Stir-fry perfect for busy families
In a family with kids involved in a whirlwind of after-school activities, it can often seem like precious little time remains to put a good home-cooked dinner on the table. That’s a shame, since shared meals have always been one of the best ways to bring family members closer together.
Fortunately, a smart solution to this very modern challenge can be found in an ancient Chinese cooking technique: stir-frying. Think about it for a moment: Even in the finest Chinese restaurants that you know, do you ever really have to wait very long for the food to arrive at your table?
Stir-frying makes perfect sense for a quick, easy dinner. Small pieces of food cook in moments when stirred continuously in a large, hot pan. Add some aromatic seasonings that blossom enticingly on contact with heat, along with a few traditional Asian sauce ingredients, and a delicious main dish is ready to serve just minutes after you start heating the pan.
That pan doesn’t even have to be a hemispherically shaped Chinese wok. I find it easy to stir-fry in any skillet large enough to hold all the pieces of food in a single layer so they cook evenly; the curved sides help ingredients fall back into the pan during continuous, brisk stirring. The equipment and the cooking process aren’t much of a challenge. But I must admit that, when searching for stir-fry recipes, many people find themselves daunted by lengthy lists of sometimeshard-to-find ingredients. That’s even sometimes true of recipes from my own Asian-inspired restaurants like Chinois, where we always aim for the utmost authenticity.
At home, though, it’s OK to take some shortcuts; as long as they don’t shortchange the quality of the results. That’s why I’m happy to share versions of two of my favorite stir-fry recipes that I’ve adapted especially for the home kitchen, to give you authentic Chinese results without the need to go on any kind of special shopping expedition. You’ll find the most out-of-the-ordinary ingredients — bottled hoisin sauce and rice vinegar — in the Asian foods section of any well-stocked supermarket.
Both recipes are simple and surprisingly healthy, featuring lean proteins and fresh vegetables. You can also vary the recipes, substituting ground turkey, pork, lamb or beef for the ground chicken, and strips of chicken breast or lean beef for the shrimp, along with other quick-cooking vegetables you prefer.
May your stir-frying lead to many delicious, enjoyable and easy family meals ahead. Lettuce wraps are easy to make, and you can find the most unusual ingredients — bottled hoisin sauce and rice vinegar — in any good supermarket.
Wolfgang Puck Worldwide
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