You want some Chinese cooking advice from the experts? Well, you're in the right place. Terry Tan, he's the man!
Terry Tan is the author of more than 20 cookbooks, plus the non-food classic, Culture Shock! Britain. He is widely traveled, sampling the culture and cuisines of many countries including France, Italy, Spain, Australia and much of Asia.
For the past 12 years Terry has been food development and Asian culinary consultant to a number of big brand food manufacturing names. Equally at home with Indian, Japanese and all Southeast Asian cuisines, he has done numerous presentations for schools and universities, and ethnic food shows.
1 Use a wok, not a frying pan. The shape gives you intense heat at the base and gradually less as you move up the sides.
2 Use a carbon steel or cast iron wok – stainless steel conducts heat too rapidly and non-stick coatings cannot conduct the high temperatures needed for stir frying.
3 Use a wok ladle – again it’s just the right shape for moving food around the pan.
4 Get the oil in the wok smoking hot before adding chopped food.
5 Use ground nut or sunflower oil for stir frying, and use sesame oil to flavour the food towards the end of cooking.
6 Preparation is the key to successful stir fries. Cut all the food into similar sized pieces for even and speedy cooking.
7 Use top quality ingredients and a top quality soy sauce – I always use naturally brewed Kikkoman soy sauce or Kikkoman Honey & Garlic Stir Fry & Marinade that doubles as a sweetish seasoning.
8 Blanch vegetables like leeks, mangetout and corn before stir frying. It helps keep their colour and crispness.
9 When cooking 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.
10 Keep it simple – stir frying is an easy way to cook a quick and healthy meal in a matter of minutes.
Some delicious. stir-fries