Stir Fry and Pad Thai

The Question: I am horrible at making Asian Food. Stir Fry's never work, the veggies are always overdone, and the entire dish is always either too salty, or too bland...or, the sauce is too thin. Not a pretty picture! Do you have any tips/suggestions or recipes for creating a delicious stir fry? And, do you have a recipe for Pad Thai?

The Answer: This is another GREAT question. Stir fry is extremely hard to master, and I've had many a tasteless, salty, mushy mess! I think one of the keys is to not over-cook the vegetables. It's important to add tougher veggies with longer cooking times to the wok first, and then add the softer or quicker cooking ones later. So, onions, garlic, and carrots should go first, followed by snow peas, broccoli, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, etc.

The other really hard thing about stir fry is that in order to keep the sauce "wet" enough for all the food in the wok, a fair amount of sauce is needed. This leads to the "over-salt" problem of the sauce because often times soy sauce is just dumped into the mix. I've found that when things are starting to get a little too dry, I've just added a very small amount of water. That aids to steam the vegetables, without adding any salt. And, I always use LOW salt/sodium soy sauce.

I prefer to use a peanut-based sauce most of the time. And, I think that adding a couple of tablespoons of fresh chunky peanut butter makes for the best sauce base. As the peanut butter cooks, it melts down and is easily distributed throughout the vegetables.

Frequent, or almost constant stirring is another key factor to preventing sogginess. By reducing the amount of time that the vegetables sit in the hot sauce or are constantly touching a hot pan/wok, the crispier they can remain.

I also think that mixing in things like rice towards the very end of cooking is another key factor in keeping everything crispy, fresh, and not too thin. Here's a recipe I've found to be pretty tasty: http://whatsfordinner-fft.blogspot.com/2010/06/vegi-stir-fry.html

And, as for Pad Thai, here's a wonderful recipe I've made multiple times with great success. The only caveat being that it doesn't taste nearly as good leftover, so make sure you invite people over to enjoy this meal with you!
This recipe is from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons (so it does happen to be vegetarian, but feel free to add shrimp or chicken if you want!).
Pad Thai
3/4 lb dried rice noodles
1/4 c lime juice, or more to taste (2-3 limes)
3 tbs Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce (can use salt (1 tsp) or oyster sauce instead)
2 tbs brown sugar
1-2 tsp hot chili sauce (sriracha)
3 tbs oil (canola or olive)
2 eggs, beaten
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin strips
8-10 scallions, halved lengthwise and cut into 2" lengths
1 c mung bean sprouts
1/4 c dry-roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
1 lime, sliced into wedges

Soak the noodles in 3 qts of hot water for 30 minutes, drain.

In ad small bowl, combine the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, chile sauce, and 1 tbs water.

Pour 1 tbs of oil into wok (or large skillet). Cook the eggs over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. Once the eggs are barely cooked, transfer them to a small place.

In the same wok/skillet, add the remaining oil. Over medium heat, add garlic and ginger. Saute for 30 seconds. Add the carrot and scallions. Saute another minute, stirring frequently. Add the lime juice mixture and the drained noodles. Cook the noodles, stirring constantly, until they are tender but still chewy, about a minute. Add a bit more lime juice for a "perkier" taste. Add the sprouts, and egg. Stirring well. Quickly divide the mixture among plates, sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro, garnish with lime wedges, and serve!