Spice up your stir-fry

Some tips for the kitchen

Stir-fry is one meal I often recommend to my patients to include in their meal planning as it is the  best way to get plenty of vegetables in your diet plus many stores sell ready

made fresh stir-fry mixes ( I buy mine from food lovers) making it a quick and convenient meal as well. It also includes a great balance of good quality foods that provide you with the carbohydrates, protein and heart healthy fats that you body needs

I recently made a stir-fry with mango (pictured above) and served with quinoa instead of noodles or rice.

Stir-fry can become quote boring if done the same way over and over again each week so I have come up with a few ideas to spice up your stir-frys

1. Add some fruit Whilst stir- fries mainly include vegetables, there is no reason why you can’t include fruit too. I recently prepared a chicken stir-fry which included mango to add a bit of sweetness to your mix. You can also add segments of orange or even add a small amount of 100% orange juice for sweetness. Pineapple chunks can be used to create a Hawaiian stir-fry

2. Add some crunch Nuts especially cashews make a great addition to a stir-fry and help by ensuring you get your daily dose of healthy fats. Sesame seeds as well as sunflower seeds can also be added. A great idea is to coat your meat such as beef or chicken in the sesame seeds and then fry. 

3. Spices and herbs Recently I started adding fresh chopped up ginger to my stir-fries and it creates great flavour. Other great spices or herbs to include are lemongrass, basil, mint or cinnamon, five spice, curry powder or coriander.

4. Veg it up The most common vegetables used in stir-fry include cabbage, broccoli,   carrot, mushrooms, and onions and pepper however the options for stir-fry are endless. Why not try vegetables such as celery, sugar snap peas, asparagus, green beans, bean sprouts and spinach

Not even sure where to start, Cook smarts has a great resource on cooking stir-fries which can be found here

http://www.cooksmarts.com/articles/guide-to-stir-frying/