A STIR fry is a quick and simple dish that can feed the family in under thirty minutes, without a lot of faff involved.
You think think that you’ve got the simple recipe nailed, but it turns out you might be doing it wrong…
Sometimes your food can stick to the pan or your vegetables might seem a bit soggy rather than crunchy.
And if you have that problem, then you’ve come to the right place.
If you want to impress your friends and family with the perfect stir fry, listen up.
You’ll need to ditch the frozen vegetables and focus on your cutting if you want to get this right.
And it turns out that the tools you are using and the order in which you are cooking make a big difference.
The Daily Star spoke to Andrew Johnstone, Innovation Development Chef at Asda for his top advice.
Ensuring you have a large enough wok or frying pan is key when cooking a stir fry.
Andrew said: “If your pan or wok is too small, you run the risk of vegetables overcrowding and steaming instead of crisping and frying.”
Therefore, it’s important to get a large enough pan, to ensure that your ingredients have enough space to fry easily, avoiding them going soggy.
Don’t just cut up your vegetables randomly – they need to be cut to a similar size to ensure that they cook correctly.
Andrew explained: “Slice, dice, and chop your vegetables into approximately the same size so they cook in the same amount of time.”
This is particularly important if you’re cooking harder vegetables like carrots.
Although you might be tempted to just throw everything into the pan and get going, have some patience.
Andrew continued: “Chefs call it mise-en-place, meaning you have all your ingredients washed, dried, and chopped — and all in place for the cooking to begin.”
This is important if you want all of your vegetables to cook evenly.
It’s important to let your pan heat up before you throw the oil in.
Andrew advised: “You can tell the pan is hot enough by sprinkling a few droplets of water into the wok. When it sizzles and evaporates almost immediately, your pan is ready to be oiled.”
Doing this will ensure that your ingredients will not stick to the pan and will also ensure they keep their texture.
It might seem easier to just chuck in all your vegetables at once, but beware of doing this.
Andrew explained: “Go hard to soft in the order you toss in your vegetables.”
Vegetables like carrots and cauliflower need to be added before softer vegetables such as beans sprouts and spinach.
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