The best vegetables for a Chinese-style stir-fry dish are ideally those that retain a crisp yet tender texture, as well as those that offer a variety of flavors. These vegetables are cut into bite-sized pieces that not only cook quickly and evenly, but also make it easy to eat with chopsticks.
Since Chinese stir-fry vegetable dishes are generally cooked quickly on high heat to retain texture and flavor, it is important to cut the vegetables small enough and with sufficient surface area to cook them quickly. It is also important to pay attention to the order in which the vegetables are cooked. For example, since bean sprouts cook very quickly and are not pleasant to eat when overcooked, they are often added at the end.
Here are ten vegetables that are perfect for Chinese vegetable stir-fry dishes:
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Bok Choy
The green, tender, and delicate leaves of bok choy, especially baby bok choy, are perfect for stir-fry dishes. They cook quickly and go well with garlic and soy sauce.
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Gai Lan or Chinese Broccoli
This vegetable is slightly bitter and goes well with slightly sweet and salty sauces. The stems remain crisp and cook quite fast. The leaves are tender. You can pre-steam it before stir frying.
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Choy Sum
This is a slightly sweet and tender vegetable with relatively thin stems and yellow flowers. It is great for a quick Chinese stir-fry vegetable dish.
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Bean Sprouts
These popular vegetables are derived from sprouting mung beans. They are very delicate, have a nutty flavor, and should be added at the end of cooking and tossed for a few seconds
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Snow Peas
Snow peas are a tender, edible pea-pod with thin walls (unlike many other pea pods) that are eaten whole. They cook quickly and are great in stir-fry dishes. They only take about one or two minutes to cook.
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Baby Corn
These are the tender shoots of various breeds of corn. They are tender and sweet and are popular in many Chinese stir-fry dishes.
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Chinese (or Japanese) Eggplant
This type of eggplant is longer and thinner than American or European eggplant, and it has fewer seeds. The skin is often bright purple and it generally is more tender than other kinds. Like other eggplant species, they soak up sauces well.
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Water Spinach
This vegetable offers a nice crunch and has a hollow stem. It grows in or around water. It is best eaten when young. It is commonly stir fried with garlic and fermented tofu.
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Bamboo Shoots
These are the young tender shoots of the bamboo plant. One of the fastest growing plants in the world, they are sweet and crunchy when young, and should be pre-boiled before stir frying.
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Water Chestnuts
Water chestnuts are actually not nuts as we know. Instead, they are the bulb roots of an aquatic plant. It is common in many Chinese vegetable stir-fry dishes and has a crunchy texture that many people love.
Of course there are many other vegetables that work well in Chinese stir-fry dishes like bell peppers, napa cabbage, pea shoots, mustard greens, lotus root, Chinese celery, etc. Choose vegetables that are tender and do not require long cooking times. Use vegetables that are in season and fresh.
Click here for tips on how to stir fry using a work.