Tip #16 Stir Fry Basics

After my last post, I started thinking about stir fries.  You can make almost any meat/vegetable into a stir fry if you understand the basics.  A stir fry can be a very healthy meal and a great way to get more veggies into your meal.  When I was working and doing nutrition counseling, many people would complain that they didn't know how to cook and that's why they couldn't follow many of our instructions about improving their diet.  So a few of my tips might include easy cooking basics.
To make a stir fry, you just need at least 2 main ingredients- a meat and veggie or 2 different veggies.  I have found that just 2 items can make a great stir fry.  Start a pot of rice (preferably brown- see previous post).  Slice your meat as thin as possible.  Meat is easiest to slice when still partly frozen, then let it thaw completely.  I like to sprinkle a little garlic powder on it and maybe a little salt, depending on the ingredients in your sauce. It can be anything- a steak, boneless pork chop, boneless chicken breast or thighs- one large chicken breast fed our whole family 2 nights ago because I added enough veggies.  (Hint- think of meat as a topping or condiment to flavor your meals.)  Next, slice your vegetables.  I will refer to an article HERE on stir frying vegetables.  Essentially, the harder, more dense your vegetables, the more care you need to take in stir frying them.  I will give an example shortly.  Next, whisk up your sauce.  Basically, a good sauce has a few things in it:  the same amount of chicken broth and low sodium soy sauce (like 1/2 cup each), 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 Tbs sugar, 1 Tbs cornstarch, minced garlic or fresh ginger (or both if you like).  Like I mentioned in my last post, Cook's Illustrated has a light cooking book with some other recipes like spicy orange, lemon, coconut curry and others.  I highly recommend finding several you like and experimenting.  Put that sauce you make aside in a bowl, all ready to go.
Start with a stainless steel or cast iron skillet or a wok, heat on high with about 1-2 Tbs oil.  A non-stick pan will do, but it will cook your stir fry differently.  The meat is more likely to steam than fry.  When the oil is hot, stir fry your meat- in batches if necessary.  If you over crowd your skillet, you get steamed meat, not stir fried.
Once all your meat is done, remove last batch and place in a bowl.  Here's where your choice of veggies comes in to play.  If I have some carrots or other "dense" vegetable, I would start them in the pan (add 1 tsp of oil if needed) and stir fry for about 2 minutes.  Then I add 1/4 - 1/2 cup water and cover pan quickly with a lid.  This will steam the veggies - cook for a couple more minutes.  Then take off the lid and cook until water evaporates.  Put in remaining veggies and finish cooking.  Add the meat back in, give the sauce a quick whisk and pour that in.  Toss and heat all together- the sauce should thicken very quickly.
That's it- the basics being:  stir fry the meat first, remove it, stir fry veggies (taking care to cook them appropriate to their density) and put in your sauce last.
~Here's to Healthy Eating