We all know how grocery shopping can sometimes get extremely stressful, however, even your day-to-day cooking process can start feeling incredibly monotonous as well. One dish that always makes an appearance in most people’s meal plan is a stir-fry. The ingredients may vary from time to time but the essence of that dish always remains the same. It’s a simple and quick meal that’s both delicious as well as very reliable. While recipes are super handy, making stir fry has a lot to do with the cooking techniques used. First and foremost, using a wok is something very essential to this meal’s success.
But hey, let’s look at some 3 creative ways of cooking stir-fry.
- Making Your Own Spice Blend
Try switching things up and avoid the generic store bought products from time to time. Don’t be afraid to try and build every little thing from scratch. Why don’t you try making your own rubs for your sauces, meats and so on. When done well they actually come across much better than what you’d get from the store. If you want your stir-frys, veggies and pasta to taste a little different then try making your spice blends from scratch and then use them when cooking. If you’re into the extra spicy go all in on that cayenne pepper and chilli powder. The best thing about making your own spices is that you can do you completely. This is actually one of the best ways you can make this dish totally your own.
- Avoid Using Wet Vegetables
When you’re adding any type of vegetables, from firm carrots to leafy greens, always ensure that your vegetables are thoroughly dried first. All you really have to do most of the time is to put your veggies through your salad spinner for a quick whirl. That should do the trick and it will have your veggies as dry as ever ready for the fry. Putting wet vegetables into the wok or pan is sure to produce a soggy stir-fry end result. When the ingredients are wet, instead of creating a crunchy stir-fry all you end up doing is steaming and braising the ingredients in your dish.
- The Wok Should Always be Sizzling Hot
Your wok should be singing when you place the ingredients in it. By singing we mean it should always be sizzling. As soon as you add the aromatics into the wok all you should be hearing is a sizzling sound from the get go. In fact, the vegetables and aromatics should be singing from the moment you place them on the stove until it’s time to pull them out of the fire. The not too loud, not too quiet factor is what will indicate to you whether the heat is just right or not.
Making this dish isn’t that hard. Most people just don’t use the correct cooking techniques and that’s why a lot of them don’t succeed with it. Hopefully, this article has given you the much needed insight that will allow you to take things to the next level. Change things up with these 3 creative ways.
One Response
Great advice Peachy! I agree that making the spice mixes is a fabulous idea! I love homemade mixes.