Kick Start The Diet, Master The Art Of Stir Frying

Stir-frying is a great way of cooking, they pack a punch flavour wise, with flavour and the food cooks very quickly. Tradition has it that Mongolian warriors of Genghis and Kublai Khan started the trend, as they used their metal body armour as a hot plate to cook dinner, whilst conquering Medieval Asia! Yet it is a very twenty first Century way of preparing food, it adds extra vegetables to your diet and tastes different every time you make it as it uses whatever ingredients are to hand. In fact, they are so quick to prepare make two different ones and share!

Do not be put off you do not have a wok, a stir fry needs no special equipment a heavy based frying pan is fine.

Stir Fry Veggies

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 garlic cloves crushed
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1.5 inch of fresh root ginger chopped
1 red pepper deseeded and sliced
3/4 cup of sliced vegetables from the list below
Red or green peppers,
Spring onions,
Broccoli,
Cauliflower
Carrots,
Whole baby sweet corn
Leeks
Cabbage
Wild mushrooms

Method:

Heat the oil in frying pan or wok on medium heat, saute the pepper, and ginger for 2 minutes. Add the sliced vegetables, Soya sauce and seasoning and stir-fry for about five minutes until the vegetables are crunchy cooked. Make a well in the centre and add the garlic.

Most recipes use more oil than this but it is not necessary peanut oil has a high smoking point so it is a good choice of oil, but vegetable oil or olive oil or rapeseed oil all work well. By adding the garlic last it does not burn, but make sure that it touches the bottom of the pan for a few seconds or it will be raw.

Serve with brown rice or high fibre pasta.

Ring the changes with aromatic sauces.

Variations:

Indian Balti Stir-fry
Omit the Soya sauce and stir in two tablespoonful of Balti curry paste or to taste, once the veggies are cooked. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with brown basmati rice.

Satay in a second
Add chilli powder to taste, a squeeze of fresh lime and a large dollop of crunchy peanut butter!

Sweet and sour
In the first instance fry, fresh tomatoes and lemon juice and then add a cup of fresh orange juice or a cup of fresh pineapple.

Chinese
A splash of good quality sesame oil and some roasted cashew nuts for texture. Spinach leaves add a splash of colour.

Thai
Add a little green or red Thai curry paste, lemon grass and coconut milk.

Mediterranean
Add a tomato sauce, with fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, lemon thyme, sweet marjoram, sage or thyme and wild mushrooms.

To the basic stir-fry, add any fish or chicken breast, seafood such as Thai prawns, and cook until the protein is cooked to your liking. As with any recipe or recipe type it is not written in stone, use your imagination and create the stir-fries that will make your diet zing. Try different flavours, I love chicken and fresh figs a recipe I created because I had an overabundance of fresh figs in my garden.

Mediterranean Chicken and Figs

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped,
1/2 Kilo chicken breasts, cut diagonally
6 fresh beefy tomatoes,
1 cup sweet green peppers de-seeded and sliced diagonally
1 cup sweet red peppers de-seeded and sliced diagonally
1 cup sweet yellow peppers de-seeded and sliced diagonally
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup red onions,
6 fresh ripe figs
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh sage,
Juice of a fresh lemon
Lemon Zest.

Method:

In heavy fry pan or wok, heat the oil and saute the chicken for half a minute to seal the meat. Add the tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and onions, and fry for three minutes. Stir in figs, seasoning, sage, lemon juice and lemon zest and cook until the chicken is cooked.

Adapting a recipe, I personally like to use three colours of peppers in a stir-fry because in my eyes the vibrant colours make the food look appetising, but use one or none substitute broccoli if you do not like peppers. If you dislike figs or find it, difficult to buy them then substitute fresh nectarines or pineapple. You can use tinned fruit but use it in its own natural juice it will be very sweet. If you do not like sage, use something else if you do not have fresh herbs dried oregano is a good substitute. Try chicken and mango for a tropical West Indian taste.