Stir frying () is a

cooking technique This is a list of cooking techniques commonly used in cooking and food preparation. Cooking is the art of preparing food for ingestion, commonly with the application of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, refle ...

in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. The technique originated in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and the West. It is similar to

sautéing Sautéing or sauteing (, ; in reference to tossing while cooking) is a method of cooking that uses a relatively small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat. Various sauté methods exist. Description Ingredients for ...

in Western cooking technique. Scholars think that wok (or pan) frying may have been used as early as the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

(206 B.C. – 220 A.D.) for drying grain, not for cooking, but it was not until the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

(1368–1644) that the wok reached its modern shape and allowed quick cooking in hot oil. Well into the 20th century, while only restaurants and affluent families could afford the oil and fuel needed for stir fry, the most widely used cooking techniques remained boiling and steaming. Stir fry cooking came to predominate over the course of the century as more people could afford oil and fuel, and in the West spread beyond Chinese communities. Stir frying and Chinese food have been recommended as both healthy and appealing for their skillful use of vegetables, meats, and fish which are moderate in their fat content and sauces which are not overly rich, provided calories are kept at a reasonable level. The English-language term "stir-fry" was coined by

Yuen Ren Chao Yuen Ren Chao (; 3 November 1892 – 25 February 1982), also known as Zhao Yuanren, was a Chinese-American linguist, educator, scholar, poet, and composer, who contributed to the modern study of Chinese phonology and grammar. Chao was born a ...

Buwei Yang Chao Buwei Yang Chao (née Yang Buwei; ; 1889–1981) was a Chinese-American physician and writer. She was one of the first women to practice Western medicine in China. She was married to linguist Yuen Ren Chao. Life and early education Yang was born ...

's book ''

How to Cook and Eat in Chinese ''How to Cook and Eat in Chinese'' is a cookbook and introduction to Chinese cuisine and food culture by Buwei Yang Chao. It was first published in 1945, and appeared in revised and expanded editions in 1949 and 1956; the third and final edition ...

'' (1945), to describe the ''chǎo'' technique. Although using "stir-fry" as a noun is commonplace in English, in Chinese, the word 炒 (chǎo) is used as a verb or adjective only.

History

In China

The

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

"炒" is attested in inscriptions on bronze vessels from the

Eastern Zhou The Eastern Zhou (; zh, c=, p=Dōngzhōu, w=Tung1-chou1, t= ; 771–256 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the second half of the Zhou dynasty. It was divided into two periods: the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States. History In 770 ...

period (771–256 BC), but not in the sense of stir frying. Dry stirring was used in the

(206 BC 220 AD) to parch grain. Although there are no surviving records of Han dynasty stir frying, archaeological evidence of woks and the tendency to slice food thinly indicate that the technique was likely used for cooking. The term ''chao'' appears for the first time in the sense of "stir frying" in the '' Qimin Yaoshu'', a sixth-century agricultural manual, including in a

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. His ...

for

scrambled eggs Scrambled eggs is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs) stirred, whipped or beaten together while being gently heated, typically with salt, butter, oil and sometimes other ingredients. Preparation Only eggs are necessary to make scramble ...

. In sources from the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

(618–907), ''chao'' refers not to a cooking technique, but to a method for roasting tea leaves. It reappears as a cooking method in a dozen recipes from the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

(960–1279). The Song period is when the Chinese started to use

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...

for frying instead of

animal fat Animal fats and oils are lipids derived from animals: oils are liquid at room temperature, and fats are solid. Chemically, both fats and oils are composed of triglycerides. Although many animal parts and secretions may yield oil, in commerci ...

s. Until then, vegetable oil had been used chiefly in lamps. Historically, stir frying was not as important a technique as

boiling Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapour pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmosphere. Th ...

steaming Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American southwest, steam pits used for cooking ha ...

, since the oil needed for stir frying was expensive. The technique became increasingly popular in the late

(1368–1644), in part because the wood and charcoal used to fire stoves were becoming increasingly expensive near urban centers, and stir-frying could cook food quickly without wasting fuel. "The increasingly commercial nature of city life" in the late Ming and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

(1644–1912) periods also favored speedy methods. But even as stir frying became an important method in Chinese cuisine, it did not replace other cooking techniques. For instance, "only five or six of over 100 recipes recorded in the sixteenth-century novel ''

Jin Ping Mei ''Jin Ping Mei'' () — translated into English as ''The Plum in the Golden Vase'' or ''The Golden Lotus'' — is a Chinese novel of manners composed in vernacular Chinese during the latter half of the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty ...

'' are stir fry recipes and wok dishes accounted for only 16 percent of the recipes in the most famous eighteenth century recipe book, the '' Suiyuan shidan''". By the late Qing, most Chinese kitchens were equipped with a wok range (''chaozao'' 炒灶 or ''paotai zao'' 炮臺灶) convenient for stir-frying because it had a large hole in the middle to insert the bottom of a wok into the flames.

In the West

Stir frying was brought to America by early

Chinese immigrants Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, ...

, and has been used in non-Asian cuisine. The term "stir fry" as a translation for "chao" was coined in the 1945 book ''How To Cook and Eat in Chinese'', by the linguist

. The book told the reader ::Roughly speaking, ''ch'ao'' may be defined as a big-fire-shallow-fat-continual-stirring-quick-frying of cut-up material with wet seasoning. We shall call it 'stir-fry' or 'stir' for short. The nearest to this in western cooking is ''sauté''. ... Because stir-frying has such critical timing and is done so quickly, it can be called 'blitz-cooking.'" Although using the term "stir-fry" as a noun is commonplace in English, in Chinese, the word 炒 (chǎo) is used as a verb or adjective only. In the West, stir frying spread from Chinese family and restaurant kitchens into general use. One popular cookbook noted that in the "health-conscious 1970s" suddenly it seemed that "everyone was buying a wok, and stir frying remained popular because it was quick." Many families had difficulty fitting a family

dinner Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the largest and most formal meal of the day, which is eaten in the evening. Historically, the largest meal used to be eaten around midday, and called dinner. Especially among the elite ...

into their crowded schedules but found that stir-fried dishes could be prepared in as little as fifteen minutes.

Technique

Broadly speaking, there are two primary techniques: ''chao'' and ''bao''. Both techniques use high heat, but ''chao'' adds a liquid and the ingredients are softer, whereas ''bao'' stir fries are more crispy because of the

Maillard reaction The Maillard reaction ( ; ) is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor. Seared steaks, fried dumplings, cookies and other kinds of biscuits, breads, toasted marshmallows, and m ...

''Chao'' technique

The ''chao'' (炒) technique is similar to the Western technique of

. There are regional variations in the amount and type of oil, the ratio of oil to other liquids, the combinations of ingredients, the use of hot peppers, and such, but the same basic procedure is followed in all parts of the country. First the wok is heated to a high temperature, and just as or before it smokes, a small amount of cooking oil is added down the side of the wok (a traditional expression is 热锅冷油 "hot wok, cold oil") followed by dry seasonings such as

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...

scallion Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus '' Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, c ...

s, or

shallot The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the ...

s. The seasonings are tossed with a spatula until they are fragrant, then other ingredients are added, beginning with the ones taking the longest to cook, such as meat or

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...

. When the meat and vegetables are nearly cooked, combinations of

soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or '' As ...

, vinegar, wine, salt, or sugar may be added, along with thickeners such as cornstarch,

water chestnut Water chestnut may refer to either of two plants (both sometimes used in Chinese cuisine): * The Chinese water chestnut ('' Eleocharis dulcis''), eaten for its crisp corm * The water caltrop The water caltrop is any of three extant species of th ...

flour, or

arrowroot Arrowroot is a starch obtained from the rhizomes (rootstock) of several tropical plants, traditionally ''Maranta arundinacea'', but also Florida arrowroot from ''Zamia integrifolia'', and tapioca from cassava (''Manihot esculenta''), which is oft ...

. A single ingredient, especially a vegetable, may be stir-fried without the step of adding another ingredient, or two or more ingredients may be stir-fried to make a single dish. Although large leaf vegetables, such as cabbage or spinach, do not need to be cut into small pieces, for dishes which combine ingredients, they should all be cut to roughly the same size and shape.

''Wok hei''

''Wok hei'' ()

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

is based on the

Cantonese Chinese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

pronunciation of the phrase; when literally translated into English, it can be translated as "wok

thermal radiation Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation generated by the thermal motion of particles in matter. Thermal radiation is generated when heat from the movement of charges in the material (electrons and protons in common forms of matter) i ...

"Young, Grace, and Richardson, Alan, ''The Breath of a Wok'', New York: Simon & Schuster, , (2004), pp. 4, 38, 40 or, metaphorically as the "breath of the wok". The phrase "breath of a wok" is a poetic translation Grace Young first coined in her cookbook, ''The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen''. In her book, ''The Breath of a Wok'', Young further explores the ideas and concepts of ''wok hei''. An essay called "Wok Hay: The Breath of a Wok" explains how the definition of ''wok hei'' varies from cook to cook and how difficult it is to translate the term. Some define it as the "taste of the wok," a "harmony of taste," etc.: "I think of wok hay as the breath of a wok—when a wok breathes energy into a stir-fry, giving foods a unique concentrated flavor and aroma." When read in Mandarin, the second character is transliterated as '' qi'' (''ch'i'' according to its Wade-Giles romanization, so ''wok hei'' is sometimes rendered as ''wok chi'' in Western cookbooks) is the flavour,

taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...

s, and "essence" imparted by a hot wok on food during stir frying. Out of the Eight Culinary Traditions of China, wok hei is encountered the most in

Cantonese cuisine Cantonese or Guangdong cuisine, also known as Yue cuisine ( or ) is the cuisine of Guangdong province of China, particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Macau.H ...

, whereas it may not even be an accepted concept in some of the others. To impart ''wok hei'' the traditional way, the food is cooked in a seasoned wok over a high flame while being stirred and tossed quickly. The distinct taste of ''wok hei'' is partially imbued into the metal of the wok itself from previous cooking sessions and brought out again when cooking over high heat. In practical terms, the flavour imparted by chemical compounds results from

caramelization Caramelization is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting sweet nutty flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: caramelans (C24H36O18), caramelens (C36H50O25), and ca ...

s, and the partial combustion of oil that come from charring and searing of the food at very high heat in excess of . Aside from flavour, ''wok hei'' also manifests itself in the texture and smell of the cooked items.

''Bao'' technique

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the ''bao'' technique () of stir-frying on a high flame was typical of cuisine from the northern Chinese province of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

. The wok is first heated to a dull red glow over a high fire. The oil, seasonings, and meats are then added in rapid succession. The food is continually tossed, stopping only to add other ingredients such as broths, vegetables, or more seasonings. The purpose of ''bao'' is to highlight natural tastes, so minimal seasoning is added. Because of the high heat, ''bao'' is ideal for small amounts of food that cook quickly, so the juices do not flow out of the items. Meat is coated with egg white or starch in order to contain the juices. When the food is cooked it is poured and ladled out of the wok. The wok must then be quickly rinsed to prevent food residues from charring and burning to the wok bottom because of residual heat. A larger amount of cooking fat with a high smoke point, such as refined plant oils, is often used in ''bao''. The main ingredients are usually cut into smaller pieces to aid in cooking.

Effects on nutritional value

Stir frying has been promoted as generally healthy and nutritious. Writers extolled the quick cooking at high heat for retaining color, texture, and nutritional value. A study by researchers at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at

Zhejiang University Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a National university, national public university, public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigiou ...

compared the effects of boiling, steaming, and stir frying on bamboo shoots. Boiling and steaming decreased the amount of

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

, soluble sugar, ash, and total free

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha ...

s by more than one third. Stir-frying bamboo shoots increased their fat content by 528.57% due to the addition of oil, but retained more of the anti-oxidant capacities. With 78.9% retention, stir frying preserved significantly more

vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) ...

than boiling. Taking into consideration the total retention of antioxidants, the study concluded that stir frying is the method best suited for bamboo shoots. Similar results were found for stir frying red peppers. Another study from Zhejiang University examined the nutritional value of broccoli after five common cooking techniques: steaming, boiling, microwaving, stir-frying and stir-frying followed by deep frying. The study found that the two most common methods of home cooking in China, stir-frying and stir-frying combined with deep frying in

soybean oil Soybean oil (British English: soyabean oil) is a vegetable oil extracted from the seeds of the soybean (''Glycine max''). It is one of the most widely consumed cooking oils and the second most consumed vegetable oil. As a drying oil, processe ...

, resulted in a much greater loss of

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to ...

, soluble protein, soluble sugar and vitamin C. The method which affected these values the least was steaming. Stir frying for five minutes and stir frying combined with boiling caused the highest loss of

glucosinolate Glucosinolates are natural components of many pungent plants such as mustard, cabbage, and horseradish. The pungency of those plants is due to mustard oils produced from glucosinolates when the plant material is chewed, cut, or otherwise damage ...

s, which according to this study are best preserved by steaming. A study performed by the Spanish National Research Counsel stir-fried the broccoli for only three minutes and thirty seconds and found that nutritional value of these broccoli samples varied depending on which cooking oil was used. Comparing these results to an uncooked sample, the study found that phenolics and vitamin C were reduced more than glucosinolates and minerals. Stir-frying with soybean, peanut, safflower or extra virgin olive oil did not reduce glucosinolates, and broccoli stir-fried with

extra virgin olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

sunflower oil Sunflower oil is the non-volatile oil pressed from the seeds of the sunflower (''Helianthus annuus''). Sunflower oil is commonly used in food as a frying oil, and in cosmetic formulations as an emollient. Sunflower oil is primarily composed o ...

had

levels similar to uncooked

broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering head, stalk and small associated leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Broccoli is cla ...

. These levels were significantly lower with other edible

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

s. Stir frying is not without

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environm ...

s. Recent studies show that

heterocyclic amines Heterocyclic amines, also sometimes referred to as HCAs, are chemical compounds containing at least one heterocyclic ring, which by definition has atoms of at least two different elements, as well as at least one amine (nitrogen-containing) group. ...

(HCAs) and

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. ...

(PAHs) are formed by stir frying

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

at very high

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

s. These chemicals may cause DNA changes that may contribute to increased risk of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

Uses in traditional medicine

The process of stir-frying is used in the preparation of some Chinese herbal medicines under the term 'dry-frying'. Stir frying a medical herb with honey is commonly used to increase its sweetness and therefore its spleen and stomach qi tonic effects. Stir frying in

vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to eth ...

is typically used whenever one wants to direct the properties of an herb more to the liver based on the principle that the sour taste belongs to the liver.

Stir fried dishes

File:Stir fried pea sprouts.jpg, Stir-fried pea sprouts File:Nakji-bokkeum, Stir-Fried Octopus.jpg, Stir-fried

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, ...

File:Baingan Patiala.JPG, Stir-fried

eggplant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mo ...

File:Stired-fried Razor Clams with Black Beans and Pepper.jpg, Stir fried

razor clam Razor clam is a common name for long, narrow, saltwater clams (which resemble a closed straight razor in shape), in the genera ''Ensis'', '' Siliqua'', ''Solecurtus'', and '' Solen'', including: * Atlantic jackknife clam, ''Ensis directus'' *Razor ...

s File:Pla duk phat phet 01.jpg, Catfish stir fried in a spicy

curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in trad ...

paste File:Korean cuisine-Kkomjangeo bokkeum-01.jpg, Korean stir-fried

inshore hagfish The inshore hagfish (''Eptatretus burgeri'') is a hagfish found in the Northwest Pacific, from the Sea of Japan and across eastern Japan to Taiwan. It has six pairs of gill pouches and gill apertures. These hagfish are found in the sublittor ...

File:Stir-fry spinach with tofu - Golden white jade and Green Parrot (菠菜炒豆腐 - 金鑲白玉板，紅嘴綠鸚哥)(2).jpg, Chinese-style stir-fried spinach with tofu File:Ginger and Onion Beef 薑蔥牛肉 (Golden Dynasty Chinese Restaurant).jpg, Chinese stir-fried ginger and onion beef File:Stir-fried Water Convolvulus (炒空心菜).jpg, Stir-fried water convolvulus (''

Ipomoea aquatica ''Ipomoea aquatica'', widely known as water spinach, is a semi- aquatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable for its tender shoots. ''I. aquatica'' is generally believed to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia. It is widely cultivate ...

'') File:Stir-fried spinach and ground pork(1).jpg, Stir-fried spinach and garlic

Notes

References

* * . Several reprints. * * * * *

External links

How to Stir-fry: Illustrated Step-by-step

{{Cooking Techniques Chinese cooking techniques Cooking techniques Chinese cuisine Chinese inventions Culinary terminology Fried foods