Wok Magic

Supercell

In work the other day the chef made a noodle dinner in front of my eye with I can only describe as voodoo magic in less than five minutes.

He added vegies and meat..then poured stuff in , and seasoned with something....and a couple of minutes later I ate an absolutely magically tasty dish.

I was totally humbled, how the heck did he do this ??!!

Do anyone have good Wok recipies that are fast and easy to do?

Tree

cook some noodles and set aside

mix half and half soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce, (ive no clue how much, think about a half cup each does ok for three ppl)

Thinly slice some chicken and onions
prepare your fav veg

heat tiny bit of oil in wok til starting to smoke

lash in the onion and meat, and start adding veg longest cooking time to shortest, throw in noodles and sauce, leave to warm on the pan while you figure out where the plates went and enjoy


longest part of a stir-fry is the preparation

dudara

Cook noodles according to instructions, rinse well in cold water to stop cooking, toss in a small amout of oil and set aside.

Fry off meat of your choice and set aside. Fry vegetables of your choice, using ginger, garlic and chili. Add in meat and noodles and toss. Season with soya sauce and sesame oil. Serve. I think that's incredibly simple, yet great tasting.

Supercell

Thanks guys, going to give both recipies a try in the next few nights , both sound the business

daymobrew

Tree wrote:

Thinly slice some chicken

It is easier to slice the meat into very thin slices when the meat is slightly frozen. A good chef's knife is also a major help.

Tree

daymobrew wrote:

It is easier to slice the meat into very thin slices when the meat is slightly frozen. A good chef's knife is also a major help.

yeah, the half frozen bit is well handy (its a techinique used in some labs to cut quick tissue sections )

i'd love some chef's knives.... anyone care to donate really sharp knives?

Blub2k4

Tree wrote:

i'd love some chef's knives.... anyone care to donate really sharp knives?

Go into the Oriental Emporium on Jervis St and grab a chinese chopping knife down the back left of the shop, they are about 12 quid and as good as you will get for a budget chopping knife.

The Sweeper

Try to steer clear of the temptation to use either a packet stir-fry sauce or just lash gallons of soy sauce over your stir fry. It's possible to make really excellent sauces with a bit of prep.

Your sauce basics should be:

sesame oil
soy sauce (light - dark soy is more of a dipping sauce and is extremely strong)
stock cubes
water
chili sauce
dark brown sugar
honey
water
rice wine / cooking sherry
vinegar
lemon juice
flour and cold water, mixed into a smooth, pourable paste for thickening

All of the above can be combined in a bunch of different ways to create fantastic stir fry sauces.

Here's one option - as a basic, for two people, create about 1/3 a pint of stock. Into the stock, add two tablespoons soy sauce, one tablespoon chili sauce, a swirl of sesame oil and a tablespoon of rice wine/cooking sherry. Add a teaspoon of sugar and dissolve.

Chop all of your ingredients - try to keep it simple e.g. chicken, carrots, baby corn, green beans.

Fry off the chicken, then add veg in the order carrots, beans, baby corn. Remove all from the pan. Pour your jug of stock n sauce mix into the hot wok. It should start to bubble almost immediately. Into it, stirring all the time, pour a flour-water mix (about 1.5 tsps flour to the same of water should be enough to thicken a sauce for two people). If you keep stirring, this should thicken your sauce without making it lumpy. Allow to simmer for two minutes, stirring all the while, so the flour cooks in the sauce and it thickens up.

It shouldn't be like gravy (unless you like it like that!), it should be a nice consistency to coat your noodles and veg.

First, place noodles into the sauce and toss about until heated. Now add cooked meat and veg back into the mix.

Heat and serve.

Things I find handy when stirfrying include a heated plate, for storing bits on, and a wok lid, which helps heat things through because it builds up steam in the wok which, after all, has a small base so not much of it's in contact with the heat source...

I like that stock technique generally, and find it's a useful way to make a variety of different sauce mixes for your stirfry.

Shabadu

What I like to do is thinly slice sirloin, and marinate it with a chopped chilli, garlic, ginger, w/ sesame oil, soy, mirin, worcestershire sauce, and nam pla. I then sear the bejaysus out it, remove it, start the veg, toss in the noodles, the rest of the marinade and the beef. I buy big thick udon noodles in vacpacks. They last for an age. Just pop them in a saucepan of simmering water for a few minutes, strain & cool before frying.

Thephantomsmask

My favourite sauce is pretty similiar to kung po. Basically to make enough for 2/3 people, mash up 2-3tbs of salted soy beans in a cup with a big dollop of hoisin sauce and then thin down to desired consistency with some sweetened rice vinegar and light soy sauce or tamari (dark tends to kill the flavour a little). I usually brown some tofu and then add in a selection of veggies and cashews before adding the sauce and letting it steam fry before serving with noodles or rice