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Chinese
New Year is the perfect excuse to opt for fast, fresh cooking.
The Year
of the Ox starts on January 26 - so use the occasion to treat the
family to a tasty beef stir fry.
Stir fries
are undoubtedly simple, but there are a few tricks of the trade to
ensure success every time. World famous oriental food guru Terry Tan
has let us in on some of his stir fry secrets. Check these out and
then try his recipes on www.kikkoman.co.uk
Terry says:
1. Use a wok
rather than a frying pan. The shape gives you intense heat at the
base and gradually less as you move up the sides. Go for carbon steel
or cast iron as non-stick coatings cannot conduct the high
temperatures needed for stir frying
2. Get the
oil in the wok smoking hot before adding food. Use ground nut or
sunflower oil for stir frying, and sesame oil to flavour the food
towards the end of cooking
3.
Preparation is everything. Cut all the food into similar sized pieces
for even and speedy cooking and blanch vegetables like leeks,
mangetout and corn before stir frying. It helps keep their colour and crispness
4. To achieve
authentic egg fried rice, cook the eggs first in the wok, then add
the cooked rice. That way you'll get small pieces of egg separate
from the grains of rice
5. Keep it
simple - stir frying is an easy way to cook a quick and healthy meal
in a matter of minutes.
Terry's final
tip is to always use top quality ingredients and a top quality soy
sauce - and his favourite is naturally brewed Kikkoman.
Professional
chefs appreciate Kikkoman's smooth, aromatic flavour, the result of
months of unhurried brewing. And as Kikkoman contains just four
natural ingredients - soybeans, wheat, salt and water - it
complements rather than masks the flavour of the food.
Kikkoman is
now also available in a Less Salt version which won the highest Three
Star accolade at this year's "foodies Oscars, The Great Taste Awards.
And to really
make this Chinese New Year sizzle, try Kikkoman's new Honey &
Garlic Teriyaki Stir Fry & Marinade. At the end of cooking, pour
into the wok straight from the bottle, stir and serve. It's that
easy! Check out www.kikkoman.co.uk
for recipes or try this one.
CHILLI
BEEF AND MUSHROOM STIR-FRY Serves: 4
350g (12oz)
rump or sirloin steak, sliced into strips
3 tablespoons
Kikkoman soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon
sesame oil or 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 red chilli,
deseeded and very finely chopped
2 tablespoons
sunflower oil
200g (7oz)
mushrooms, sliced or left whole if small
125g (4
1/2oz) tenderstem broccoli
2 heads of
baby pak choi, shredded
75g (3oz)
bean sprouts
1. In a dish,
mix together the soy sauce, lime juice, sesame oil and chilli, add
the steak and mix until they are well coated. Cover the dish with
cling film and leave in the fridge to marinate for a few hours or overnight.
2. Heat 1
tablespoon of oil in a wok or large frying pan. Lift half the steak
from the marinade and stir-fry over a high heat for 2 minutes until
browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the
rest of the steak to the pan, reserving the marinade, and stir-fry
for 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.
4. Add the
remaining oil to the pan and stir-fry the mushrooms for 2 minutes.
Add the broccoli, stir-fry for 1 minute, then add the pak choi and
bean sprouts and stir-fry for a further 1 minute. Return the steak to
the pan, pour over the reserved marinade and toss everything together
over the heat for 2 minutes until piping hot. Serve at once.
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