Stir-fries feature weekly in my household menu, because they are such excellent dishes: healthy, exciting and easily adaptable.
To go with the stir-fries, cook rice with a surplus to keep in the freezer. Noodles are another option and most types only need soaking to serve. If you avoid carbs, up the amount of meat and vegetable elements and top your stir-fry with a fried egg instead of rice or noodles on the side.
I have always loved that kind of food, but Kenji Lopez-Alt’s cookbook, The Wok, has been a game changer. My stir-fries are now on another level!
But if you don’t want to invest in the book, here’s a bunch of my favourite wok recipes. It really doesn’t take much to get the hang of wok cooking. And in most cases you can use a large frying pan instead of a wok. (Also, buy a wok.)
This one I learned from Kenji: a stir-fry with beef so tender you won’t believe it’s a cheaper cut. There’s a secret to a successful beef stir-fry and you’d never guess what it is, so better check out the link. Asparagus in season can be swapped for tenderstem broccoli out of season.
Beef and asparagus stir-fry
RECIPE
This is a bit fancy, using ingredients from Asian supermarkets, but widely available online: lily buds and dried wood ear fungus. Moo shu, Chinese stir-fried pork is usually served with thin Mandarin pancakes and hoisin sauce. But you can serve it with plain rice for just as delicious a dish.
It’s cheap, it’s unbelievably tasty and very quick and easy: Thai pork with chilli and basil, pad ka-prao. This recipe features pork mince but you can use beef or chicken as a straight swap. Thai classic street food, it will be delicious even if you don’t find holy basil this dish is named after – and it’s not the same as Thai basil!
This is such a classic and much loved in this country – rightly so in my view. Make it takeaway style with crispy noodles, since 'chow mein' means 'fried noodles'. With a salty touch of smoked ham, it's actually much better than takeaway.
You can indeed use fish in a stir-fry. The secret is to marinate it well, cook it on medium heat and handle it with care. What fish to pick? Cod or other firm white fish, and it will be delicious with mushrooms, beans and noodles.
Seafood makes great stir-fries, and you can swap prawns for scallops in this recipe. Scallop, aubergine and asparagus stir-fry, with frozen queen scallops and 'fish fragrant', yu xiang inspired sauce. This is just the dish to use less expensive, frozen and thawed scallops, or frozen and thawed raw prawns.
Scallop and asparagus stir-fry
RECIPE
If you don’t eat/fancy meat and don’t care for tofu, no problem: an all-veg stir-fry is just as satisfying if served with plenty of rice. A mixed vegetable stir-fry with ginger and sesame is never the same because you can chop and change the ingredients.
Stir-fried ginger vegetables
RECIPE
Another classic, kung pao, or gong bao chicken is chicken and peanuts stir-fry with thick and spicy sauce. You can easily replicate the authentic taste of a good kung pao chicken takeaway at home, with the spiciness from chilies and Sichuan peppercorns.
Homemade sweet and sour sauce is miles and miles better than all the jars in the supermarkets, and it is really easy. This is a funky recipe: duck stir-fry with pineapple and red peppers is topped with duck scratchings, which is obviously totally optional.
The secret of good fried rice is fridge cold rice – so next time cook a surplus and freeze it. Defrost it in the fridge overnight, it’s absolutely safe to store and reheat it. Cooked frozen prawns, rice spiced with cinnamon and star anise make a light, healthy and extremely satisfying meal.