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I've started cooking for myself more, and I'm going to say I attempted to stir-fry, because that's a lot less insulting than saying I attempted to make some sort of non-region specific asian food. I know nothing about stir-frying. Specifically I know nothing about seasoning. Previously I've been trying to mix and match spices and use pre-made things and not use pre-made things.
Tonight I decided to just take what I had and fry it together and use some Soy Sauce and a little bit of Hoisen (?) Sauce that smelled like Plums and Teriyaki. Spell-check is telling me I'm so bad I can't even spell teriyaki. Whatevers. I wanted to see how it tasted with as little seasoning as possible, to try to learn what could and couldn't be added and what would be better, attempting to learn. Promptly I spilled in bit too much Sauce.
The first thing I've learned is that anything that tastes good can be mixed together.
So, Ingredient list:
Frozen baby peas
Canned baby corn
Peanuts
A medium Onion
Oil
Soy Sauce
Leftover Breaded Cubed Pork Steak from the fridge
Hoisen Sauce
Ramen (no packet)
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Cooking!
The Baby Corn wasn't thick so I threw it in immediately with the onion and peanuts with some oil.
That sat a little over medium for about 5 minutes to let the onions soften a bit then i threw in the peas (peas were thawing in microwave). I started boiling water for my ramen.
Next came the Soy, and all of that sat for another 5 minutes (I didn't really want to turn anything up to high heat and seriously fry it in a few minutes, nervous).
I found the meat in the fridge and cut that up and threw it in, and then turned the heat to basically low; I really just wanted the meat to get warm while everything finished as I dropped my ramen in.
I also mixed in the Hoisen here, and stirred it all up.
The Ramen finished and I strained it, and dumped it in with the rest of everything to stir it with a little heat. Previously I'd turned the heat up and tried to crisp the food a little. Terrible idea.
Plated! Thank god for white plates.
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Definitely too much Hoisen. Need to learn how to cook without using pre-made sauce (except soy). Peas were really overdone. I didn't know you could get peas overdone.
Overall, 6/10.
![[image loading]](http://i41.tinypic.com/2bs048.jpg)
Next time I'll think to take pictures while I cook; this was sort of impromptu. T_T
 
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Awesome job. I am just starting to master my fried rice myself. I am almost ready to advance to stir-fry and chow mein stuffs.
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pro tip, add a dab of seasame oil
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I had been using this style of "take everything I had & fry it together" for quite a while and it worked every single time. ramen + anything chopped into pieces = win (same with rice). Use bottled soy sauce or chilli sauced for instant added flavor.
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Looks delicious. My favourite part about making stir-fry is that it's really hard to get it wrong. you can put just about anything in and it'll still be great.
I usually just put everything in.
garlic, mushrooms, carrots, pepper, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, into the wok it goes.
Go to the grocery store and buy one of everything, come home and cook up a stir-fry.
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I love these food blogs. But the downside is that I always get so hungry :/.
Must start cooking dinner.....
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keep it up! i'm starting to learn how to stir fry recently too. main thing about stir frying is all about the sauce. just get a few different sauces and it works!
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United States369 Posts
Why do I always click on these when I'm hungry?  If it's frozen peas/corn I usually dump it in last minute ... like "about to finish, suddenly remember I have corn to put in, grab and spill everywhere on the counter" last minute. This looks pretty good though!
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Thats hardly cooking?
I mean.. Yeah, i do this too, but i wouldn't call it cooking. It's "throwing shit together and fry it". It doesn't even matter what you throw together because most likely the spices you add will be totally dominant (most likely soy sauce... and/or other stuff you put in).
It tatste good/ok, but it's hardly "cooking".
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On March 01 2012 22:59 Velr wrote:
Thats hardly cooking?
I mean.. Yeah, i do this too, but i wouldn't call it cooking. It's "throwing shit together and fry it". It doesn't even matter what you throw together because most likely the spices you add will be totally dominant (most likely soy sauce... and/or other stuff you put in).
It tatste good/ok, but it's hardly "cooking".
/pats head
/shoo
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When stir-frying, you should crank the heat up to as high as it can go and stir constantly, without letting the food stand still for more than 3 seconds at any given time.
Don't thaw the peas, just throw them into the pan frozen after you've cooked the onions for a bit.
If you plan to use peanuts, I recommend toasting them, crushing them just a little, and sprinkling them over your finished dish instead of dumping them in at the beginning.
You are correct meat goes in towards the end, just leave the heat on high and cook until the meat is tender/cooked through.
As for the spices, don't worry too much, eventually you'll learn how much is enough through experience.
Hope that helps 
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How come the noodle on the right side edge appears to be whiter than the rest? Did you give it a good mix in the wok?
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On March 01 2012 22:59 Velr wrote:
Thats hardly cooking?
I mean.. Yeah, i do this too, but i wouldn't call it cooking. It's "throwing shit together and fry it". It doesn't even matter what you throw together because most likely the spices you add will be totally dominant (most likely soy sauce... and/or other stuff you put in).
It tatste good/ok, but it's hardly "cooking".
You sound pretty bitter about this. Why the hell do you gotta shit on his COOKING man? Yes, I said cooking, because that's exactly what the fuck he did to make his Stir Fry.
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On March 01 2012 22:59 Velr wrote:
Thats hardly cooking?
I mean.. Yeah, i do this too, but i wouldn't call it cooking. It's "throwing shit together and fry it". It doesn't even matter what you throw together because most likely the spices you add will be totally dominant (most likely soy sauce... and/or other stuff you put in).
It tatste good/ok, but it's hardly "cooking".
Us food noobs must start somewhere lolol
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Do the meat first, take it out and set aside, then do veggies. Toss meat back in when veggies are near done. Your peas got borked because the meat was cooking in there. Hell, since you microwaved them and they're so small, you could probably just toss that in at the very end when the veggies are cooked and you put the meat in.
Also, you probably want to start boiling the water when you start frying stuff. Most asian noodles cook super fast. Boiling takes a bit longer and if you gotta wait it will throw it off
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zQX2A.gif)
also, ignore velr, he's kind of a retard
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question: for "harder" vegetables like broccoli do you have to cook it seperately to soften it up first before stir frying?
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On March 03 2012 09:49 Riyomori wrote:
question: for "harder" vegetables like broccoli do you have to cook it seperately to soften it up first before stir frying?
No. Well, it depends specifically on the texture you're looking for.
AFAIK most restaurants and hence myself prefer to maintain the crispness of "harder" vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, snap peas, etc. You generally cook the vegetables just until their raw taste is gone.
If you DO wish for softer texture, you can either cook the vegetables separately, or just start cooking it first, put the lid on to steam it to soften the vegetables faster, and then add whatever else that cooks faster.
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EPT
