311 recipes. Page 2 of 13
Quick and delicious stir-fry recipes
Mozzarella melted over gochujang-glazed chicken thigh pulls into long strands and softens the chili heat. A pan that is not hot enough lets the cabbage and onion release water, and the sauce ends up thin instead of clinging.
Thin slices of pork shoulder, green asparagus and red bell pepper share one pan. Peeling the lower part of each spear lets the thick end cook as fast as the tip. The pork comes off the heat when the thickest slice reaches 63°C at the center, then rests for 3 minutes.
Tteokbokki and sundae (Korean blood sausage) are the usual pair at a Korean snack shop, and here they share one pan. The rice cakes simmer in gochujang sauce first; the sundae goes in when only a little sauce is left and gets just a few gentle turns. Stir it too long and the casing splits.
Think of a pan of dakgalbi with udon added. Gochujang-marinated chicken thigh, cabbage and thin slices of sweet potato cook first, and the thick udon then takes on a heavy coat of that sauce.
No cheese on this one. The chicken thigh is stir-fried in gochujang sauce alone, and it lands on the rice along with soft, sweet cabbage.
With nothing but napa cabbage, doenjang, garlic, perilla oil and sesame seeds, the cabbage's own sweetness comes through. Take it off the heat while the thick ribs still have a little crunch.
Pad kee mao, as drunken noodles are called in Thailand, layers chili and garlic heat with a last-minute handful of basil over wide rice noodles. This version uses chicken thigh and Thai basil, which smells different from the holy basil of traditional versions. The 250 g of noodles is a dried weight (fresh noodles at the same weight give a different yield), and wide dried noodles vary enough that the package directions are the better guide for softening them. Draining the softened noodles well keeps the soy, oyster and fish sauces coating the strands instead of pooling around them. Once the noodles join the pan, a short toss is enough; longer heating breaks them apart.
Ssukgat (crown daisy greens) goes in just long enough to wilt, so its bitter, herbal edge comes through clearly against the rich gochujang pork. The pork shoulder is seared in a smoking-hot pan for some browned flavor.
The shrimp are scored along the back, seared for just 30 seconds and set aside on a plate. They go back in only after the cabbage is done, so the shrimp stay springy and the stems keep their crunch. Soy sauce with a little fish sauce does the seasoning.
Butter-browned button mushrooms and soy sauce bubbled briefly at the edge of the pan coat thick udon in a salty, nutty glaze. The blanched udon needs a thorough drain, because any water clinging to it thins that sauce. The mushrooms cook until dry and browned at the edges for the same reason, adding meaty depth without leaving liquid in the pan. Hitting the hot metal lets the soy reduce almost instantly, and it has to be stirred into the mushrooms before it scorches. Most of the butter is used for frying; a small piece melted in after the heat is off brings back its aroma and gives the noodles a final gloss.
Chopped fish cake crisps slightly at the edges in hot oil, and its salty, savory flavor spreads through every grain of rice. Because the fish cake is already seasoned, the soy sauce stays modest and any extra salt waits until after tasting.
A splash of cheongju (Korean rice wine) under a lid opens the clams, then butter goes in, and the clam juices and butter run together into a salty sauce in the bottom of the pan. Whatever is left gets mopped up with bread. The clams bring their own salt, so the soy sauce stops at a teaspoon, and any clam that stays shut is thrown out.
Shrimp and squid take over from meat, bringing two textures to the glass noodles: a springy snap from the shrimp and a firmer chew from the squid. Scoring the squid makes it curl in the heat and leaves a pattern on the surface. Patted dry before they meet a very hot pan, the shrimp and squid sear instead of boiling in their own liquid. The moment the shrimp turn pink and the squid curls, they come out of the pan, rejoining the noodles only at the end. Glass noodles soaked thoroughly before boiling take up the seasoning evenly and turn glossy. Korean holiday tables sometimes swap this in for beef japchae.
The pan goes on until it smokes, and scallions fry for 30 seconds to make a scallion oil. The eggs come last: once the rice is fried, it is pushed to the edges and the eggs are scrambled in the cleared center before everything is mixed. Leftover ham, kimchi, shrimp or canned tuna can go in too.
Firm bottle gourd is sliced thin, salted briefly, stir-fried, and then finished covered with a splash of water. When it is done, the edges turn translucent and a chopstick slides in easily. Garlic and green onion are the only aromatics, which keeps the gourd's mild flavor up front.
Born in the Chinese immigrant community of Kolkata and now cooked across India, Hakka noodles keep their seasoning spare: soy sauce, a little vinegar and black pepper. Cabbage, carrot and bell pepper are cut into thin strips close to the width of the noodles, so each forkful picks up both evenly, and they spend only a minute or two over high heat to keep their snap.
Chicken thigh glazed in gochujang goes over rice, with mayonnaise piped across it in zigzags. Thigh stays moist through the glazing where breast would dry out.
Dried bottle gourd strips are thin slices of the gourd's inner flesh, and they need more than 30 minutes of soaking to turn chewy again. They cook in perilla oil, and the ground perilla seed goes in while a little liquid remains, soaking it up and clinging to the strips as a thick coating. It is a mild namul to set beside more strongly seasoned banchan.
Two noodles share the wok in this Singapore dish: springy yellow wheat noodles and softer rice noodles. A splash of prawn stock goes in near the end and is cooked down until the noodles have drunk most of it, so the seafood flavor ends up inside the strands rather than in a pool on the plate. Squid and shrimp are seared briefly and set aside first so they do not overcook while the noodles finish.
The rice has to hit the pan while the eggs are still soft and half set. Then each grain picks up a thin coat of egg, and what you get is evenly yellow fried rice rather than rice with lumps of scramble in it.
Between the slightly bitter bangpung namul, a spring green also called sea breeze herb, and the sweetness of shrimp seasoned with mirin, the dish needs little more than a tablespoon of soy sauce. The spring leaves are thin, so they go in last with the soy and come off the heat while still bright green.
Instead of ladling sauce over a bowl of noodles, platter jjajang tosses the cooked noodles right into the pan with the black bean sauce and serves everything on one large plate to share. Squid and shrimp join the pork and cook only until the squid turns opaque and the shrimp curl pink.
Shrimp, squid and mussel meat hit the hot pan first, followed by carrot, egg and cold rice in turn. Soy sauce and oyster sauce are measured in teaspoons, enough to season without covering the seafood. Sesame oil goes in only after the heat is off, for its aroma.
Canned silkworm pupae are rinsed, drained and stir-fried until soy sauce and chili flakes cook down into a thin glaze on the outside. In Korea this is a drinking snack, and the firm yet slightly yielding bite sets it apart from fish cake or tofu.