I hope you don't mind me posting this same thing twice, but the other
one is buried deep in another thread. I realized I haven't offered
much in the way of food topics, and seem to have started to lapse into
my old habit of annoying some people. So here goes.
I have a
LOT of recipes for the wok, but generally, I just use "whatever" and
have a basic marinade for chicken (what i use mostly) and a basic
sauce. I'm on a relatively low-salt diet and am used to fairly bland
taste, so you may want to use regular soy sauce instead. There are
countless versions, and for different meats, but I usually use chicken
and these are ones I use when cooking without a recipe.
BASIC CHICKEN MARINADE:
1 T (Tablespoon) sherry, 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce, 1 tsp cornstarch.
Mix well, add bite size chicken chunks, marinate about 30 minutes. If
using the lemon chicken version of the sauce (bottom) I add a little
lemon juice to the marinade.
BASIC STIR FRY SAUCE
2 T low sodium soy, 1 T oyster sauce, 1T sherry, 1/2 T sugar, 2 or so
tsp of cornstarch (experiment to see how thick you like it), grind of
black pepper, and I always add 2 or 3 heaping kitchen tablespoons of
"A Taste of Thai" brand garlic and red chili sauce. Thin with a
squirt of water (not very much) stir to mix completely. When food is
done, push up sides of wok, pour the sauce in the middle, stir and
boil to thicken, mix all together and you're done. WAIT - I don't put
the cornstarch IN the sauce - I mix it with 3 or 4 tsp cold water, pur
the sauce in the wok , then pour in the CS slurry.
LEMON CHICKEN SAUCE VERSION
Same as the above, but add the juice of 1 lemon, 2 T brown sugar
replaces the white sugar, 1-2 tsp of honey. otherwise use as above.
I prefer the plain version, my wife likes the lemon - so lemon it is
most of the time.
Besides chicken, my typical "no recipe" wok meal would consist of the
following - not a LOT of each. Rinse the chestnuts and shoots well
with cold water to remove the can taste. I cook the vegs first, set
aside, then cook the meat in batches, throw all back together to
finish. If I cook the meat first, it seems to leave a residue that
sticks, burns, and make things hard to stir. I use canola oil for the
vegs (2T or so) and add new oil for the meat (not as much). Used to
use peanut oil, but we have a friend who can end up in the ER from
this, so I quit.
1/2 onion, cut crosswise, then cut into leaves like in the resturants
handfull each yellow, red, green pepper in 1-inch squares
zucchini, 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices, each cut in quarters, large handfull
yellow squash, same, about half as much
few baby carrots, sliced on an extreme bias for looks.
water chestnuts, 1/2 can, sliced
2 handfulls trimmed sugar or snow pea pods
half can of sliced bamboo shoots
Roma tomato pieces, throw in at end
couple handfull button or "baby portabella", quartered
2 or 3 large cloves garlic, minced
quarter size sliced ginger, minced
== onions, garlic, ginger, carrots go first, followed by squashes,
peppers and pea pods. Rest goes in later as first cooks. Add a
couple green onions sliced on the bias in 1 inch pieces. If using the
gas burner, I only cook the chicken in batches, the vegs seem to be OK
together. SErve with Basmati rice, or my favorite - boil some
fettuccini noodles and mix it into the mess in the wok. Sort of a
poor mans "deluxe lo-mein", "be ready 20 minute".

(TheAlligator), if that's their real name,
wrote:

>I hope you don't mind me posting this same thing twice, but the other
>one is buried deep in another thread.

Thanks, Gator! I just marked the other one to save it, but this way, it'll
be much easier to find.

Carol
--
"Years ago my mother used to say to me... She'd say,
'In this world Elwood, you must be oh-so smart or oh-so pleasant.'
Well, for years I was smart.... I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."

*James Stewart* in the 1950 movie, _Harvey_

TheAlligator wrote:
> I hope you don't mind me posting this same thing twice, but the other
> one is buried deep in another thread. I realized I haven't offered
> much in the way of food topics, and seem to have started to lapse into
> my old habit of annoying some people. So here goes.

....

I was curious how hot you keep your work. I'm up to medium, but it
sounds like I'm supposed to go all the way up to high. Does everything
have to be precooked ahead of time? It seems that at a high
temperature, nothing that's fresh will cook at all. So I am starting to
presume a true stir-fry is the final mixing step for a bunch of
different, cooked foods. Am I correct?

Adam Preble wrote:
> TheAlligator wrote:
> > I hope you don't mind me posting this same thing twice, but the
other
> > one is buried deep in another thread. I realized I haven't offered
> > much in the way of food topics, and seem to have started to lapse
into
> > my old habit of annoying some people. So here goes.
>
> ...
>
> I was curious how hot you keep your work. I'm up to medium, but it
> sounds like I'm supposed to go all the way up to high. Does
everything
> have to be precooked ahead of time? It seems that at a high
> temperature, nothing that's fresh will cook at all. So I am starting
to
> presume a true stir-fry is the final mixing step for a bunch of
> different, cooked foods. Am I correct?

Check the thread I started called "How hot is too hot for a wok" (or
something similar.) We talked all about it there. And no the food
should not be pre cooked.