kerravonsen | Stir-Fry

I felt like rambling about my favourite easy-to-prepare meal for one person: my one-pan stir-fry. It isn't so much a recipe as a template, where things can be substituted. It makes enough for 2-3 meals for one person. Not because I always want to cook in bulk, but basically because predefined packet sizes lead towards that amount of food. This is NOT a "from scratch" stir-fry. Doing that is just not worthwhile for a single person. This has a number of short-cuts in it.

If you say "it is a waste of money to buy pre-prepared food", consider that in a single-person household,

it is more wasteful to buy a half cabbage and throw half of it away
the motivation to cook healthy food is much lower, so anything which helps that is good
I'm creating jobs!

If you say "it is lazy to buy pre-prepared food", then I invite you stop being a hypocrite, quit your job, take up farming, and harvest your own damn cabbages.

Equipment:

A large deep-sided pan. With a lid. Normal depth of pan ensures you will spill food over the side.
A large spatula. (If the pan is non-stick, don't forget the spatula needs to be non-stick-safe)
A large bowl from which to eat the stir-fry. Not a measly cereal bowl, but a deep bowl of the kind in which Asian food is served. Or a plate, I suppose.
A fork or spoon or chopsticks with which to eat your meal.
- Or all of the above.

Ingredients Template:

400-500g meat
200-300g packet of coleslaw mix (not coleslaw, just the vegetables, mainly shredded cabbage)
other vegetables
1 pouch of pre-cooked rice (I use brown rice, but other types are fine)
Soy sauce
other sauces
herbs/spices
garnishes (if you want to go the effort)
preferred cooking oil (I use olive oil)

Options for Meat:

I usually go for one of these:

Beef, pre-cut in stir-fry strips
- Diced should work too, but I haven't tried it
Kangaroo, pre-cut in stir-fry strips (yes, I'm in Australia, we eat Kangaroo)
Chicken breast chunks
Large (425g) tin of Tuna
Pre-cooked chicken left over from the previous demolishment of a chicken from an earlier meal. Chopped, if need be.

I haven't tried other meats, but that doesn't mean things like diced pork or lamb wouldn't work. Tofu is another option, but I have zero information about cooking with that. You're on your own there.

Options for Vegetables:

These are by no means exclusive, just suggestions.

Can-eat-raw vegetables:

the coleslaw mix (obviously)
shredded carrot
Snow Peas (aka Mange Tout)
Sugar-snap peas
Kale
Capsicum
Cashews, peanuts, almonds (good with chicken)

Some people like eating mushrooms raw, so they could be on that list. I don't.

Other vegetables:

Onions
Mushrooms
- I tend not to use these with fish, though.
Corn
Peas
Green beans
Broccoli

Corn, peas, green beans, and onions are good from frozen, too.

Garnishes:

Bean sprouts
Parsley
Spring Onion
Chives
Wood Sorrel/Oxalis leaves (good with fish)

Options for Herbs/Spices/Sauces:

Again, these are just suggestions.

Good to add to cooking meat:

Garlic
Ginger
Chilli
Worcestershire Sauce (good with red meat)
Plum sauce (with red meat)
Black Bean sauce (red meat)

Add later:

Any herbs you like
Dill is good with fish
As is lemongrass
Tarragon is good with mushrooms

Add after cooking:

MORE soy sauce?
Lemon Juice (good with fish)
Vinegar (good with fish)

Cooking Template:

Splash the pan with oil.
If you are cooking raw meat, put that in first, along with any flavourings which do well being added while the meat is cooking.
- If you are cooking red meat, brown it, but don't cook it all the way through, or it will get tough.
- Chicken is more forgiving in that regard
- I have no advice about cooking pork
If you are cooking onions, put that in next.
If you are using frozen vegetables, that goes in next.
If you are using pre-cooked/tinnned meat, that goes in next.
Put in any remaining flavourings.
If you are using mushrooms, put them in. Lower the heat, put the lid on, and let it steam for a bit. Unless you like your mushrooms hardly-cooked, in which case, put them in at the next step.
Now the can-eat-raw vegetables. This includes the coleslaw mix. Lower the heat, put the lid on, and let it steam for a bit. But not too much. These vegetables are easy to overcook.
Stir everything up again. Increase the heat a bit.
Add the pre-cooked rice. Splash on a generous amount of soy sauce, so that the rice will end up tinted brown.
Use the spatula to turn everything upside-down, so that most of the rice is on the bottom of the pan, so that it can heat up quickly.
Serve in a bowl. Add optional garnishes/sauces.

I hope that's been helpful for at least some of you.

Stir-Fry