Thanks to the generosity of several people giving us gift vouchers to celebrate our engagement, we recently bought (among other things) this gorgeous stainless steel wok, which has enabled us to whip up quick stir-fries for dinner during the week. While we unfortunately have an electric stove, our barbecue has a gas burner, which means we can relax out on the verandah and create as much smoke from the wok as we like.

First we quickly brown the meat (mostly strips of beef, although we’ve also tried chicken) in a mixture of canola and sesame oil. Sesame oil is gorgeous – it gives everything a delightfully nutty flavour. When the meat is browned, we pop that into a bowl, and then pour the vegies into the wok. Our favourite vegies to stir fry at the moment are fresh beans and snow peas. I enjoy broccoli as well, but steam it for a couple of minutes beforehand so it doesn’t need as long in the wok.

When the vegies are cooked to our satisfaction (we like them fairly crunchy), we remove them as well. Some fresh sesame oil goes into the wok, along with some finely diced shallots and garlic, and several sloshes of soy sauce and hoisin sauce. We play around with the amounts until we’ve got a reasonable amount of sauce, then add the meat and the vegetables back into the wok. We fry it around briskly for a minute or two, until the meat is completely cooked and everything is coated in sauce, then remove the wok from the heat and serve it immediately with rice. Gorgeous.