Finishing Touches

One of my favourite family meals is a stir fry. I don't have a favourite recipe because I am always digging around in the fridge trying to use up the leftover veggies, or I'll get a craving for a certain vegetable, buy loads of it and then figure out how the rest of the family will stand eating it in copious amounts (I have had a taste for mushrooms lately).

I think I have stated in a fair few of my posts that I don't believe it hiding vegetables from the kids, instead I like to mix them with foodie bits I know they will like and it also means I won't get "Oh,this is disgusting" when they first lay eyes on the prepared meal (I learnt this when Max was going through his 'everything is DISGUSTING' phase, a word you really don't want to hear when you have just spend 20 minutes in the kitchen after a long hard day at work!)

Everyone in my family loves eggs cooked every way except scrambled so my good old fall back when it comes to sprucing up a stir fry is to make a three egg omelet. I'll always add fresh herbs (like basil, coriander or parsley) fish sauce and fresh garlic. Always make sure you have a hot wok, add a little bit of oil (2 tablespoons) and then cook your eggs really quickly. I never cook them all the way through because you don't want the omelet to be rubbery. Once they are almost done, flip the omelet over turn off the heat and slide it onto a paper towel to cool while you make your stir fry.
When it comes to serving, I cut the omelet into strips and pop it on top so it looks quite impressive.

Another taste sensation I tried out last week was quickly roasting cashew nuts in Chinese 5 spice with chili flakes. Again, just before I cooked the stir fry, I heated up about a 1/4 cup of peanut oil in the wok, lightly warmed the oil then added the cashews, once they were turning golden I added some fresh garlic slices then quickly strained off the oil, doused the nuts in 5 spice, chili flakes and salt then let them cool.
I find I can get away with adding dried chili flakes to nuts without the kids being to concerned about the spice because they are mixed in with all the other flavours.

My average veggie stir fry just got really interesting and was gobbled down in record speed. I didn't however manage to get away with excessive amounts of mushrooms but I did notice they ate more than usual, so win/win for me!