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cast iron wok

Wok Picadillo

April 27, 2012 By Eleanor Hoh 46 Comments

I was thrilled to get contacted by Associated Press’ Food Editor, J.M. Hirsch to write an article,  “Asian techniques meet Hispanic ingredients”, which got picked up by many news sites around the world including Taiwan and Trinidad!  My local newspaper, Miami Herald picked this up and did a huge feature story and included 2 more dishes!  It all started on Facebook with a request to find out what spices and ingredients were significant in Hispanic cooking!  Whoosh, an avalanche erupted, I love how social media connects people, so join in the conversation.
What a coincidence my Wok Picadillo goes with this month’s theme, Cross Cultural dishes for #LetsLunch.  A fusion mashup using my technique to ‘season’ the ground beef like I would a stir fry but keeping the olives and raisins for a Hispanic touch. There’s so many interesting similarities between Asian and Hispanic dishes like Paella and Fried Rice or Peruvian Chifa.  I’m constantly encouraging people to use their woks for other styles of cooking or even toasting nuts and spices.

Do visit my #LetsLunch buddies posts below for their take on Cross Cultural dishes. And if you’d like to join, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #Letslunch — or, post a comment below.  Thanks as always to A Tiger in the Kitchen and Cowgirl Chef who started this, connecting us from all walks of life and sharing our food.   Congratulations to Ellise Pierce of Cowgirl Chef with her new cookbook: Texas Cooking with a French Accent, how cool. You can preorder here!


This Cuban Wok Picadillo uses my same cooking process for a stir fry. Many Hispanic students love this approach, you can even see a video of them talking about it here. I learned to use the term “seasoning” instead of “marinading” because I don’t use a ton of liquid to soak my meat like a western marinade, try it you’ll really notice a difference in the texture of your meat!
Do get an rss feed or subscribe to my newsletter in right sidebar because I tend to make revisions to a post after it’s published.  I’ll be experimenting a lot more with adapting other styles of cooking in a wok including my mom’s banana fritters!
Wok Baked Tortilla Omelet and Wok Fajitas (posting soon) are 2 more Hispanic dishes I’ve adapted in my wok, enjoy.
I’d love to hear what Hispanic dishes work well you’ve made in your wok?

WOK PICADILLO

Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
1 tablespoon tamari or good (MSG-free) soy sauce
1 teaspoon medium drinking sherry
2 pinches white pepper
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
1 pound 90 percent lean ground beef
1 tablespoon canola or other high-heat oil, divided
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 medium green bell pepper, cored and finely chopped
1/2 medium red bell pepper, cored and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 roma tomatoes, finely chopped
1/4 cup diced green olives with pimentos
1/4 cup raisins
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
Juice of 1 lime
Sprigs of fresh cilantro, mint or parsley, to serve

In a medium bowl, whisk together the tamari, sherry, cornstarch and white pepper. Add the ground beef and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Set aside.
Set your wok over high and let heat for 1 minute. Add 1/2 tablespoon of the oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and both bell peppers. As soon as they hit the wok, immediately stir them around the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the onions and peppers are just barely cooked and still firm and colorful.
Transfer the vegetables to a plate. Use paper towels to dry the wok, then return it to the heat.
When the wok is hot again, add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic first, then immediately add the ground beef.
Use the back of the spatula to spread the beef across the wok as if frying a wide burger. Let the meat sear on one side until golden brown. This gives your meat a crispy exterior with juicy interior. You can test for doneness by flipping beef in the center of your wok where the heat is the hottest. If it is golden brown, flip all the beef and start breaking it up with your spatula.
Once the beef is just cooked (when you don’t see any red, about 7 minutes), return the onion-pepper mixture to the pan. Add the tomatoes, olives, raisins, cumin, oregano and paprika. Mix well, then reduce heat to medium and fry for 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice.
Serve spooned over rice and topped with fresh cilantro, mint or parsley.
Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 340 calories; 160 calories from fat (47 percent of total calories); 17 g fat (5 g saturated; 0.5 g trans fats); 75 mg cholesterol; 19 g carbohydrate; 25 g protein; 3 g fiber; 670 mg sodium.


It’s always fun hopping to these blogs to peek at what everyone else cooked up!  Plse come back as I update this list.
Emma‘s Kimchi Bulgogi Nachos at Dreaming of Pots And Pans
Grace‘s Taiwanese Fried Chicken at HapaMama
Jill‘s Southern Pimento-Stuffed Knishes at Eating My Words
Joe‘s Grilled KimCheese Sandwich at Joe Yonan
Linda‘s Project Runway Pelau: Rice & Beans Trinidad-Style at Spicebox Travels
Lisa‘s Sunday Night Jewish-Chinese Brisket at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lucy‘s Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango at A Cook And Her Books
Nancie‘s Chili-Cheese Biscuits with Avocado Butter at Nancie McDermott
Rashda‘s Mango Cobbler at Hot Curries & Cold Beer
Renee‘s Asian-Spiced Quick Pickles at My Kitchen And I
Steff‘s Chicken Fried Steak at The Kitchen Trials
Vivian‘s Funky Fusion Linguini at Vivian Pei
 

Filed Under: #LetsLunch, cast iron wok, Hispanic, stir fry Tagged With: #LetsLunch, cast iron wok, Hispanic cooking, Picadillo, stir fry

How to: Fry Eggs in your Wok

April 6, 2012 By Eleanor Hoh 24 Comments

When it comes to eggs, your cast iron wok is the best pan for doing it!  You can never run out of ways to cook them and then there are infinite more ways to eat them on top of, with and inside something!  
I’m constantly asked how I get my fried egg yolks so bright, beautiful and round. Here are a few tricks which I’ll share with you…
Use a wok, the dip in the wok keeps the yolk intact and round!
Use an efficient source of heat which means gas, it’s all about controlling the heat on a whim.
Use oil that withstands high heat: avocado oil, ghee, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil.
Let the egg cook till it naturally ‘releases’ from the wok.  If you keep poking or moving it, it will stick. Same technique with making omelets or for frying meat for that matter.
I slather some sort of chili sauce around the yolk or on top of the omelet like Lingham’s chili sauce or sriracha, it makes everything taste good.

‘park’ egg on side while heating up leftover Pad Thai!
WokFriedEgg
Different techniques: hubby spoons oil over the egg to cook it, while I use lower heat.

FRIED EGG:
1. Heat your cast iron wok or pan (please no non-stick) to medium heat, add oil so it drizzles down the sides and coat the sides so the egg doesn’t stick!
2. Crack your egg into the oil and push out the whites with your spatula. This way the whites cook quicker in a thin layer instead of bunched around the yolk.  I like my fried egg sunny side up with slightly crispy edges.  Be patient and you’ll be rewarded with a bright colored yolk.

Park warmed Jerky Pork on side while cooking omelet in wok. Use leftovers to add element of surprise in your omelet!
OmeletinWok
Park mini sweet peppers on side and cook omelet in wok. If you want cheese, add them in before you do the fold over.

OMELETS:
1. Crack your eggs (3-4) in a bowl.
2. Add chopped scallions, salt and pepper.
3. If you have fillings which can be leftover veggies or meat, warm them up a little first, no oil is necessary and park them on the side of the wok (see photos below.)
4. Add oil, then pour in the egg mixture, swirl around wok to widen the surface area. Turn heat down a little so bottom doesn’t burn before you’ve had a chance to cook the eggs.  The bottom will release from the edge when you slide your spatula under omelet. When you flip over your omelet, there’ll be uncooked egg swirling, don’t panic, slide the cooked part up sides of the wok. You’ll get the hang of this with practice.  Let the eggs cook a little, add your fillings in especially small chunks of cheese before folding over the omelet.
Here are more ways I’ve enjoyed my egg…

veggie omelet
double fried eggs
egg in a parathawich
cheese omelet
Jerky Pork Cilantro omelet
Fried egg on banana pancake
egg on flaky paratha
Goat cheese omelet
Quail eggs salad
Fried egg with Pad Thai
Red Light Restaurant’s Bacon, Spinach Salad with poached egg
Area 31’s poached eggm oyster mushrooms, faro, collard greens, mamey and smoked bread

 

Char Quai Teow with Jerk Pork

In Asia, it’s quite common to add egg to noodle dishes as in Quai Teow with Pork Jerky or How to Make Malaysian Street Food, Char Kuey Teow in your Wok, you’ll love it!

Do visit my #LetsLunch buddies posts below for their take on Chicken or the Egg theme this month. And if you’d like to join, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #Letslunch — or, post a comment below.
– Charissa‘s Gluten-Free Leek, Ham & Pecorino Souffles at Zest Bakery
– Denise‘s Beet Dye & Pink Deviled Eggs at Chez Us
– Emma‘s Eggs In A Hole at Dreaming of Pots & Pans
– Felicia‘s Perfect Sandwich at Burnt-Out Baker
– Grace‘s Scrambled Eggs & Tomatoes at HapaMama
– Joe‘s Kim-Chi Deviled Eggs at Joe Yonan
– Karen‘s Molecular Gastronomy “Eggs” at GeoFooding
– Linda‘s Home-made Cadbury Eggs (Maple Chocolate Eggs) at Free Range Cookies
– Linda‘s Taiwanese Tomato Eggs at Spicebox Travels
– Lisa‘s Legendary Egg & Onion at Monday Morning Cooking Club
– Lucy‘s Old-Fashioned Boiled Dressing (& Chicken Salad) at A Cook And Her Books
– Nancie‘s Son-In-Law Eggs at Nancie McDermott
– Rashda‘s Bombay Toasts (Spicy French Toasts) at Hot Curries And Cold Beer
– Vivian‘s Oeuf Chaud Froid at Vivian Pei

Filed Under: #LetsLunch, cast iron wok, egg, wok cooking Tagged With: "fried egg", "how to", #LetsLunch, Breakfast, cast iron wok, eggs, omelet, wok cooking

Curry Yoki Salmon with Salad (Wok Star series 2.0)

February 11, 2012 By Eleanor Hoh 10 Comments

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Filed Under: cast iron wok, curry, myspicesage, salad, salmon, stir fry Tagged With: cast iron wok, curry, salmon

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