Stir-Fry Squid with Broccoli Recipe

This stir-fry squid with broccoli recipe is supposed to duplicate the Chinese recipe I researched on the Internet. Unfortunately, we do not have rice wine on our shelf as we are not using such ingredient in our cooking. Rice wine is one of the required seasoning for this recipe. We were a bit lazy to go to the supermarket to buy one at the time. Nonetheless, having missed out one of the ingredients did not stop me from cooking this delectable dish. I replaced the rice wine with water and added cornstarch to thicken the sauce. The result was a delicious seafood-vegetable dish that is perfect for steamed rice.

So far I cannot tell the difference in taste if I had use rice wine, but I would love to test it in future. I’d like to point out though that the water is not a substitute for the rice wine in terms of taste, instead it was intended to replace the sauce that could have been produced by the rice wine.

Meanwhile, here is my recipe for the Stir-fry Squid with Broccoli.


Squid with Broccoli

Ingredients:
500 g squid, fresh
500 g broccoli, cut into small florets
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-size ginger, finely sliced
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
100ml water (as needed)
Cooking oil

Cooking Procedure:
1. Clean fresh squid. Remove ink and peel the skin. Score lightly on one side and slice to bite-size pieces.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Sauté ginger and garlic. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
3. Add soy sauce and sugar together.
4. Stir-fry the broccoli florets in the mixture for 2minutes over high heat.
5. Add water and cornstarch. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Add squid and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly.
7. Do not overcook the squid as it will turn out to be gummy.
8. Serve hot with steamed rice.

3-Kind Vegetable Stir-Fry in Oyster Sauce

A lot of parents find it difficult to make their children eat vegetables, but when I was a little kid I never gave my parents a hard time because I would always eat and finish my vegetables. Until today, I am still a veggie lover (but not a vegetarian). I would always like to have dishes with vegetables on it when dining out or make sure to incorporate vegetable servings in our weekly menu plan.

Two nights ago I prepared a dish that’s delicious and very simple to make, which involved vegetables and oyster sauce. I call it 3-Kind Vegetable Stir-Fry in Oyster Sauce. As the title suggests, I only used three types of vegetables namely: carrots, snow peas and white cabbage. Other types of vegetables can also be used like cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, bell peppers, etc. But, I stick to the three previously mentioned as I’d like to have a quickly prepared meal and within budget.


Stir-fry vegetable is always present in any Chinese restaurant menu but I cannot tell if it is solely a Chinese creation because I’ve seen the same dish exists in Thai cuisine. There is also a similar dish popular in Filipino cooking, which we adopted from Chinese, called chop suey.

Here’s the recipe for my 3-Kind Vegetable Stir-Fry in Oyster Sauce. You will like this because it is light and, as I mentioned, very simple to prepare.

Ingredients:
2 medium-sized carrots, sliced crosswise
100 grams snow peas (remove tips)
½ head cabbage, roughly sliced
½ cup oyster sauce
1 medium-sized onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Spring onions (optional)
¼ cup water (optional)
Vegetable oil


Cooking Instructions:
1. Heat oil in a wok. Sauté garlic and onion.
2. Add carrots and sauté for about 2 minutes.
3. Add oyster sauce and then follow with snow peas and cabbage. Add water if you desire. Add spring onions (optional). Stir constantly until all vegetables are cooked (bright in color). Do not over cook vegetables to maintain crispness.

Preparation and cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Serving size: 2-3 persons

Useful Info:
1. Stir-fry meals are best done using a wok over a high heat.
2. Constant stirring will allow equal distribution of the heat to vegetables and prevent over cooking.