stir-fry no-fail basic flavorings recipe?

barbie gee said:

I've watched enough cooking programs on TV to see that a lot of Chinese
and Asian cooking all starts with a handful of the same basic ingredients.

So, are there some very basic ingredient combos to make fast stir-fry
that tastes good? what order to add?

I'm looking for something like

1 T. oil
? cup onion
1 clove garlic
? ginger
? black bean paste
? soy sauce
? oyster sauce
etc?

so that I can add veg and meat and have it always be basically tasty.
Winging it isn't working for me, so their must be some basic formula
that I need to master first, yes?

Hay there Brab :-)

I mix a bunch of condiments together, e.g. soy sauce, sesame oil (this is
for flavor, not for cooking, a bit goes a long ways), some siracha, hoisin
sauce, rice wine, whatever...it's my "basic" stir - fry sauce. Garlic,
onions, ginger, peppers, herbs, etc. can be added in varying quantities to
each dish depending on taste (I love garlic, but a friend of mine is
somewhat allergic to it, so I can vary the quantity to taste when I cook for
him...other friends are vegan, so no oyster sauce).

I like a "citrusy" flavor so I'll sometimes add a dash or two of key lime or
other citrus juice when stir - frying...

There are prepared "stir fry" sauces at yer local grocer, but IMO you can do
a lot better by concocting yer own (and these prepared sauces are fairly
expensive, so they are out for us frugalistas...it's like that line of "Thai
Classics" or whatever foodstuffs at the grocer, those are for yuppie round
eyes, you can do much better and much cheaper by going to an Asian
grocer...)

Experiment around, you *can't* go wrong ;-p

--
Best
Greg

In article <[email hidden]>,

barbie gee said:

I've watched enough cooking programs on TV to see that a lot of Chinese
and Asian cooking all starts with a handful of the same basic ingredients.

So, are there some very basic ingredient combos to make fast stir-fry
that tastes good? what order to add?

I'm looking for something like

1 T. oil
? cup onion
1 clove garlic
? ginger
? black bean paste
? soy sauce
? oyster sauce
etc?

so that I can add veg and meat and have it always be basically tasty.
Winging it isn't working for me, so their must be some basic formula
that I need to master first, yes?

This is basically stolen from Bittman's book:

Start out with 2 tbp garlic and 1 tbp ginger, minced. Throw in some
dried chiles for heat if you want. Stir fry in 2 tbp of peanut oil for
15 sec and then add in whatever you feel like -- it might be worthwhile
to parboil some of the veggies. If you have lots of stuff, it's probably
a good idea to do it in two batches, with 1 tbp oil and half the garlic
and ginger each time. That way you don't have to worry about your wok
(or whatever) cooling down as you add new stuff which happens because a
home range can't put out nearly as much heat as a restaurant wok burner.

Once everything's in, add the sauces. Start with 2 tpb of soy sauce and
add pretty much whatever you like. 1-2 tbp oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee
brand) is a good one to try. Finish off with a quarter cup of stock or
water (just use it to scrape the bottom) and let reduce for a bit. Futz
with all the seasonings (incl. salt and pepper) until you like the
taste. If you want a thick sauce like at the restaurants, mix a tpb of
corn starch in with the stock before adding to the stir fry.

Really, though, just mess around and see what you like. In addition to
what you have up there, you can try fish sauce (use instead of or in
combo with the soy sauce), hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, shaoxing
wine, sesame oil (a little goes a long way), various hot sauces
(sriracha and sambal are good), five spice, etc.

Aaron

barbie gee said:

I've watched enough cooking programs on TV to see that a lot of Chinese
and Asian cooking all starts with a handful of the same basic ingredients.

So, are there some very basic ingredient combos to make fast stir-fry
that tastes good? what order to add?

I'm looking for something like

1 T. oil
? cup onion
1 clove garlic
? ginger
? black bean paste
? soy sauce
? oyster sauce
etc?

so that I can add veg and meat and have it always be basically tasty.
Winging it isn't working for me, so their must be some basic formula
that I need to master first, yes?

I would not add oyster sauce, and would use peanut oil add a little MSG (I
can heat the uproar now!)

The basic secrets are:

- Rice - I use medium grain rice in the rice cooker for 75 mins, or cooked
in boiling water and left in the refrigerator (use a colander;
refrigerators have low humidity).

The moisture content needs to be below freshly boiled rice.

- Temperature - This is CRITICALLY important. Chinese restaurants have huge
wok burners that look like a furnace! A new noodle bar near me has water
flowing round the outside of the burners to cool them.

This high heat gives it that special smokey/barbecue flavor.

Let the wok heat up well before adding ingredients or oil. In a domestic
situation cook in small batches to keep up the temperature.

At the moment I'm using an electric frying pan instead of a wok simply
because gives a high temperature & it retains heat. The result is virtually
identical to Chinese restaurants.

gtoomey

Sorry, I read this as asking for a recipe for fried rice!

gt

Aaron Bergman said:

Really, though, just mess around and see what you like. In addition to

what you have up there, you can try fish sauce (use instead of or in
combo with the soy sauce),

Ah yes! the ol' "Nampla" good stuff when made well and used correctly
but as an American (western - modern) hobbyist - cook, i have trouble
with it, perhaps it is an acquired taste, like olive oil which i don't
like, but i have had it in Thailand and in restaurants and yet been
unable to duplicate it at home with commercially available products.

I thought of mentioning it in my original response to this thread but
decided to stick to basics, i consider the whole "fish sauce" idea a bit
esoteric.

Quoted message said:

hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, shaoxing
wine, sesame oil (a little goes a long way), various hot sauces
(sriracha and sambal are good), five spice, etc.

Aaron

--
---
Joseph Littleshoes