Wok Star Eleanor Hoh

Be a Wok Star!

"one dish meals"

Secret to Stir Fry Noodles That Don't Stick

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Everyone loves stir fried noodles but not when they stick to your wok.  My simple rules will guarantee NO-stick noodles if you use a well seasoned cast iron wok.  I must confess I was always intimidated frying noodles especially after watching my mom and then my sister fry them so expertly.  They did use a LOT of oil but after experimenting a few times, I realized you don’t have to use a ton of oil if you use my technique. You don’t even need to visit an Asian market for any of the ingredients I used in this noodle dish.

Please don’t make this in front of guests till you’ve experimented on your own, less pressure and you’ll be able to think clearly. You’ll notice I was making this for a dinner party with an appetizer of Egg Drop Soup and Apple Galette for dessert. I’ll share those dishes in another post.

HERE’S THE 101 FOR NO-STICK NOODLES…Once you understand the WHY, it’ll be a breeze.

About your wok…
If you are a new Wok Star…don’t make this dish for at least a month till you’ve built up enough patina when your cast iron wok becomes glossy and slick. The MORE YOU USE YOUR WOK, the BETTER the PATINA. If you don’t have a wok, use a wide stainless steel pan but you WILL need to use a lot more oil and I cannot guarantee they won’t stick. This is why I put together a KIT to eliminate all those issues of sticking, it’s not just the wok, you need the heat and then the technique which I’ll share below.

About the heat..
It’s vital to use high heat especially when cooking noodles, otherwise they will stick. If you have an electric stove, good luck. 

About the noodles…
If you can’t find Asian noodles in your local supermarket’s Ethnic section, just get thin Italian egg noodles which work FINE! You do know that the Italians learned how to make pasta from the Chinese, right? See technique below. The trick is to get the noodles as dry as possible so they DON’T stick and use OIL in the boiling water to keep them separated while cooking AND add oil while they’re drying as well as when frying of course. Same concept as stir frying vegetables and meat.

Technique for NO-stick noodles…

  1. Boil noodles in the morning if using for dinner. Keep them Al Dente, if too soft, all the starch comes out and that’s what makes them stick to wok!    
  2. BIG TIP: squeeze in a few drops of oil (avocado or olive oil) into the water, this prevents them sticking. Use chopsticks and separate the noodles while they are boiling.
  3. Drain really well, wet noodles are another reason for noodles sticking to your wok. Sprinkle toasted sesame oil and make sure oil is covering all the noodles well, use chopsticks and separate them.
  4. Use kitchen cloth towel and cover noodles to prevent from drying out till you’re ready to use.

Note: you can use just one kind of meat or seafood to keep it simple. You can also just slice the pork and stir fry instead of grilling. My reason for grilling was I wanted to make it like Char Siu (Chinese roast pork.)

Ingredients:
1 head Bok Choy (sub with Broccoli, Broccolini, Cabbage, Baby Boy Choy, Kale, endless choices) cut into diagonals
1 bag multi colored mini sweet peppers (sub with bell peppers, carrots, golden beet)
4-5 scallions, cut into diagonals, green and white
1 big bunch cilantro
1 thumb size ginger, shredded or thwacked
4-5 cloves garlic, diced or thwacked

1 pound shelled, deveined, shrimp (31-40 count)
2 big pork shoulder or spare rib chops

Avocado oil
Toasted sesame oil (NEVER use for high heat cooking please! It’s not stable and become carcinogenic!) 

You know the drill…
Seasonings
TSPC: for marinading shrimp and pork if you are stir frying
Tamari
Sherry
Pepper (white ground)
Cornstarch

Next…
slice grilled pork into bite size pieces

You know the drill…
Heat wok, add oil, add garlic and ginger…
Fry Vegetables – Bok Choy and Mini Sweet Peppers, scallions, sprinkle Tamari and sherry, plate

Heat wok, add oil, add garlic and ginger…
Fry Shrimp – add to plate of vegetables

Heat wok till you see first whisp of smoke, add 4 rounds of oil and let it heat a little before adding noodles…
Fry Noodles – sprinkle a little Tamari and keep tossing the noodles. Since they are well oiled from both boiling and dry AND in the wok, you should be guaranteed NO-sticking!  Taste and adjust flavor, add in vegetables, shrimp and pork and keep tossing till all warmed through. 

Dish onto big platter, boom, done! 

ENJOY! Would love to hear how your NO-stick noodles turned out and what subs or combos you used?

Keep it simple with only Bok Choy & Multi Mini Sweet Peppers. Always have scallions, cilantro for garnish.
Line up everything so you’re ready to FRY!
Fry everything separately!
TA DA! Final presentation.

Stuffed Squash a la Wok Star Style

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The three elements to delicious food are flavor, texture, color in that order and this Stuffed Squash a la Wok Star style is the perfect dish! Impress your friends with this dish…
Stuffed Squash go with anything! Yummy with these bacon wrapped scallops.
TECHNIQUE IS KEY…
So, I wanted to do a festive dish for the holidays and of course squash came to mind. I love the orange color of the squash and lends itself to so many different ways of preparing it. I immediately surf the net for how to make a stuffed squash, my go to site is The Kitchn, I love this site, it’s all about technique.
If you’ve read my blogs, you’ll know I don’t follow, use or teach recipes. Cooking for me has always been about creating a dish from scratch and building on those three elements I mentioned. Recipes are good for inspiration, possibly ingredient combinations and new flavors. Technique for me is the most important element to cooking.
SHAPE YOUR BRAIN TO COOK…
Last night as I was cooking, I was listening to a TED Talk by Dr. Lara Boyd, her talk solidified my philosophy totally!  She described how neuroplasticity gives you the power to shape the brain you want! This means, the more you do something, the easier it becomes and you’re exercising your brain.  I found this so fascinating because it’s what I’ve been promoting all these years. If you keep training your brain to create a dish, you’d be amazed what dishes you come up with. It’s also a lot of fun because you come up with something new every time, no repeats.
TIPS FOR ROASTING SQUASH…
I find out you have to roast the squash first BEFORE you put your stuffing in. I wanted my stuffing to still have crunchiness and colors, so naturally, stir frying them is the answer!  I find when you roast vegetables, the colors are more grey and dull. Do you see where I’m going with this? Don’t just follow a recipe blind and do everything they say.
A good example of this is most Chinese recipes will ask you to make a ‘flurry’, a mix of cornstarch and water to give your dish a nice glaze but I find it’s just one extra step, so I include the cornstarch when I make sauce. Ta Da, eliminated a step.
USE RIGHT CHEESE…
A mistake I made was using hard goat cheese. My husband uses goat cheese in our omelets and it melts beautifully but it didn’t melt as well in this dish.  I suspect the heat wasn’t hot enough, only 350.  Use cheese like cheddar, Parmesan or any sharp cheese.
VERSATILE DISH…
You can make it totally vegetarian or even vegan and leave out the cheese. It’s a great side dish to go with anything! Add meat to it and you’ve got a one dish meal. If served as a main, you will need a half per person.
You can use whatever vegetables you have lying around but try and get a contrasting color in there to make it pop. Even leftover roast potatoes or rice.
I loved putting together the stuffing for this dish because I had many ingredients I thought would be perfect.
celery for color and texture
chestnuts for festive component
mushrooms for flavor
cooked quinoa for texture, protein and good for you
multi colored bell peppers for color
cilantro for color and flavor
WokStar-StuffedSquash-collage
HERE’S HOW TO DO THIS STUFFED SQUASH…
1. Cut squash in half, swish a little olive oil, salt and pepper on the inside. Place on baking tray and roast at 350 for 45 mins. – 1 hour depending on how big your squash is. Give a little fork test to see if it’s soft enough.
2. Chop all your vegetables and leave on chopping board. Grate your cheddar cheese ready
3. Stir fry chopped vegetables with usual, grape seed oil, garlic and ginger, dash of tamari and sherry, I added Flavor God’s dry rub, Everything Seasoning, you can add dried herbs but not both, too much.

4.  Remove squash and crank up to 425.  Fill squash with chopped stir fried vegetables, add cheese on top and return to oven. Squash is ready when cheese has melted and smells amazing in there! You’re welcome.

I found half was way too much to eat in one dinner, so you might want to even only have a quarter of it. I cheated and grilled some bacon wrapped scallops to go with it, yummy!
There you have it, looks colorful and festive!  Stuffed Squash Good a la Wok Star Style! It’s a great dish to serve as a side or a main when you have guests for dinner.
Here are some other festive dishes for the Holidays to try…
Wok Charred Brussels Sprouts
Ginger Honey Brussels Sprouts
Grilled Duck with Stir Fried Brussels Sprouts

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

WokStar-StuffedSquash-redplate
Stuffed Squash a la Wok Star Style!

Easy Weeknight Soup Made in a Wok

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If you’re stumped with what to make for dinner on a cold, balmy night, this easy, weeknight soup made in a wok came together in less than 30 minutes!  Stir frying your veggies and meat give them flavor, texture and retains the bright colors.  Get the scoop below how to make soup in your wok…
Wok-Beef-Soup
I purposely took a photo of the clock on my stove so you can witness the time lapse! The actual frying and cooking time took 15 minutes, the washing and chopping 10 minutes. Total, 25 minutes! The only caveat is for new Wok Stars, it’s not a good idea to use your new wok to make this dish till you’ve built up some patina in your cast iron wok.
For this meal, I used Strauss organic ground beef from Publix, it was very good.  Because beef is for a soup, I fried in one batch.  The veggies were mostly leftovers from my cooking class, zucchini, yellow squash and bell peppers. You can sub out any kind of meat or veggies you have in the fridge.
By the time my hubby got home and cleaned up, the soup was on the table, he couldn’t believe it was so fast but was so happy. This is one of his favorite meals, so win win!
Here’s how I did it, Wok Stars, you know the drill…

  1.  Fry your veggies with garlic and ginger in some grape seed oil, and sprinkle tamari and sherry, set aside.
  2.  Fry beef (no marinade needed), add veggies back in.
  3.  Add chicken broth to cover, I use fish sauce instead of salt to give it a umami flavor then added Flavorgod Everything Seasoning Spicy but you can use any of your favorite spice seasoning to give this broth some oompf!

For more soup ideas, try this super fast shrimp and bok choy soup or turnip and pork soup which takes a bit longer.  Enjoy!
Share some soups you’ve made in your wok from your part of the world!