Stir-frying finishes foods fast, preserving the crunch and vitamins of fresh vegetables.
Preparation Pays Off
Successful stir-frying begins with good preparation. Because the cooking time is mere minutes, ingredients should be sliced in advance into small, uniform pieces and lined up beside the hot wok. They are then dropped into the sizzling oil for a quick 1-2-3 finish.
Eat Your Vegetables
Stir-frying is very vegetable-friendly. Most recipes use lots of vegetables and only a little meat, seafood or tofu. Quick cooking limits the loss of vitamins, and the curved sides and bottom of traditional woks permit cooking with smaller amounts of oil.
East and West
Stir-frying is like sautéing, with a few key differences. Stir-frying is traditionally performed at very high temperatures in a wok -- a cooking vessel with long, curved edges -- and often uses flavorful peanut oil, which has a high smoke point, instead of olive oil or butter.
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