Serves: 6 Calories per portion: 218 Price per portion: RM 4.60
Stir frying is a cooking technique that originates from China but spread all over to other Asian countries, including Malaysia. Stir frying means cooking ingredients in a small amount of fat (normally oil) over a very high heat while stirring and tossing the ingredients. (Now that factor is often overlooked when you're dining out!) The cooking time takes only minutes, which makes stir frying a very convenient cooking option during the busy weekdays when you want to eat something fast and healthy for dinner. Although stir fried dishes are widely available in Malaysia, there are some reasons why you should consider preparing your stir fry at home.
Making stir fried dishes at home has many benefits. You can use less and better quality oil than what street vendors normally use. This way you enormously decrease the amount of calories you consume and better quality oil (e.g. extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil) means healthier meals as well! Furthermore you can use leaner and better quality meat, and more fresh vegetables than what you would normally get when eating out. As a personal trainer in Kuala Lumpur I'd highly recommend considering this factor, even tho I love eating out too! Let’s have a look at what goes into the stir fry of this recipe here:
As you can see there are a lot of fresh green vegetables and lean chicken breast that we use. I prefer to buy and consume the antibiotic and hormone treatment free chickens for obvious reasons.
Another factor to think about is that even if fresh is always the best, stir fries are actually a really good option for meal prepping too! Because of the short cooking time over high heat there are more healthy nutrients ‘stuck’ inside the vegetables, which means when reheating your leftover or meal prep container in the office, you’ll still have some good stuff left in your meal. You can also just pre cut the ingredients, store them in the fridge and fry them in minutes when you need them for dinner for example.
Feel free to experience with the sauces too! I normally use fish oil, soy sauce or coconut amino, oyster sauce or chilli sauce in my stir fries. Let’s check out the recipe!
Ingredients for 4-6 portions:
1 tray of boneless, skinless chicken breast (~500 g) RM 12
1 head of broccoli RM 3.60
1 red pepper capsicum RM 3.20
half box of cherry tomatoes RM 2.80
2 stalks of celery RM 2.90
1 medium size red onion RM 0.30
5 cloves or garlic RM 0.20
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil RM 2.20
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 or 2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp of sesame oil
Total cost: ~ RM 27.70
Preparation:
Cut the ingredients into bite size pieces (the smaller you cut the faster they will cook).
Heat the oil in a wok for high heat and add the chicken first.
Cook it until starts becoming golden brown on the side.
Add all the vegetables and cook for about a minute while stirring and tossing continuously.
Add the sauces, shake them together and adjust the taste if necessary.
Serve immediately with steamed rice or if you want it to be keto or paleo friendly then ditch the rice!
If you want to have it later then let it cool and store in a container for up to 3 days.