"stir fry" news and stories

Looking for an unusual weeknight dinner? Check out this beef stir fry from KitchenDaily expert Marcus Samuelsson -- it's known as "tibs" in Ethiopia. It's relatively easy to make, since everything is cooked in one pan. Red onions, cardamom, ginger and other aromatics give this dish intense flavor. In Ethiopia, this dish would be eaten with injera bread, but if it's not available in your area, he suggests using sourdough. He places a few slices at the bottom of a bowl, then tops it with the stir fry.

Peppers can be hot or mild, like a new love affair or one that's mellowed with age. Gail Simmons explains the ways of the pepper in her Pantry Project video here. And if you're celebrating Valentine's Day today, serve your love Gail's light, easy and peppery shrimp stir-fry. The key to a great stir-fry, Gail says, is a really hot pan, which enables quick cooking without burning, as well as a neutral-tasting oil, such as canola. Along with the shrimp, black pepper, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, green and red peppers and soy sauce (instead of salt) give this dish crunch and plenty of flavor, a little bit hot, a little bit mellow.

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There is something joyful about a stir-fry -- the percussive tap of a wok chuan (spatula) sliding vegetables around carbon steel, the hiss and spit as the food cooks, the fragrance of citrus in a spicy orange-beef-and-broccoli medley or the smell of the sea in a combo of scallops, cilantro and black bean sauce. Blogger qlinart swears this Thai-inspired stir-fry of Asian eggplant, chicken, red peppers, chiles and basil can be prepared in less than a half hour, and that the recipe is easy enough for a novice cook to make.

Years ago, I was given a copy of Irene Kuo's The Key to Chinese Cooking. Her detailed illustrations and step-by-step guides -- plus her amazing recipes -- taught me well. For more on the lure, and lore, of the stir-fry, pick up Grace Young's beautiful The Breath of a Wok.

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No, I didn't actually eat dinner with Rachael Ray, but I did use a version of one of her dishes. I wanted to make something Thai-inspired that involved a peanut sauce and so I started hunting around for recipes. I actually settled on this one from Rachael Ray because it seemed straightforward and along the lines of what I had in mind: an easy chicken dish with a peanut sauce. "Authentic"? Perhaps not, but the finished dish tasted great and I would guess that it is something even Rachael's detractors could enjoy.

I've always been fond of articles that introduce an ingredient, give you a little background and then offer a simple way to experiment.

Yesterday, the Kansas City Info Zine had just that--a short piece about hoisin sauce with a recipe for "Shanghai chicken with walnuts." The piece gives a little info about hoisin--it's made primarily from fermented soybeans, garlic, wheat flour, sugar and star anise--and then a recipe. Apparently the recipe is a bit untraditional, as it uses a few tablespoons of hoisin as a stir-fry sauce rather than a condiment, as it's often used with Peking duck or moo shu. Still, it sounds like a decent way to start experimenting.