One wok, many recipes

Work your wok for whiz-bang weekdays.

Heavenly wok cooking. Credit: Jiwon Kim

--- Watch The Cook Up with Adam Liaw weeknights on SBS Food (Ch.33) at 7.00pm. Stream all episodes anytime at SBS On Demand. ---

Stream free On Demand

The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

series • 

cooking

PG

series • 

cooking

PG

"I think if you're looking at a 10-minute dinner, you want to break out the wok," said Adam Liaw in an early episode of The Cook Up. "To me, that's the fastest way you can cook just about anything."

10-minute dinner? You have our attention, Adam.

Of course, the speediness of wok cooking isn't new knowledge. It is just that from time to time we forget how easy it is to throw a stir-fried meal together.

That's because the bold flavours wok cooking produces taste more complicated than they actually are (plus, the ingredients list is often long and our pantry is often messy).

It's time to trust Adam and smash through any mental barriers. Break out your wok, line up your ingredients and get busy churning out sensational weekday meals you'd happily battle traffic for... oh, okay, you'd happily ask a delivery driver to battle traffic for.

Sesame sensation

Classic Chinese flavours, ready in around 20 minutes. Credit: Jiwon Kim

Sesame beef stir-fry is a time-honoured favourite for good reason: it's comforting, it's quick, it's noodles. Plus it all comes together in one wok, making clean-up a breeze.

DIY noodles

The chewy bite in these homemade noodles is addictive. Credit: Jiwon Kim

Add extra wow to your noodle dish by making your own sublimely slurpy noodles. These chewy potato noodles are simply made with potato starch, oil and water. Fry them up with some broccoli and mushrooms and a tasty stir-fry sauce for a from-scratch meal you'll be proud to bring to the table.

Holy trinity

Ginger, garlic and onions form the base of many stir-fries. That's because, with these three at the helm, your dish is guaranteed to be tasty. Case in point: a simple beef and broccolini stir-fry that positively hums with flavour.

Uber wok

Many restaurant faves like beef pad see ew can be made at home with welcome ease. Credit: Jiwon Kim

Homemade beef pad see ew is proof that wok cooking is always easier than you think. You can turn out this classic Thai dish in far less time than it would take to order it in.

Wok your BLT

This recipe gives the popular café sandwich a welcome twist.

A classic Adam Liaw mash-up, this recipe spins a tomato and egg stir-fry together with a BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) sambo. If you think hot lettuce shouldn't be a thing, you've clearly never lightly charred it in a wok!

Keep spinning

A Scottish soup morphs into a surprisingly tasty stir-fry. Credit: Adam Liaw

Another cross-cultural spin finds Shaoxing wine, soy sauce and ginger starring in a Scottish cock-a-leekie soup. It shouldn't work, but boy, it really does.

And spinning

Credit: Jiwon Kim

This is the beauty of wok cooking; a wok seems to effortlessly choreograph whatever ingredients you throw into it. Christie Whelan Browne invented this chicken pesto stir-fry when her husband got tired of her chicken satay stir-fry. They loved this new version so much, it became a weekly staple.

Micro-mush

If you microwave your mushrooms before stir-frying, they will brown within seconds, says Adam. Credit: Photography by Jiwon Kim

Even wok-devotees aren't opposed to using the microwave from time to time. Adam hits 'start' on the mushrooms used in this garlic pork and mushroom dish to reduce the amount of oil they suck up during stir-frying.

Micro-wok

After a quick marinate for the chicken, the finished chicken and mushroom stir-fry will be ready to eat in a matter of minutes. Credit: Adam Liaw

Another quick dish to try out your new mushroom microwave technique. Mushrooms and chicken are a revered combination that cooks well together in the wok. Use a variety of mushrooms for nutrition and flavour.

Fit for kings

Add aspicy sambal on the side to really please the kings. Credit: Jiwon Kim

Four heavenly kings, also known as “four seasons vegetables”, is a stir-fried dish comprised of four vegetables, typically eggplant, okra, petai (also known as stink beans) and snake beans.

Numbingly good

The key tip to success in this colourful recipe is not to overcook the potatoes, so they retain some texture. Credit: Kitti Gould

Hot and sour Sichuan stir-fried potatoes, or suanla tudousi, is a crunchy, spicy, tongue-numbing snacking dish that also makes a great side dish. Add as many peppercorns as you dare.

Cauli-crunch

Deep caramelisation of the cauliflower brings colour while retaining some crunch.

Like the potatoes above, this Sichuan peppercorn-spiced cauliflower stir-fry also works best when the veggie retains some crunch.

KISS

Five minutes to prep and five minutes to cook makes this pork and celery stir-fry the weekday bomb.

"I think the key to a good stir fry is to actually not use too many ingredients," says Adam. "I grew up where basically every single thing that was stir-fried in a wok was one ingredient, or two ingredients or max three ingredients."

Hooray for that!