Healthy Homemade Fast Food- Try a Stir Fry

During the work week it can be impossible for anyone to make a home cooked meal . After 8 or more hours at the office, a drive through rush hour traffic, and dealing with the family the last thing you want to do is slave over a hot stove for hours. It is easy to see why so many Americans resort to fast food that includes burgers, pizza, tacos or anything else on the way home. This is a shame because a fast, healthy, and tasty dinner is probably just a wok away.

Stir fry is one of those meals that is great for using leftovers, produce that is about to go bad, or just things that are taking up too much room in your refrigerator. If you have a wok, some vegetables, a piece of meat (optional), and some rice you are only about 20 minutes away from dinner.

To prepare a restaurant quality stir fry start with a very hot wok. Preheat it on your hottest burner on the highest temperature for at least 5 to 10 minutes. This gives you enough time to start some rice. While the wok is heating you can prepare your vegetables and meat. Chicken, steak, pork, shrimp, and many others all taste great in stir fry. For vegetables, you can try just about anything. Garlic, onion, ginger, peas, bell peppers, chili peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, celery, and cabbage are all popular choices.

Prepare all of the meat and vegetables by washing them and cutting them into bite sized pieces. Start with the meat if you are using any. Season it on all sides with salt and pepper and then carefully place it in your hot wok with a little oil. Oil with a high smoke point is important for stir frying. Canola, vegetable, and peanut oils are all great for this cooking method. After the meat has a bit of color on all size, remove it and add the vegetables. Start with the vegetables that need the longest cooking time like carrots, celery or broccoli. After all of the vegetables are in, add the meat back in. Now add in some soy sauce , rice wine vinegar, lemon juice, and any other flavors you want. Sesame seed oil , wine, spices, mustard, honey, and herbs can each add their own flavor to your stir fry.

The last step to get a truly restaurant style stir fry is thickening it. Take a heaping tablespoon of corn starch and mix it together with an equal amount of a liquid. You can use water or some of the liquids you cooked with like rice wine vinegar or lemon juice. When this slurry is mixed, stir it into your stir fry. After a few seconds your sauce at the bottom of the wok will thicken and coat the stir fry. Finally just serve your stir fry over your rice and top it with any last second flavors, herbs, and spices.

One example of a stir fry may be chicken thighs, with broccoli, mushroom, onion, and celery. After tackling this basic stir fry, you can try other Chinese favorites like Mongolian beef , General Tso's chicken, chop suey, and others. Any of these meals can be prepared in under half an hour with no more than a stocked fridge, a cutting board, a sharp knife, and a wok.