Stir Things Up... Have Stir-Fry!

Do you eat Chinese food? It's usually always good! Most of the time when you try to recreate takeout at home, it doesn't taste quite the same. Most people have theories about why, but we won't get into them... 

I have been trying variations on stir-fry for a while, and I have finally gotten it to be almost as good as the restaurant kind. It certainly is fresher (and cheaper!), and I like to try out new veggies or meats to see how it will taste. I thought I'd share what tips and tricks I use so that you can recreate your own takeout!

This stuff isn't strictly measured; cooking is an intuitive process - it's up to the cook to decide how much or how many. But, I will give you the rough measurements I used for this recipe in particular. It serves about four.

First off, you have to get the right flavors going:

• I use hoisin sauce and soy sauce to achieve the right tang that you associate with fried rice. 
• I made 1 1/2 cups of rice and put in about a tablespoon of each sauce. 
• In another pan, I made 1 cup of diced steamed carrots, and in another I sauteed garlic and onions in butter, then cooked a chicken breast. 
• At this point, you can also add half a cup of roasted, salted peanuts - this makes them slightly translucent, like the peanuts you get in kung pao chicken. You can also add in bamboo shoots & water chestnuts, if you have them (I love water chestnuts!). 
• I chopped up a handful of snow peas, one small yellowneck squash, and one medium zucchini and threw them in. Add a quarter cup of water with 1tsp. of chicken bullion and cover. Stir occasionally until the veggies are cooked to your liking. 
• Remove chicken/veggies from saucepan and dump in the rice you just steamed. Cook it for a while until it starts to sizzle slightly, then add in the carrots and chicken/veggie mix. 
• Stir thoroughly and serve with soy sauce on the side and chow mein noodles. Enjoy!