. Onions also need quite a while to cook, whereas zucchini and squash need less time, and garlic needs even less.
Step 1: Prepping the vegetables. The first step is to blanch the vegetables. In this recipe, I am using five common vegetables to prepare the stir-fry- broccoli, cauliflower, capsicum (bell pepper), snow peas, and carrots.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok, then fry the chilli and garlic for 1 min. Add the veg and toss to coat in the oil. Fry for 2-3 mins, then add the soy and chilli sauce, mixing well. Cook for 2-3 mins more until the veg are tender.
Start with the hard vegetables like carrots and broccoli. Stir and scoop vegetables to the side to make room for more. Then add the softer vegetables, like sliced mushrooms and zucchini. Pour in some stock or water and always keep the veggies moving in the pan.
If you add too many ingredients at once, they will overlap and steam, rather than sauté, making them rubbery or soggy. "Cook each ingredient separately," advises Martinez. Not only does this ensure that you won't pile too much in the pan at once, but it will also account for different cooking times.
Many advise that you should start yellow veggies first and then introduce green; of courseothers say that it is crucial that you begin with the green before yellow so baby doesn't reject the yellow. It is believed that green veggies are less tasty than yellow, hence the “advice”.
Slice each chunk lengthwise into thin planks and then cut the planks lengthwise into thin matchsticks. To work more quickly, you can stack the planks as you cut them into matchsticks. Use in carrot salads, stir fries, or any recipe that calls for julienned carrots.
The best oils for stir frys are the oils with the higher smoke points. These tend to be the “thinner” oils such as peanut, grapeseed or canola.
You don't have to boil broccoli before stir frying it. If you boil your broccoli first, you will likely end up with over cooked broccoli. When it's stir fried, broccoli is not cooked until it's soft and mushy. Instead, stir fry it just until it is tender crisp.
Denser, low-moisture vegetables like broccoli and carrots require more cooking time.
For this reason, onions are the first thing we start cooking whenever they appear in a recipe. (Unless we're cooking meat. Then we sear the meat first, remove it from the pan, and then start cooking the onions and everything else.) To cook them, we put a pan over high heat and add a dribble of olive oil.
Blanching means the broccoli is briefly cooked in hot water and then immediately removed and placed into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. This pre-cook method helps preserve the bright green color and it also allows the broccoli to cook faster, which keeps the broccoli crunchy.
Aromatic ingredients like garlic, ginger, green onions, chilies and spices. These ingredients are typically added to the oil first to infuse it with flavor. You won't need much; a few teaspoons to a tablespoon of total aromatic ingredients per person adds a serious amount of flavor.
All foods give off some steam when cooking, so it's important to leave the lid off the pan during frying so the steam evaporates rather than collecting on the lid and dripping back into the hot oil.
Preheat the wok until the oil is smoking, then keep an eye on the temperature so it's hot enough to sear food and cook quickly but not burning. Add food to the wok in this order: Aromatics (garlic, ginger, chiles, etc.), meat or seafood, then vegetables with a sprinkling of water for steam.
For a basic stir fry, you'll want about 3 tablespoons of sauce. Most of the liquid will cook off, leaving you with just the flavors. If you'll be serving the stir fry over rice or other grains, you'll want about 1/3 cup of sauce and may want to thicken it up with a bit of cornstarch or flour.
The key to making a really good stir-fry is using a very high cooking temperature so the food will cook quickly. Since stir-frying involves high heat, it's important to choose an oil that has a high smoke point. If you don't, the oil will burn and the whole dish will be ruined.