Foodie Friday: Garden Stir-Fry

Welcome to Foodie Friday. I admit, it’s been a while so I posted about food but the truth is, that while the main subject matter of this blog is special needs, I secretly (or not so secretly) LOVE talking about food. Nigel Slater is my hero. I love making food, I love photographing food, so, if for no other reason, Foodie Friday is food for mysoul.

But I don’t just want to offer recipes. There are millions of recipes online but they don’t teach the theory of cooking. It is like playing a piece of music versus knowing how to make beautiful music on your own, by way of understanding the theory. So my goal with Foodie Fridays is to share with you the theory behind cooking. I have explored scone theory, tomato theory, pizza/crostata theory, camp food theory and pantry theory. Today, I want to talk about Stir-Fry theory.

I used to pretend to like stir-fry. Why not? Everyone likes it…don’t they, or at least the “healthy people”.  But the truth is, I didn’t really like stir-fry because I didn’t know how to properly make stir-fry. I thought that you just throw a bunch of veggies in a wok and fry away. The peppers ended up mushy, the carrots hard and, in the end, it really just tasted like mushy peppers in soy sauce. You would think that being Asian, I was born knowing how to make stir fry but it was a skill I only mastered by trial and error and the experience to know what flavours are essential.

There are so many great benefits to a good stir-fry. First of all, they are healthy and consist almost entirely of fresh veggies. Second, you can make a stir fry out of whatever you have in your fridge. A stir-fry doesn’t just have to be mushrooms, onion, carrot, broccoli, celery and maybe some sprouts or bok choy. And third, they are fast. I can come home after work and have supper whipped up in 20 minutes.

So what is the trick to stir-fry? It is partly in the method and partly in the ingredients. Think about how long it takes ingredients to cook and add them in that order. If you are adding meat, fry that up first in a couple glugs of oil. It doesn’t have to be entirely done when you add the onions. Yesterday, I had some left over red onion and parsley that was minced together for some Spanakopita I made last weekend so I threw that in with my chicken. The next two ingredients are essential and I recommend that you always have them stocked in your fridge. First, I added some minced garlic. This is the one time, I don’t go over board with the garlic. One big clove is often enough. Then, I add some minced fresh ginger. Take the rough skin off and just grate it in. A thumb-sized portion is good.

Add veg that will take a bit longer to cook like carrots or celery. Other veggies like broccoli, celeriac or even turnip or parsnip would be nice as well. Stir or toss occasionally. Yesterday, I grated in some zucchini. I did this because, I didn’t want to wait for it to cook and my kids won’t eat it if they can identify it. Then I added some red pepper. I absolutely love mushrooms in my stir-fry…but I didn’t have any and this is all about using what you have. Drizzle some soy sauce into the pan. Up to a ¼ of a cup then add a bit of water (¼- ½  cup). Put a lid on and let it sit for a few minutes but not so long that your peppers get mushy then take the lid off. You want the veggies to be al dent. Can you use that term with veggies? Yesterday, I also added some red cabbage right at the end.

To finish it off I grated some beet. I am obsessed with grated beet right now. I love it on salads, on burgers and on stir-fry.

Voila! The perfect stir-fry.

Now as I said, one of the great parts about Stir-fry is that you can use practically any veg that you have in your fridge. As we approach summer, this means that you can use practically any veg that you have in your garden. I just planted my garden a couple weeks ago and I am so excited. In Ladner, our yard was completely shaded and had no hope of growing anything. Here in Vancouver, however, we have a community garden.  No matter where you live, it is possible to get garden fresh food. Urban centres are recognizing the importance of not only community gardens but CSA programs or Community Shared Agriculture. Here are some helpful tips on getting garden fresh food.

– This is a great article on starting up a garden.

– And if you are looking to make raised bed, here is a video tutorial. The guy is a little odd but I like it because it is the most accessible. Seriously, it’s really easy, I don’t know why some people make it look like rocket science.

– Find a CSA near you. There are plenty around and I am sure if you google it, you are bound to find one in your area. If you are in the Lower Mainland, consider A Rocha’s CSA program. 

– Our family orders from a company called SPUD (small potatoes urban delivery). They have a few different cities that they operate in and while I can order bananas from Ecuador, my receipt tells me how far everything had to travel to get to me and of course, I have access to lots of organic goodness. 

– If you are interested in a bigger community garden project, A Rocha has resources for that too.