technique

Why Grill and Stir Fry in one Dinner? This simple weeknight dinner idea will make you a rock star! Grilling a batch of protein is a very efficient way to produce many meals and while your meat is grilling, you can fry up a medley of vegetables. This is one of my favorite weeknight dinners, simple and stress free and done in 1/2 an hour.

Grilled Pork Belly, rapini with shimeji mushrooms, Chinese Eggplant using Glazing Technique, grilled turnip.

GRILLING VS ROASTING

My preference is grilling rather than roasting. I like the texture better, meat is crispy outside and tender inside and colors come out so much brighter. Grilling uses same technique as stir frying, high heat seals in the flavors and retains the colors.

WokStar-EleanorHoh-grill-porkbelly — Grilled pork belly using a variety of World Spice Seasonings

MIX EAST AND WEST

It’s so easy to stir fry whatever vegetables I find in my fridge. Stir frying isn’t just for an Asian dinner, you can fry veggies to go with western style grilled meats, it’s nice to mix and match east and west! There are no boundaries when it comes to cooking and you’ll be surprised at how well this works, try it.

GRILLING IDEAS:

1. big joints of meat will last many meals!
2. salmon, pork shoulder (one of my favs), pork belly, leg of lamb, organic chicken thighs, skirt steak, tofu, etc.
3. cut in different ways: chunks for lunch, strips if I use in a stir fry and slices for dinner.
4. bring for lunch to work with a salad, you’ll be the envy of your colleagues.

BEST SEASONINGS FOR GRILLING MEAT?

I find dry spice rubs work best as wet marinades tend to make meat tough and chewy (same with stir frying meat.)

My current favorite spice rub!

Indian Garam Masala, Rooster Spice, Indonesian Ayam & Yucatan Rojo BBQ Rub from World Spice. (very fresh & flavorful)

STEP BY STEP

1) while broiler is heating up
2) rinse meat under cold water, pat very dry with paper towels (if wet, will render meat tough & chewy, same for a stir fry!)
3) slather avocado oil on meat
4) sprinkle celtic sea salt and spice rub to cover meat completely on both sides
5) zing under broiler on top rack close to the heat with door OPEN! Many didn’t know NOT to close the door, you’ll be steaming it and won’t have grilled results. Unless meat touches the grill rack, then move down one shelf

SIMPLE RULES TO GRILLING

1. You will smell the incredible aromas from meat grilling, usually in about 10 minutes.

2. When the first side gets nice and toasty with crispy edges, flip it over. Second side won’t take as long and also depends how thick the cut is. When golden and slightly crispy round edges, stick a fork or steel skewer in the thickest part to test if done. If there’s blood running, it’s still a bit rare so I switch the heat off and let it sit under the broiler. If you cook till there’s no blood, it’s overdone, cause meat continues cooking.

3. Stir fry your veggies while meat is grilling. See below for veggie combinations and how to do it!

4. Let the meat rest about 5 minutes before carving and digging in, ENJOY!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is WokStar-roastduck-veggies.jpg

Looking for more ideas…
4th of July, Spicy BBQ Hoisin Spare Ribs
Grilled Hoisin Pork Chop with 3 different veggie sides
Grilled salmon and stir fry bok choy
Grilled Swordfish with stir fry zucchini

Blanching in a wok is the fastest, easiest method to cook vegetables that have hard stems and when you have a lot of them! A wok is a perfect vessel, it has a wide opening and deep reservoir to hold the water and quantity of vegetables. Alternatively, use a wide deep pot if you don’t have a wok.

I learned this wonderful technique from my mom when she had to cook for seven of us in the family. Even though there’s just my husband and I, I use leftovers for lunch or for the following night’s dinner! So, when my virtual Let’s Lunch theme challenge called for a three ingredient post, blanching came to mind immediately!

Add your fav dressing or make your own vinaigrette!

Vegetables that work really well are broccolini, broccolette, broccoli incl. Chinese variety, brussel sprouts, bok choy, mustard greens, asparagus, swiss chard. Actually, leafy greens like curly kale, spinach do well too, you just have to remember blanching cooks triple fast and leafy greens shrink a lot, so you need to do them in batches to get the quantity you need.
Ingredients:

2 large handfuls of broccolini
few squirts of olive oil
salad dressing of your choice (I used store bought French vinaigrette but usually my own homemade vinaigrette)

How to do it…
1) Boil water in wok till rolling boiling, put a wok lid on.
2) Add few squirts of olive oil. Best trick to keep vegetables from turning grey.
3) Use fork to test stem for doneness how you like them, I like mine pretty crunchy
4) Empty wok of broccolini into colander, either run under cold water or put in an ice bath to stop from cooking
5) Squirt dressing all over, serve with whatever dinner.

Broccolini served with grilled lamb chop, roast bell peppers and my homemade baby cue kimchi

My Broccolini got featured in Tasting Table’s newsletter for a Spring stir fry last week, another take on blanching with a stir fry thrown in, that’s how Wok Stars roll.

Tasting Table Miami featured my Broccolini in a Spring Stir Fry!

Let’s Lunch is a virtual themed lunch from food bloggers all over the world! Join by posting a comment below or on Twitter using #LetsLunch. There’s also a private Facebook group where we hang out. Check #LetsLunch posts below for other easy 3 ingredient yummies…
Gluten Free Almond Cookies at The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook
Mango Coconut Chia Pudding at HapaMama
Trinidadian Mango Chow at Spicebox Travels
Filipino Sticky Rice Logs at Asian in America
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies at Hot Curries and Cold Beer
Chicken and Dumplings at A Cook and Her Books (use Pamela’s Artisan Blend in place of AP flour for gluten free)
Turkish Sesame Sweet at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Roasted Asparagus at Glass of Fancy
Mac and Cheese and Peanut Butter Cookies at Tea and Scones (use Bionaturae pasta for gluten free)
3 Ingredient Broccolini at Be a Wok Star