Wok

I purchased an electric wok about two months ago, but for various reasons I haven't had a chance to use it until this week. Before cooking a 'real' meal with the wok, I decided to have a practice run, heating up the leftovers of what was supposed to be a variant of Lancashire HotPot.

I read a fair amount about cooking with woks, and have developed the following rules:

1. Heat the wok as hot as possible, so that oil placed within begins to smoke
2. Cut the food to be cooked into small pieces so that it cooks quickly
3. Put the food into the wok in the order of how long each item takes to cook- ie put the item which needs the longest time first
4. Prepare everything before beginning to cook. Once the first item is in the wok, there is no time to prepare anything else.
   

Bearing these rules in mind, I took the potatoes from the hot pot (which unfortunately were slightly under-cooked) and diced them prior to placing them in the wok. These went in first, and after they had turned brown, I added the rest of the hot pot. The resulting dish was probably better the second time round than it was originally.

Tonight I cooked chicken and vegetables from scratch. Taking into account the fourth rule of wok cooking, in advance, I sliced a breast of chicken into small cubes, put it in a plastic container, added breadcrumbs and ground ginger, put the top on the container, shook it vigorously for several minutes and then put it into the fridge for an hour. I then diced half a green pepper, half a red pepper, half a yellow pepper and onion, to which I added drained sliced mushrooms. The vegetables sat in a bowl until I was told that it was time to start cooking.

I poured a little canola oil into the wok and turned the heat on full. When I saw vapours beginning to rise from the wok, I poured in the chicken pieces; I allowed them to sit for about 30 seconds and then started turning them. After about five minutes, I then added the vegetables and a little more oil, all the time stirring the mixture. After about another five minutes, the food was ready to serve, along with rice which I had cooked in the time between preparing the vegetables and heating the wok.

The result was a tasty, light and clean meal. A good cook learns from experience, but I'm pleased to say that this dish went very well and leaves little to be improved. I should point out that I am trying to use Chinese cooking techniques but with variations which suit our palate. So there'll be no forbidden foods (pork, shrimp, etc), no chili peppers, no soy sauce, and so on.

What I do need is a good spatula with which to turn the food. I'm using a wooden cake spoon but it's a bit awkward. I need something flatter and wider than the spoon so that I get the spatula underneath the food being cooked.