The Magnificent, Modular Stir-Fry

Each week, about a day before we pick up our CSA veggies, we get an e-mail from the CSA listing what veggies we will be getting. The e-mail also includes tips on how to use some of the vegetables that are coming that week. The e-mail is always aptly titled: "What do I do with all these veggies?" I say, "aptly," because that is the question that, as the primary chef in the house, I always ask myself upon receiving the e-mail. "What AM I going to do with these veggies?"

This year I'm realizing that, at least for the late spring/early summer veggies, "stir-fry" is a good answer for almost any list of veggies that comes in the e-mail.

A stir-fry is a very modular meal. It really boils down to these components:
* 2 - 4 different veggies
* a sauce and seasonings
* a starch - usually sauce or noodles
* a protein (optional) - as vegetarians, tofu is our go-to

In the past, I used to think that stir-fries had a limited range of acceptable vegetable ingredients. Onions and peppers. Broccoli. Snow peas. Water chestnuts. Carrots. Maybe bamboo shoots. But in the past few years I've realized that this is a narrow view. Also potentially narrowing the view is the idea of some "authentic" recipe. That's just a straight-jacket. What matters is: does it taste good? Even with a much wider range of ingredients, the answer seems to be a resounding "yes." Even better, that answer applies to not just my wife and I, but to our kids as well.

What kinds of veggies have I done in stir-fries? Greens work great! The trick is to know your greens. Easy-cooking greens like spinach can go right in with the stir fry. Slower-cooking greens like collards need a quick blanch (5 minutes in boiling water) followed by cooling & draining before going in the stir fry. Cabbage is another great leafy vegetable for stir-fries. Make sure they are cut into thin pieces, and just throw them in with the other veggies. Bok choy is amazing, because it's got a leafy part and a crunch part. Separate the two and add them at different points in the cooking process - crunchy bits first and leafy bits later. Yum!

Something I like to keep in mind when putting together a stir-fry is complementary vegetables. You don't want all greens. I also like one or two veggies that make for smaller but more substantial chunks. Broccoli is great. But a surprisingly good one is turnips. Cut them into slices/chunks that are maybe a 1/2" thick. Try to cook them so that the soften up a little, but not all the way (5 minutes maybe, or less depending on the size of the chunks). They sweeten up as they cook, but if you don't over-do it, they still provide a nice chew/crunch.  Amy says they're like water chestnuts with an actual taste to them. Good late spring/early summer veggies to round things out are onions, scallions, and carrots.

As for tofu - I've discovered a great tip for stir-frying tofu. It takes some extra time, but not as much as you might first imagine. The tip is dry frying. The linked article includes marinating, but that's not necessary. What I like to do is start the tofu dry-frying (it usually takes two pans on the stove), and while that's happening, I prep and chop the veggies. In a one-chef kitchen, that frequently times out nicely, though it does take some multi-tasking. Even without a marinade, the dry-frying improves the texture of the tofu and readies it for taking in a little sauce flavoring.

And that's a good segue into sauces. Another great thing about stir-fries is that there are a million different sauce recipes out there on the internet. Find a few favorites and just alternate them. I like thick sauces with a soy and vinegar base and cornstarch as a thickening agent. Since most of the family doesn't like spicy food, I omit things like chilis and other hot spices. Here is the sauce I've been using lately. It's a "kung pao" sauce from an old "Sunset" wok cookbook I have.

Kung-pao stir-fry sauce (doubled from original)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp dry sherry
6 tbsp water or broth
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Add the sauce in after everything is cooked. Stir everything rapidly as sauce comes to boil and starts to thicken. Then remove everything from the heat and stir a little more. Voila! Sauce-covered goodness.

Although we don't go spicy here, we do go for garlic. The trick with garlic is to mince it and then put it into the wok first. Heat up the oil in the wok. Then throw in the minced garlic and stir-fry it for about 30 seconds. Then start putting in your other veggies. Good news for spring-time CSA work is that garlic scapes are great for this too! The mincing is a bit tougher, but once that's done it goes great in the dish. Same rules apply: stir-fry for 30 seconds then add veggies. Added bonus: the garlic scrapes add some nice green color to otherwise blandly-colored dishes. The stir-frying also softens up the scapes.

Our formerly picky-eater kids have come to accept, if not embrace the stir-fry. I've made two CSA stir-fries this season, each with a different veggie mix, and I've had no complaints. There have even been some trips for seconds. Here's a qualitative ingredient list for these two stir fries:

Stir-fry #1 (pictured above)
Bok choy
Scallions (great big ones!)
Broccoli
Extra firm tofu
Garlic scapes
Served over rice

Stir-fry #2
Cabbage
Sweet onion
Carrots
Baby turnips
Firm silken tofu (dry-fry is a must for silken tofu - makes it hold together nicely for the stir-fry)
Garlic scapes
Chinese stir-fry noodles (boiled, drained & rinsed, stir-fried separately, then mixed in before adding sauce)

Both these dishes used the kung-pao sauce I mentioned above.

So there you have it, a loose guide to making stir-fries from what you have on hand. I may not be the stir-fry king, but I'm a pretty decent stir-fry squire.