Tips

7 Tips for Delicious Stir-Fry

In Asian cuisine in general and Vietnamese cuisine in particular, stir-fried dishes hold a significant position. Are you confident that you know all the secrets to make a delicious stir-fry? Let's find out!

Administrator

10 October, 2023

278

1. With stir-fries, the food cooks quite quickly and you need to constantly stir them in the pan; so you should prepare the ingredients ready before starting the stove. Never try to stir-fry while preparing the food, the stir-fry will cook unevenly, or some parts may be salty and some may be bland.

2. If you follow a specific recipe for stir-frying, cut the ingredients according to the instructions. If you don’t follow any specific instructions, cut the ingredients into bite-sized and even pieces.

3. Depending on what ingredients you are using for your stir-fry, always sauté some onions or garlic or a bit of ginger with oil before adding the main ingredients to the pan.

4. If your stir-fry includes both meat and vegetables, sauté the meat first until it is about 80% cooked, then transfer it to a separate plate before continuing to stir-fry the vegetables. When the vegetables are almost cooked, you can add the meat back to the pan and stir-fry together. This way, the meat won’t be overcooked, and each ingredient will still retain its distinctive flavor. So when is the time for the meat to be about 80% cooked? How can you determine that? It’s when the meat changes color – for example, when beef is no longer pink or when pork is no longer pink.

5. When stir-frying meat, use high heat to sear the outside of the meat quickly and retain the sweetness of the meat inside.

6. The cooking time for vegetables depends on the “density” of each type of vegetable you choose; for example, broccoli, carrots, and eggplant will take longer to stir-fry compared to leafy vegetables like spinach or cabbage. If you have time, wash the vegetables before stir-frying for about half an hour, the vegetables will have enough time to drain and this will limit the vegetables from releasing too much water when you stir-fry them. However, if the vegetables become too dry when stir-frying, you should add a little water to make it easier to cook.

7. If using sauces to season the stir-fry, you should not pour the sauce directly onto the vegetables, but create a small “well” in the middle of the pan by pushing the vegetables up the sides of the pan, then pour the sauce into the middle and stir the vegetables evenly.