Quick ideas
Guy's stir fry
There's no need for air freighted, tinned or frozen exotics: stir-frying adapts as well to English veg. Rather than give you a recipe, here are some ideas on how to deal with particular ingredients, with cooking times in brackets. The crucial elements of a good stir-fry are timing (prepare all the ingredients before starting to cook) and how the vegetables are cut up. It is also important that all the ingredients are dry and that you don't overcrowd the wok – cook in batches if needs be.
Ingredients
- any of the following when available:
- leeks
- carrots
- cauliflower
- broccoli
- kale
- pak choi
- soft greens
Method
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Step 1
Ginger: 2cm cube peels and sliced into match-thin slices (10 minutes)
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Step 2
Fresh Chilli: Sliced according to taste. If you are not sure of the strength of your chilli, remember the seeds are the hottest part and the pods get hotter from the tip to the base. Fresh chilli is much better than dried.
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Step 3
Garlic: 2 cloves cut into eight. Cut it too small and it will tend to burn. (10 minutes)
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Step 4
Leeks: Trim off the excess leaf then make one cut from the outside to the centre along the length of the leek. Wash out any mud under the tap and shake dry. Holding tightly in its original shape, slice diagonally to produce strips of no more than 5mm thick. (9 minutes)
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Step 5
Carrot: Peel, slice into strips then cut diagonally into large matchsticks. (7 minutes)
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Step 6
Cauliflower and broccoli: Cut into bite sized florets. With broccoli try to leave a length of stem with each floret and peel the remaining stem and slice it into matchsticks. (6 minutes)
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Step 7
Kale, cauliflower leaves, purple sprouting broccoli stalks: Strip the leaves from the stalks and slice them diagonally. The stalks of the brassica family are normally succulent and sweet in contrast to the bitterness of the leaves. (4 minutes)
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Step 8
Pak choi: Slice the succulent leaf ribs diagonally. (3 minutes)
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Step 9
Soft greens: This could include the green from the pak choi and lettuce leaves (lettuce stalks can be treated as broccoli stems). These leaves should be torn up and heated just enough to wilt. Do not give them time to release their moisture into the stir fry. (1 minutes)
