Delicious Asian Vegetable Stir Fry Recipes
Ranked #1,664 in Food & Cooking, #32,024 overall | Donates to BuckHawk Center Animal Rescue
Delicious Asian Vegetable Stir Fry
I discovered that the majority of people will order vegetable stir fry dishes on a restaurant or food court. These vegetable dishes are usually pretty expensive and sometimes I wonder why a vegetable dish will cost more than meat dishes. Is it because the restaurant believe that people have no choice but order vegetable dishes to prevent them feeling guilty because they haven't eaten their recommended daily serve of vegetables?
I challenge you, to start cooking your own vegetable dishes at home. Prepare the ingredients yourself and the good thing is, you can put in as many fresh vegetable as you like in your dish.
Here on this page, you will find the easiest Asian vegetable stir fry recipes that you can finish preparing & cooking in less than 30 minutes. I am a busy person too, however, I always try to cook delicious vegetable dishes for my husband and believe me, it feels good to serve healthy food with fresh ingredients to your family.
This page will be regularly updated with more delicious vegetable stir fry recipes, so bookmark this page and come back for more.
Image Copyright: Creative Common Pictures Ginger Garlic Vegetable Stir Fry by foodista
What is Stir Fry?
A cooking method which fry your food in high heat, in a wok, with less oil and resulting in tasty, crunchy, delicious food.
Before you start cooking any stir fry recipes, I recommend you to prepare your ingredients in advanced. Because stir fry cooking process only takes less than 5 minutes.
Wok - Essential Kitchen Equipment for Stir Fry dishes
Helen Chen's Asian Kitchen 14-inch Carbon Steel Wok with Bamboo Handles
Amazon Price: $24.99 (as of 02/22/2012)
List Price: $24.99
How to make a perfect fluffy rice
Here on this video, Ming Tsai is showing us how to make a perfect steamed fluffy rice as well as simple mushroom carrot beansprout vegetable stir fry.
The basic ingredients for vegetables stir fry
Any stir fry recipes will have these ingredients below:
- Garlic (minced garlic)
To save the time, you can use minced garlic from Lee Kum Kee or garlic press:
- Ginger (minced ginger)
I recommend you to use a fresh ginger because it will give you a lovely fragrant and taste much better than a minced ginger jar.
- Vegetables (of your choice)
Choose your favorite fresh vegetable and cut it in small sizes (and to ensure they will cook through. Stir fry is a bit tricky, if you cut your vegetables in big sizes and fry it in high heat, the outer side of your vegetable will be burnt while the inside is not cooked through. So bite-size vegetable is the perfect size.
- Chili (minced chili)
This is optional.
- 1tsp oil / sesame oil
I love sesame oil because of its fragrance. However, you can use vegetable oil as well.
The trick of cooking stir fry is, never add oil when the wok is not hot. Always pre-heat the wok first and then when it's hot, I usually add my garlic, ginger and chili (to season the wok), stir fry it for few seconds then add the oil. Lots of people call it as "seasoning the oil" and I guess that's true. We "flavor the oil" with these basic stir fry ingredient to give the oil the delicious taste of garlic, ginger and chili. The end result of your stir fry will be more tasty and delicious.
Note: If you use chili in your stir fry cooking, I suggest you open your kitchen window. My husband always complains if I forget to open the window because of the "hot" smell & aroma will spread all around the living room & kitchen and it makes our eyes watery & ichy.
The basic preparation for vegetable stir fry
- Depending on the stir fry recipe, sometimes you'll need to add oyster sauce, so prepare this sauce, set it aside.
- Cut the vegetables into bite-sizes, set them aside.
I recommend you to "line up" your ingredients in the following order:
1 is the plate closest to the wok, and 6 is the plate furthest from the wok:
1: my minced garlic, ginger & chili (because these are the first ingredients I'm going to fry in a wok)
2: oil / sesame oil
3: vegetables (depending on the vegetable, make sure you add the vegetable that will be cook the longest first on the wok, example: carrots, eggplants, etc).
4: sauce
5: sesame seed (this is optional) but I love to add sesame seed on top of my vegetable stir fry
6: fried fresh garlic (this is also optional)
Vegetable Stir Fry Recipes
Here are my favorite vegetable stir fry recipes:
Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce
- Serves: 2
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce is not a vegetable stir fry, however, I thought I should add this recipe on this page because this is the most common vegetable dishes ordered by many people in a restaurant. And this is also the easiest vegetable dish that you can make at home.
The main sauce of this dish is oyster sauce, you can buy this sauce at any Asian grocery stores or at Amazon:
Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) with Oyster Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 12-20 stalks of Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan)
- Water (enough to blanch the Gai Lan)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce (or according to your taste)
Instructions
1. Cut the Gai Lan stems in half / diagonally and cut the leaves in half / side-ways. Then wash the Gai Lan and drain excess water
2. Cook the Gai Lan in a large saucepan with boiling water, add the stems first and then the leaves. Cook them for 3-4 minutes or until tender and still preserve the nice bright green color. Drain and put it under cold water. Drain excess water. The cold water will stop the cooking process and making Gai Lan crisp, crunchy and tasty.
3. While you cook the Gai Lan, you can prepare the oyster sauce. Mix sesame oil and oyster sauce in a small bowl and set aside. If you think the sauce is too thick, you can add a little bit of water and mix them.
4. Put the Gai Lan in a serving platter, and then add the oyster sauce mix on top. You can also add sesame seed & fried minced garlic on top.
Note: this recipe can be used for your favorite vegetable. Simply replace the Gai Lan with your favorite vegetables, such as carrots, broccoli, etc and it will make a delicious yummy healthy dish.
Recipe by Deyani, Image Source - Creative Common Picture
Basic Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe
- Serves: 2
- Prep Time: 10 - 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
This is the basic Asian vegetable stir fry recipes that I always use to create vegetable stir fry dishes. Follow the recipe below and simply replace the vegetable with your favorite vegetables.
The preparation & cooking time is less than 30 minutes, you can even ask your husband to cook it for you. As long as you prepare the ingredients for him.
The recipe below serves for 2 people.
Ingredients
- Vegetable of your choice
- 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
- 1cm ginger (minced)
- 1tsp soy sauce or 1tsp oyster sauce
- pinch of sugar (optional)
- 1tsp sesame oil / vegetable oil
Instructions
1. Cut the vegetables accordingly and then wash them in cold running water. Drain from excess water.
2. Pre-heat the wok
3. Season the oil by adding minced garlic, minced ginger and chopped bird-eyes chili (optional) into the wok
4. Add the oil and stir the ingredient from (3)
5. Add the stems of your vegetable first, stir it.
6. Add the vegetable leaves, stir it.
7. Add the sauce, sugar and little bit of water (if desired), stir it.
8. Serve in a serving platter.
Recipe by Deyani
You can add little bit of water to your vegetable stir fry.
Don't put too much water because it will steam your vegetable instead of frying it.
If you put too much water and the vegetables are cooked through, thicken it with 1tsp of cornstarch (dissolved with 3tsp of cold water).
Bok Choy Stir Fry
- Serves: 2
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
Another one of my favorite stir fry, Bok Choy is a Chinese Vegetable and you can find it in any grocery store. It's very cheap and Bok Choy wide stems are crunchy and delicious.
I use my Basic Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe for making this Bok Choy Stir Fry.
Ingredients
- 12-20 stalks Bok Choy
- 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
- 1cm ginger
- 1 bird-eyed chili (chopped)
- 1tsp light soy sauce
- 1tsp sesame oil / vegetable oil
Instructions
1. Wash the bok choy in cold running water, drain. Make sure there is no excess water.
2. Cut the stem in half and cut the leaves in half (side-ways)
3. Minced garlic, ginger and bird-eyed chili, then set aside
4. Pre-heat the work, add (1) and then add the sesame oil
5. Add Bok Choy stems for 1 minute and then add the leaves. Stir and mix it
6. Add the soy sauce, stir it to mix it with the vegetable
7. Serve it in a serving platter
Note: Alternative version of this recipe: replace soy sauce with oyster sauce. Mix oyster sauce with a little bit of water, add a little bit of sugar to give extra punch & sweetness to this dish.
Recipe by Deyani, Image Source - Creative Common Picture
Kangkung Belacan Stir Fry
You can buy kangkung at any Asian grocery store and it looks like this:
Image Copyright: Creative Common Image of Kangkung by fotoosvanrobin
Belacan is a shrimp paste with a very strong smell & fragrance, you can buy a dry belacan or a mixed sambal belacan. I usually use a dry belacan and then toast in a pan for one minute to soften it. Note that not many people love belacan's smell and you'll need to open all the windows to release the smell from your home. But you need to ensure your neighbor won't complain with this belacan strong smell =)
As an alternative, you can toast / warm the belacan in the microwave, so the smell won't be as bad as when you toast it in a pan.
Belacan itself will give a tasty shrimp flavor and a punch of saltiness to your stir fry, believe me, it's worth the smell.
- Serves: 2
- Prep Time: 15 - 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
This is my favorite Kangkung Belacan Stir Fry Recipe:
Ingredients
- 2 stalks of kangkung / water spinach
- 2 long chillies (roughly chopped)
- 1/4tsp belacan (toast)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 3 cloves shallot (chopped)
- 1 small tomato (roughly chopped)
- pinch of salt
- 1tbp of water
- 1tsp dried shrimp or ebi
- 1tsp vegetable oil
Instructions
1. Cut the water spinach 2 - 3 inches long, wash in cold running water, drain well.
2. Pre-heat the work and toast the dry belacan for 30 - 45 seconds. Set aside.
3. Using the same pre-heated wok, add chopped garlic, chopped shallot and chillies to season the oil
4. Add the oil, stir
5. Add the dried shrimp, stir. Then add the toasted balacan, stir
6. Add the stems of water spinach, then add the leaves of water spinach, stir
7. Add tomato, water, belacan, pinch of salt, stir
8. Serve in a serving platter
Note: You can also use ready-to-serve Sambal Belacan to replace the toasted Balacan & chili. Add Sambal balacan after you add the oil.
Recipe by Deyani, Image Source - Creative Common Picture
Tofu & vegetable stir-fry
- Serves: 4
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 300g hokkien noodles
- 2 tbs peanut oil
- 350g Blue Lotus Foods sweet chilli tofu nuggets (flavored tofu)
- 2 carrots
- peeled
- cut into thick matchsticks
- 1 red capsicum
- deseeded
- thinly sliced
- 125g baby corn
- halved diagonally
- 60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable stock
- 2 tbs sweet chilli sauce
- 2 tbs Indonesian kecap manis
- 5 green shallots
- ends trimmed
- thinly sliced
Instructions
1. Cook the noodles in a large saucepan of boiling water for 1-2 minutes or until separated and tender. Drain well.
2. Heat 1 tbs of the oil in a wok over high heat until just smoking. Add the tofu and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or until light golden and heated through. Transfer to a heatproof bowl.
3. Heat the remaining oil in the wok over high heat. Add the carrot, capsicum and corn and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the stock and cook, tossing, for 2-3 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.
4. Return the tofu to the wok along with the noodles, sweet chilli sauce, Indonesian kecap manis and green shallot, and stir-fry for 1 minute or until well combined and heated through. Divide among serving bowls and serve immediately.
Note: When making a vegetarian stir-fry, always select firm tofu - as opposed to the silken variety - as it will retain its shape during the rapid cooking process.
Recipe and Image Source
Grow your own vegetables & herbs
Fresh vegetables from our own garden always be the best and freshest ingredients for our vegetable stir-fry dishes. Grow your own vegetables using the tips and tricks shared by GonnaFly on her lens about Vegetable Gardening Tips
Soy Sauce
There are two main types of soy sauce: light and dark soy sauce. Light soy sauce is lighter in color and is mainly used on the cooking process as it is saltier.
On the other hand, the dark soy sauce is usually used for marinating the meat and it is darker in color. The texture is thicker than the light sauce.
Other Stir Fry Recipes
Check out my other recipes
Leave a comment
Thank you for visiting Delicious Vegetable Stir Fry Recipes. I'd love to hear about your favorite vegetable stir fry moment. Do you cook stir fry at home? What's your favorite stir fry meal?
Image Copyright: Thank You Animated Gif was taken from Free Web Images & Clipart
-
Reply
-
TheLifestyleChanger
Feb 10, 2012 @ 8:21 am | delete
- Delish!
-
-
Reply
-
blanckj
Sep 1, 2011 @ 6:46 am | delete
- These recipes look very yummy. Thanks for sharing.
-
-
Reply
-
RecipePublishing
Jul 24, 2011 @ 1:09 am | delete
- Wow, what a treat!
-
-
Reply
-
bkarsono
May 12, 2011 @ 9:45 pm | delete
- Yummy. Sedaaaap euy, Jadi lapar liat kangkung. I stir fry a lot of things...even pineapple, Try it...LOL. Thanks again.
P.S. Ajaarin dong buat lens yg berwarna-warni. Makasih ya...
-
-
Reply
-
Coe
Mar 11, 2011 @ 4:21 pm | delete
- These recipes look delicious. Thanks for sharing!
-
- Load More
by deyani
Quick Easy Yummy Tasty Delicious Vegetable Stir Fry Recipes for the whole family.
Cooking is my passion, I love cooking delicious food for my family...
more »
- 150 featured lenses
- Top lens » Best Korean Drama 2011
Explore related pages
- Healthy Vegetarian Recipes - Celery Soup Healthy Vegetarian Recipes - Celery Soup
- Healthy College Food Healthy College Food
- Minestrone Soup Recipe Minestrone Soup Recipe
- Healthy Vegetarian Recipes - Spicy Leek And Potato Soup Healthy Vegetarian Recipes - Spicy Leek And Potato Soup
- Healthy Vegetarian Recipes - Potato And Cauliflower Curry Healthy Vegetarian Recipes - Potato And Cauliflower Curry
- Easy Spinach Recipes Easy Spinach Recipes
