Do you make stir fries? I haven’t lately, but it sounds like a good idea, especially when Brian Lagerstrom suggests it. Here are three of his creations that anybody can make if they have a large skillet. These look really good to me!
The recipes:
VEGGIE TERIYAKI
▪50g or 3 Tbsp soy sauce
▪50g or 3.25 Tbsp mirin
▪5g or 1 tsp rice vinegar
▪20g or 1 3/4 Tbsp sugar
▪40g or 2 3/4 Tbsp chicken stock
▪3-4g or 1.5 tsp corn starch
▪500g/5-6 total cups chopped/sliced veggies (i’m using 75g or 1c each of broccoli, sugar snap peas, baby corn, bell peppers, carrot, mushrooms)
▪5g or 3/4 Tbsp ginger, grated
▪5g or 2 cloves garlic, grated
▪40g or just under 1/2c scallions, sliced
▪Neutral cooking oil (canola, grapeseed, avocado)
▪Salt
QUICKER KUNG PAO CHICKEN
▪50g or 3 Tbsp soy sauce
▪25g shaoxing cooking wine (sub mirin or white wine)
▪10g or 1 Tbsp white vinegar
▪20g or 1.5 Tbsp brown sugar
▪15g or 1 Tbsp sesame oil
▪40g or 2 3/4 Tbsp chicken stock
▪3g or 1.25 tsp corn starch
▪2-3g or 1.5 tsp red pepper flakes
▪350g/12 oz chicken thighs, diced
▪100g or 1c celery, diced
▪225g or 2c peppers, diced
▪5g or 2 cloves garlic, grated
▪5g or 3/4 Tbsp ginger, grated
▪20g or 1/4c dried chile de arbol
▪30g or 1/4c roasted peanuts, chopped
▪Neutral cooking oil
▪Black pepper
SWEET AND SOUR SHRIMP
▪50g or 3 Tbsp soy sauce
▪50g or 3.25 Tbsp mirin
▪35g or 2.5 Tbsp rice vinegar
▪40g or 2 3/4 Tbsp chicken stock
▪5g/1 Tbsp corn starch
▪25g or 2 Tbsp sesame oil
▪25g or 1.75 Tbsp sambal (garlic Chile sauce)
▪10g or 1.75 tsp ketchup
▪25g or 2 Tbsp sugar
▪350g/12oz raw 26/30 shrimp, peeled/deveined
▪100g or 1c bell peppers, diced
▪200g or 1.75c snow peas
▪5g or 3/4 Tbsp ginger, grated
▪5g or 2 cloves garlic, grated
▪30-40g or 1/4c scallions, chopped
▪Neutral oil
Stella's Place 
I cut up bok choi, Swiss chard, yellow onions, green cabbage, celery, carrots, and left over or fresh chicken or pork. Put some Olive oil in the wok, start by cooking the meat if needed, then remove it. Add more oil if needed, then cook the chunks of hard veggies till softened a bit. Throw in the leafy greens, and some rice wine (I have a mango flavored one that goes quite well). Put the meat in. Cover and cook till the greens are wilted. Serve with soy sauce for the diner to add to taste.
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I love stir frys, but I have a problem with only needing small amounts of ingredients. I have a recipe that I love, but several ingredients are canned and I haven’t found a way to keep them. I have tried freezing them.
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I really stink at stir fry. Can’t get the flavors right and I overcook stuff, or don’t time the addition of each item right.
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Everybody stinks at these recipes !! Don’t tell Stella because she is offended because I challenged the fact that the recipe given on Saturday is not simple!! Now I exaggerated some to be be HUMOROUS but I still believe it’s a great dish but not simple in the fact not as EASY as a prepared meal .
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Why don’t you give it up? And no, not everybody stinks at it. By the way, Menagerie is an excellent cook and baker, and any stir fry she made would be better than a Swanson’s dinner.
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PS: Again, I never claimed that the recipes were “simple”. I don’t know where you got that idea, but your comments are getting realllllllly old.
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I disagree. Stir fry is not a complex way to cook, it is just one I lack experience at, and so I am not good at it. Stir fry and other Chinese dishes are not my husband’s favorite foods. He eats them, but doesn’t much enjoy it, so I have never learned that technique.
If you want to eat a prepared meal, that fine and it’s your preference. Sometimes I do as well. Often I prefer not to. Cooking can vary from very simple and easy recipes to complex and challenging.
I love to bake bread, and after more than 40 years doing it, I usually find it easy, again, depending on the recipe I choose.
It seems to me that you could have just ignored this post if it wasn’t your cup of tea, or just expressed your preference for prepared foods without knocking the recipes. You took over this whole thread making a point valid pretty much only to you, and it sure does not come off as humorous or even reasonable.
And while I live on the outskirts of a city now, I spent a long, happy, time in a log cabin in the “rural South.” Got to know Stella while living there, and she and I have often enjoyed exchanging cooking tips and recipes.
My comment was perhaps in poor taste. I never meant to reflect on her post or the recipes, just made an I’ll advised comment about my own experience level.
Oh, and one more thing. I’ve got three or four kinds of vinegar in my cabinet, and I never make oriental foods.
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50 g’s of this
50 keg’s of that
O and you need rice vinegar , I have that sitting around because I am just waiting to cook a simple dinner !! What ??. I call bs on this being simple!! Give me a break !! You know what’s simple ? Swanson TV dinner, now that is simple!! These gourmet chefs have lost their freekin mind if THAT stir fry is considered simple!! Craft Mac&Cheese in the BOX!! THAT IS SIMPLE!!! Come on man!!
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I have rice vinegar in my pantry and have done so for years. In fact, I have white vinegar, cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar (white and red), sherry vinegar AND rice vinegar. And people who cook Asian style foods have most of the ingredients he mentions. I have toasted sesame oil, hoisin sauce and sambal in my refrigerator. You can also substitute when you don’t have a particular ingredient.
Kraft and frozen dinners have their place, but some people actually cook, and they aren’t all chefs. Vegetables are your friend.
In other words, I could have cooked two of these from my pantry and refrigerator.
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PS: I always know that I may get critical comments on my posts, but I never thought that they would be about food. Who hates recipes? Most people read them and pass on by, because food is interesting and we all eat.
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Whoopee do for you Ms. Stella!!! Love your response’s but don’t call recipes simple when they aren’t!!!! Not everybody is a gourmet cook like you and your guest!!!
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There are levels of ability and interest. This is obviously not interesting to you, but it is to others. Stir fry is hardly a new concept.
I am having a difficult time understanding why you find this so objectionable. Most people enjoy watching/reading about cooking, even if they won’t do it themselves. I like to know how something is done (food or otherwise) even when I won’t do it at home.
PS: What is “gourmet” about chopping vegetables, making a simple sauce, and frying ingredients? I use at least as many ingredients and spices when I make chili. Is that gourmet too?
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You may or may not know why some people like to use rice vinegar. I first started using it in salad dressings because it is a bit less acid. It isn’t strictly an Asian ingredient, and has been a pantry staple for many years.
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I think for you to describe my response to these particular recipes as objectionable is not a fair criticism of my response. I am pointing out that it is not SIMPLE!! I know you think just because I live in a rural part of the south that I have no interest in the ability of writing a recipe OR the methodology of food preparation!! You have to admit that the prep of the afore mentioned recipes and method of prep is nowhere near the simple prep of sticking a Swanson TV dinner in the preheated oven!!
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First, I had no memory of you living in the rural south. I made no assumptions that you describe. I’m asking you why you think these recipes aren’t simple, other than they use at least one ingredient that you think is strange or unusual. It can’t be the number of ingredients. Methods aren’t technically difficult.
Of course, a frozen dinner can never be compared to a meal that is prepared in your home kitchen, and putting a frozen dinner in the microwave is “simpler” than a meal that you prepare yourself. It isn’t as tasty or as healthy either.
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I do remember saying in post of past that I lived in the rural south AND I would have thought that you committed that to your memory. I am sorry for making that assumption. I do believe that I am right about what can be considered simple preparation of dinner compared to a healthier and more complex assembly of ingredients. I concede the healthy argument to your recipe. It was interesting , the video that is .
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Making eggs, bacon and toast is not simple when compared to a frozen dinner or a can of soup. A stir fry isn’t gourmet or complicated. It’s just not a convenience food.
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I give up !! You win!! But my point , based on other comments in general discussion, was missed !!
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Here are your points, taken from your comments. If there are some I missed, please point them out specifically:
1. Metric measurements are somehow offensive.
2. Rice vinegar isn’t something you would have in your pantry for a simple dinner.
2. You prefer convenience food, because it is simple, like Kraft Mac & Cheese and Swanson dinners.
3. Stir fry is gourmet and not simple.
4. I must be a gourmet chef to like stir fry. (Whoopee do for you Ms. Stella!!!)
5. I somehow have insulted you because you are from the rural south.
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PS: Go back through my post and tell me where I said that stir fry is simple. I never said that in my post – anywhere. Even Brian Lagerstrom (the chef) says they are quick and easy, but never says that they are simple (he does refer to the sauce as simple, which it is). You, on the other hand, use the word “simple” six times in your first comment alone.
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O no!! I didn’t take your comments as insults at all but I do think that maybe my choice of words to TRY and make my point were not well done. Let me say that many of the recipes and videos are very informative and entertaining as well!! I do watch the Barefoot Contessa every chance that I get. She is my favorite and and actually I find cooking shows very enjoyable. So all that to say I was not insulted!! The point you made about health is one that I don’t pay much attention to so touché’!! Metric measurements are not offensive to me so like I said in the efforts to be humorous I used bad choices in the verbiage!! But thank you for your responses and I have enjoyed the banter and I enjoy this website immensely!!
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Not in the healthy column, but Czar made great Mac and cheese. Somewhere in the the past few years Kraft changed their recipe (to remove some offensive preservative or something) which changed the taste. So Czar started doctoring up the mix, adding sour cream and garlic, and of course shredded cheeses (variety, whatever he thought at the moment). Sometimes that was all we ate for dinner, it was so good.
By the way, after he died I had to start cooking for myself, first time in 40 years. My talent runs to baking, so baked chicken with a baked potato and a can of veggie was my go-to. One night recently I had a bowl of popcorn for dinner, but Saturday night I made chicken Clemenceau (onions, mushrooms and Pettit point peas, recipe simplified from even the pared down version on the net), and an apple pie.
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I always loved czar’s comments on the food posts. He had something interesting to say and sometimes humorous too.
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And boy did he pass out good tips. My all time favorite of his was about German spaetzle. Not only did he bring it up one fall, pricking my interest, he suggested the noodles be cooked in a rich home made vegetable broth. I would probably not have thought about that on my own, because I very rarely cook any kind of noodle.
I had bags of German made spaetzle I found at Aldi during October stuffed in every cabinet in my kitchen, since I knew that the noodles were a fall promotion only. I still love them, and if I find them at Aldi I buy a pack or two.
It makes a good and easy side or a great soup.
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O that was not fair at all!! I thought our discussion was a good one and then you get huffy about my description of what is easy and you would have thought I dropped a atom food bomb because I disagreed with the chefs take on SIMPLE . Simple and easy should be the same when talking about cooking. I am so sorry that I am not as accomplished as Czar but I try!!
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Are you just trying to have a fight? I am beginning to wonder.
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Why do I get accused of this whenI thought we were having a exercise in freedom of speech!! I love you people on here but I will confine my thoughts to my self!!
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You have had 100% freedom of speech here. That doesn’t mean that others can’t criticize you. You certainly have criticized others here yourself.
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