There's something mesmerising about watching a line of stir-fry cooks working over woks in an Asian takeaway shop. Using nothing more than a wok, a steel spatula and a fiery gas element, these master cooks create all manner of delicious meals in just a few minutes. Take a close look - the food never stops moving. Flick, toss, flick, toss, the steel spatula and the wok are in constant motion.
Whether Chinese black bean and pepper beef, Vietnamese stir-fried lemongrass chicken, or Thai pad thai, delicious results are achieved with a swig of this and a pinch of that, there's never measuring involved.
In Thai kitchens the flavourings tend to run to fish sauce, various types of chilli, vinegar, curry pastes, aromatic herbs and coconut cream. In Chinese kitchens you are more likely to find black bean sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil, ginger, chilli and garlic. A small ladle taken from a slurry of cornflour or arrowroot serves for thickening.
At home, your gas element offers none of the ruthless heat of a commercial kitchen. The minute you add any chopped ingredients to your hot oiled wok or pan, the temperature dramatically drops. By the time you've piled in the vegetables and the odd shake of soy sauce or fish sauce, some stock, vinegar or lemon juice, any idea of frying your dinner has turned to a steamy stew. The trick is not to overcrowd your wok or pan. Everything needs to be in a single layer, the food always touching the pan. Which means you need to cook small amounts at a time, in batches.
I usually start out my stir-fries by mixing small pieces of meat, chicken, seafood or tofu with a marinade. While that sits, I put rice or noodles on to cook, chop up the dense vegetables and get out everything else I need in the way of sauces and flavourings and any other vegetables or garnishes. The thing about stir-frying is that is doesn't like to wait, you need everything prepped and ready to go before you start cooking. I find it's often easiest to par-cook dense vegetables like carrots, cauliflower or broccoli, either by steaming or covering with boiling water and leaving for 3-4 minutes before draining thoroughly.
Get your wok or pan super-hot with a thin film of oil and stir-fry small pieces of meat, chicken, seafood or tofu in batches over high until browned, putting it to one side as it's browned. (If you're cooking chicken, ensure it's fully cooked through before you add quick-cooking veges and garnishes). Add the par-cooked veges to the pan and give them a toss around to lightly caramelise. Next add the sauce or marinade back in along with the browned meat and any thickening, stirring to combine before adding quick-cooking vegetables such as cabbage or bean sprouts. Quickly toss for a minute or two over high heat. Garnish with nuts, seeds and/or herbs and serve with rice or noodles.
Stir-frying is such a great way to freshen up your diet in the depths of winter. Once you've mastered this easy method, you can easily adapt using different proteins and flavourings.
Lemongrass and Chilli Beef Stir-fry
Ready in 20 minutes + marinating
Serves 4
400-500g beef schnitzel, cut into thin strips
3 Tbsp minced lemongrass or cores from 2 stalks lemongrass, finely grated
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 long red chilli, very thinly sliced, plus extra to garnish
2 Tbsp each brown sugar and soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 head broccoli, stems peeled, cut into small florets and small baton stems
2 Tbsp neutral oil
½ cup water mixed with 2 tsp cornflour
4 handfuls (250g) bean sprouts or finely shredded cabbage
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Juice of 2 limes or 1 lemon
Black sesame seeds, to sprinkle (optional)
Cooked rice or noodles, to serve
Combine beef, lemongrass, garlic, chilli, brown sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce and allow to marinate for 10 minutes or up to an hour.
Cover broccoli with just-boiled water and leave to stand for 3 minutes. Drain.
While broccoli stands, heat oil in a large wok or heavy-based frying pan. Drain beef from marinade and reserve the marinade (you will use it later). Cook beef in batches over a high heat, stirring frequently, until browned and starting to caramelise (2 minutes). Remove from pan.
Add drained broccoli to pan and stir-fry until lightly caramelised, about 2 minutes. Add cornflour and water mix and stir until lightly thickened. Add browned beef, reserved marinade, bean sprouts or cabbage and spring onions.
Toss over heat for 30 seconds to slightly soften sprouts or cabbage.
Drizzle with lime or lemon juice, sprinkle with extra chilli and sesame seeds, if using, and serve with rice or noodles.
Ginger Pork with Eggplant
A classic Chinese combo that's so satisfying. Accompany with rice or noodles.
Ready in 30 mins + marinating
Serves 4
400g lean pork mince
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 large eggplants or 5 long Asian eggplants
3 Tbsp neutral oil
2-3 handfuls green beans, trimmed and quartered
1 cup water
½ cup roasted peanuts (optional)
¼ cup oyster sauce
¼ cup coarsely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp sesame oil
Cooked rice or noodles, to serve
Combine pork, garlic, ginger and soy sauce in a bowl and set aside to marinate for up to an hour.
Cut eggplants into 2cm pieces. Heat 2 Tbsp of the oil in a heavy frying pan or wok and cook eggplant in batches until soft and lightly browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add remaining oil to pan, heat over the highest heat, add pork and stir-fry until lightly browned. Add beans, eggplant and water. Cook, stirring, until liquid has all but evaporated (5-6 minutes). Add peanuts, if using, oyster sauce, coriander and sesame oil to serve. Accompany with rice or noodles.
Cantonese Chicken Stir Fry
Use any combination of seasonal vegetables available. Pork, beef and tofu also work well in this simple stir-fry.
Ready in 20 minutes
Serves 4
1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, halved and cut into thin segments
1 Tbsp crushed garlic
1 Tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
½ cup oyster sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
½ cup water mixed with 2 tsp cornflour
500g boneless chicken, cut into very thin strips across the grain
500g assorted fresh dense vegetables, sliced, e.g. carrots, broccoli, beans, etc
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1-2 handfuls beansprouts
Cooked rice or noodles, to serve
Heat oil and cook onion in oil in a large wok or pan until softened and lightly charred.
Add garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, sesame oil, chicken. Cover with a ½ cup of water and simmer for 5 minutes or until chicken is just cooked.
While the chicken cooks, cover the dense vegetables with more just-boiled water and leave to stand for 3 minutes. Drain.
Add the ½ cup water and cornflour. Mix and stir until lightly thickened. Add drained vegetables to the chicken sauce with spring onions and beansprouts, and toss over a high heat for 30 seconds.
Serve immediately over rice or noodles.
Yvonne's picks ...
(Lemongrass and Chilli Beef)
When beef is boosted by a whack of chilli and lashings of lemongrass, step away from the cabernet and pick up a bottle of the shiny new and ludicrously lush Church Road Grand Reserve Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 ($37) instead. Winemaker Chris Scott was finally let loose on some super-ripe fruit grown in Lowburn, on the shores of Lake Dunstan, and the result is scented with dried lavender, thyme and raisined cherries, old leather and dusty, carpenter's workshop characters. Gently spiced and juicy to drink, it's smooth enough to soothe the heat in any dish.
glengarrywines.co.nz
(Ginger Pork with Eggplant)
In the words of the great Annie Lennox, "Stop what you're doing, get down upon your knees, I've a message for you that you better believe ... believe ... believe." That message is that the Astrolabe Marlborough Pinot Gris 2020 ($27) is a crunchy-crisp, nashi-and-quince-scented sensation that slices across the tongue and gums like a ginsu knife of goodness. Deliciously dry, every sip sends a tsunami of quartzy minerality around the mouth and its spicy finish washes this punchy pork dish down perfectly. Ginger Pork + GP pinot gris = PG. There's no fighting destiny.
astrolabewines.co.nz
(Cantonese Chicken Stir-fry)
Holy jalapeno Batman! One thing's for certain. The second someone pours a glass of the Two Rivers Convergence Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2021 ($22), you'll be able to smell its crazy punchy pungency from across the room. Or possibly across the street. Who knows —soon you may be overrun by sauvignon blanc zombies clawing at your windows with an unslakeable desire to have what you're having. With basil, sweet pea, capsicum and nettle-infused niceness on the nose, plus buckets of white peach and passionfruit saturating the palate, it's delicious with this saucy stir-fry.
tworivers.co.nz