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Economical Stir Fry Cooking
by Nikki Willhite
www.allthingsfrugal.com
Stir Fry is a very versatile
and easy dish to make, as long as you follow a few rules.
The first one is to use a
high quality oil to cook the vegetables. Most people use olive or sesame
seed oil. It is expensive, but you do not need to use much. Olive oil is
used because it does not break down when heated to high temperatures.
The second rule it to cut
your vegetables into fairly even sizes. This will help them cook evenly. The
vegetables that take the longest to cook are added first. Those that take
less time are added at the end. Nothing is cooked very long, as stir fry is
meant to be crisp.
You have a host of options
for meat and vegetables. It doesn't matter, as long as you like it. For me,
the hardest part has always been finding or making a good sauce to make it
taste good.
We had a lot of feedback from
the article on Stir Fry that was run in The Pennypincher regarding how to
make a good Stir Fry Sauce. There are 4 flavoring agents you can pick up
from the specialty section of your grocery store that will make your sauce
taste great. Most of them are quite strong, and should be used in small
amounts. They are:
1. Chinese Five Spice
2. Oyster Flavored Sauce
3. Hoisin Sauce
4. Roasted Sesame Oil
Other ingredients to add to
your sauce are Soy Sauce, Ginger, Bouillion, honey, tomatoes or ketchup,
salt, peppper, and cornstarch to thicken the broth.
For the noodles, you can use
hard, crunch ones from a can, or you can use the softer noodles. These are
found in the specialty/Chinese food section of your grocery store. You must
soak these noodles for at least a half hour before using. They become soft,
and you just add them to the stir fry at the very end.
You can also improvise by
using Top Ramen. Just cook the noodles the recommended 3 minutes and drain.
You can also use their spices. If you want a fast taste of Chinese food,
this works well. I know a lot of people object to the salt/fat content in
Top Ramen, but this is not a health forum.
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If you haven't tried stir fry before, give it a try. It is a great
"catch all" for leftovers, as well as an economical meal.
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