Food is Cynful: Stir-Fry

About the Cyn

As I have added more and more recipe's to this blog I've realized that these are such sweet tender memories for me. Just as a photograph or childhood story will bring back memories, food floods me with tons of remembrances of happy times in the past! From family dinners and times with friends to Grandma making toast in the frying pan, food has brought about a way to record my family history. Food has always been and remains a huge part of our gatherings and I feel so very blessed to be able to share my memories and such terrific recipe's with my family and anyone out there who has a few minutes to spare. It is my hope that someday my children and grandchildren will prepare these recipe's and know they were special to someone!

Cynful Explanations

Al dente – An Italian expression applied in all western kitchens to pasta cooked just until enough resistance is left in it to be felt “by the tooth.” Fresh pasta can never by cooked al dente as it is too soft. The expression is also applied to vegetables that have been cooked crisp by steaming, boiling, or stir-frying.
Baste – To moisten food during cooking with pan drippings, sauce, or other liquid. Basting prevents foods from drying out.
Bias-cut - To slice food at a steep angle increasing the surface area, makes a thinner cut easier and looks better.
Butterfly- To split a food (such as shrimp) down the center, cutting almost but not completely through. The two halves are then opened flat to resemble a butterfly shape.
Caramelize – The flavor of many foods, including vegetables, meats, and seafood, is often enhanced by a gentle browning that caramelizes natural sugars and other compounds and intensifies their flavor. Meats for stews, for example, are usually browned to caramelize juices that if not caramelized are much less flavorful. Chopped vegetables, especially aromatic ones such as carrots and onions, are often caramelized—sometimes with cubes of meat—in a small amount of fat before liquid is added to enhance the flavor of soups, stews, and sauces.
Dice – To cut into cubes (unlike chopping, which cuts foods into irregular pieces).
Dredge – To coat a food with flour, any finely crumbled ingredient, or, in pastry, with fine sugar.
Egg wash – A mixture of egg or egg white, oil, and water brushed over floured items, which are then deep-fried or pan-fried in clarified butter or oil.
Fold – To incorporate an egg-white foam into an egg yolk foam or a flour batter without deflating it so that it retains its full leavening power.
Julienne – To cut into long thin matchstick size strips.
Marinade – A mixture of ingredients used to flavor and moisten foods. May be liquid of dry. Liquid marinades are usually acidic based and dry marinades are usually salt based.
Mince – To chop very fine.
Piping - To force a food (typically frosting or whipped cream) through a pastry tip to use as a decoration or garnish, or to shape dough, such as that for éclairs.
Poach – To cook completely submerged in barely simmering liquid.
Puree – To work or strain foods until they are completely smooth.
Ramekin – A small, ovenproof dish, usually ceramic.
Render - To melt animal fat over low heat so that it separates from any connective pieces of tissue, which, during rendering, turn brown and crisp.
Resting – Roasted meats should not be served straight out of the over, but should be allowed to rest in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes, loosely covered with aluminum foil. (The foil keeps the meat warm; loose wrapping ensures that the outside of the meat doesn’t steam and lose its crispness.) Resting allows the meat to relax so the juices become redistributed in the meat and aren’t squeezed out onto the platter during carving.
Sauté – To cook over high heat in a small amount of fat in a sauté pan or skillet.
Scald – To heat milk just below the boiling point. Or, to immerse a vegetable or fruit in boiling water in order to remove its skin easily.
Sear – To brown the surface of pieces of meats and or fish by submitting them to intense initial heat.
Simmer – To maintain the temperature of a liquid just below boiling.
Steam – To cook in steam by suspending foods over (not in) boiling water, in a covered pot or steamer.
Stew – A cooking method nearly identical to braising but generally involving smaller pieces of meat, and hence a shorter cooking time. Also, the dish prepared by using this method of preparation.
Stir-fry – Chinese technique of cooking think slivers of meat, shellfish, and vegetables in hot oil.
Sweat – To cook foods over gentle heat, usually covered or partly covered, until they release their moisture. Vegetables, meats, and seafood are often sweated when making soups, stews, and sauces so that the foods release their juices into the pan and surrounding liquid. Sweating is the opposite of sautéing.
Tempura – A Japanese method of cooking vegetables and shellfish. They are coated with a light cornstarch batter and deep-fried.
Wok – A round-bottomed pan, usually made of rolled steel, used for virtually all Chinese cooking methods.
Zest – The thin, brightly colored outer part of the rind of citrus fruits. The oils make it ideal for use as a flavoring. Remove the zest with a grater, citrus zester, or vegetable peeler. Be careful to remove only the colored layer, not the bitter-white pith beneath it.

Stir-Fry...bleck! That was coming from the younger me! My dad on occasion would make his version of Stir-Fry and all I remember were bean sprouts...bleck, again the younger me! Yes it's true, I hated it! I hated it so much that one time I tried to sneak it into the garbage. I was the last at the table, told I would sit there and eat every last bite, and it was pretty obvious when one minute your plate contained a whole bunch of food and the next, my plate was empty. Mom was ticked and starting picking the stuff out of the trash....Well you can see where this is going! That started my love affair with Stir-Fry or lack there of and it wasn't until years later when I discovered my 7 year old palate had changed and bean sprouts were a fun crunchy food! This Stir-Fry recipe calls for tofu but you could substitute chicken or just take the tofu out. This is something Brent and I cooked up, measured out, tested on the kid, and put our stamp of approval on. Here's how it goes...

2 Bricks Firm Tofu or 2lbs Chicken
3 Carrots
3 Stalks Celery or Bok Choy
1 Yellow Onion
4 Green Onions
3 Cups Bean Sprouts
3/4 lb Button Mushrooms
1/4 Head Cabbage
3 Tbsp Fresh Cilantro
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Sauce
2 Tbsp Oyster Flavored Sauce
4 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
4 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
3 Tbsp Finely Chopped Garlic
2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger Zest
1 Tsp Sugar
1 Tsp Sriracha or Hot sauce of choice

To start heat a large skillet to medium high heat. Add into pan 1 tbsp sesame oil and 2 tbsp light soy sauce. When the pan is to temperature cook the tofu or chicken. The point to this is to dry out the tofu and give it some initial flavor and texture so it's not so mushy. (Side note-It took me a long time to get used to tofu!)Turn the pieces every so often so every side browns. Once everything is brown set the tofu aside on another burner on low and let it continue to loose some of it's moisture. (If it's chicken you'll want to cook it the same way but for not as long because it will cook faster and also you will want to have all the prep done before hand because you won't want the chicken to dry out.) While this is happening wash, peel, and prepare your veggies. Separate the veggies into two batches (a medium to large bowl). The first will have the carrots, yellow onion and celery. These all should be cut to about the same size. I Like to cut them on the bias because it looks nice. Plus the carrots need to be a thin cut so they cook faster. The second batch will have the cabbage, bean sprouts, mushrooms and green onions. Slice the green onions on a bias to 1/2 inch long. The cabbage needs to be long slices sliced very thin and the mushrooms can be thin slices across the whole mushroom. This batch cooks fast because everything is relatively water! Now mix the sauce. You will use half the sauce for each batch. The chicken or tofu should be cooked by now so set that aside and get your pan back up to a medium high heat. Pour the first batch of veggies in and add half the sauce. You can put the tofu or chicken in the bottom of the bowl you just emptied. Turn the veggies a few times to mix the sauce through the veggies and let it sit for approximately 5 minutes stirring only once or twice. The carrots should be still crunchy but not raw. The onions should be still on the white side but turning opaque and the celery should be just on the side of getting mushy. You don't want a strong onion that is going knock your socks off but you don't want your celery mushy either. Remember this will continue to cook while you are cooking your second batch even while it's off the heat. Once it's ready the 1st batch goes back into the bowl it came from. Now do the same for the second batch. At this point I like to put the 2nd bowl over the top of the first bowl and trap some of that steam in. This will also reheat the chicken or tofu because it should be in the first bowl already. Cook the 2nd batch only until you see that it is starting to wilt the cabbage. There should be more water at the bottom of the pan than there was in the first batch. This is good! At this point, add everything back in to the pan, mix it all together, give it another minute on the heat to marry the flavors and viola', you have Stir-Fry! You can add the cilantro diced up on top if you like a little fresh flavor at the end! If you don't like the spicy you can certainly omit the Sriracha or have it to the side for others to add in on their own. Prep time is about 30 minutes depending on how fast you are with chopping and cleaning. Cooking time is about 15 minutes. I tried one time to prep and cook at the same time but it was hard to keep up with everything. Don't get me wrong, it can be done! This feeds 3 people nicely if this is all you're planning on for dinner. There's typically enough for small seconds at our house!!! Oh two more side notes! It looks like it's way too much food when you get started but just remember, the second batch is mostly water and cooks down a lot and Bok Choy is an Asian celery and you just use the stalk not the leaves! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

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