How to make your stir fry taste like Chinese take-aways...

Sometimes I think I should open a Chinese restaurant in Sweden - I know exactly how to cook inauthentic Chinese food! Tonight's super speedy and very delicious offering was stir-fried vegetables and cashews with hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce is magic. It's rich, fruity, fermenty, and savoury all at the same time. It transformed something that was pretty much three types of cabbage (according to the Swedish definition) over nasty par-boiled rice (which somebody bought by mistake) into a very satisfying and yummy dinner.

According to my experience with inauthentic Chinese food, and various websites, the Chinese holy trinity of flavours are ginger root, sesame oil and garlic. If you have all these in a meal you are well on your way to it tasting sort of Chinese (and by Chinese, I mean "Chinese", at all times through this post). I like to slice my ginger and garlic into thin slices, so they are identifiable in the stir-fry and don't get too burnt. Other important additions are spring onions, something kind of acidic (Chinese cooking wine, or rice vinegar, or citrus in a pinch), and something salty with a depth of umami flavour (soy sauce, hoisin, black bean).

Then, for the bulk of your stir-fry, try veges like onions, capsicums, broccoli and/or cauliflower florets (and finely chopped stems), carrots sliced into coins on the bias, cabbage, green beans. My favourites are broccoli, carrots and cabbage, which we ate today with cauliflower as well. This isn't fried rice, so put away your frozen peas and corn.

For your protein, you can try Chick'n strips like the one made by Fry's. Or we just went with roasted cashews and sesame seeds. There's a reasonable amount of protein in the veg anyway if you use stuff like cauliflower and broccoli.

As for the actual stir-frying, don't overload the wok. Fry in separate batches if necessary. And fry on a high heat, stirring lots, until you've got the texture you want. Also, don't chuck in all the veg at the same time - onions take much longer to cook than garlic, and broccoli takes less time than cauliflower. Don't fry your spring onion at all - just slice finely into rings and sprinkle over at the end. And if I'm doing the Chick'n thing, I usually fry that separately.

I usually fry in a neutral oil (like canola) until everything is pretty much done, then add a splash of soya sauce, sesame oil and wine/vinegar (if using citrus, I squeeze it over once I've dished up). Once it's properly done, add your hoisin or black bean sauce, roasted nuts and/or Chick'n, and mix around. Add some chilli sauce if you're keen. Eat over rice, obviously, and sprinkle with sesame seeds and spring onion if desired.