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What Is Fish Stir-Fry?

Angela Farrer
Angela Farrer

Fish stir-fry is a dish made from pan-fried fish cooked with vegetables and one of several options for flavoring sauces. Many stir-fry meals have Asian-inspired flavors because stir-frying is a traditionally Asian cooking technique. Cooks generally make stir-fry dishes in a deep frying pan called a wok, although fish stir-fry can also be prepared in a standard frying pan. Stir-fry recipes can be simple or complex and several types of fish work well with this particular cooking method.

Many experienced cooks recommend using a traditional wok pan for making fish stir-fry. A wok's unique shape allows fish fillets and large volumes of vegetables to cook thoroughly at the same time. The steeper sides and rounded bottom of a traditional Chinese wok keep these ingredients centered where the burner heat is the highest. Some cooks find that cooking fish stir-fry in a rounded wok is a bit more challenging on a standard stove with flatter burners, so a flat-bottomed wok or regular frying pan can be used in this case.

Fish stir-fry can be prepared in a standard frying pan.
Fish stir-fry can be prepared in a standard frying pan.

Some of the most popular types of fish used in this dish are cod, snapper, or halibut. These species of white fish are often preferred for stir-fry because they tend to absorb the flavors from sauces or marinades the best. Many cooks purchase fish fillets that have already been deboned and cut into conveniently-sized pieces. Some fish stir-fry recipes call for the fish to be marinated before cooking, while others simply instruct the cook to add the sauce during the cooking process.

Peanut oil has a high smoking point and mild taste ideal for any fish stir-fry.
Peanut oil has a high smoking point and mild taste ideal for any fish stir-fry.

Fish stir-fry is frequently flavored with ingredients such as soy sauce, minced ginger, chopped green onions, and diced garlic. Other sauce options include Sichuan or hoisin sauce for those who like their stir-fry with sweet or spicy flavors. These types of Asian sauces are often available in grocery stores, although many cooks find them fairly easy to mix from scratch with a few key ingredients.

A wide variety of fresh vegetables can be cooked in a fish stir-fry. Some favorites include red or green bell peppers, celery, carrots, and bean sprouts. Stir-fry vegetables should ideally be cooked until tender but not to the point of becoming browned or blackened. This common problem with cooking a stir-fry dish usually results from stove temperature that has been turned slightly too high.

Discussion Comments

Chmander

@Viranty - Becoming a vegetarian can be quite difficult, but it shouldn't cause you too much trouble. However, if you were aiming to be a vegan, that's another story. Anyway, since you plan to keep fish in your diet, you could put it in place of a lot of other meats. For example, as the article above discusses fish stir-fry, anytime you make the dish, replace the beef and/or pork.

As another example, instead of eating hamburgers, you could "replace" them in your diet with tuna fish sandwiches. Not only are they much lighter than a hearty, greasy burger, but they're less fattening, and generally just a good source of protein. On a final piece of advice, I think it would help if you ate a lot of stir-fry, as they're full of vegetables and nutrition.

Let me know if you want anymore advice on how to alter your diet. I'm always willing to help.

Viranty

@RoyalSpyder - I used to buy beef hot dogs, but I don't anymore. Whenever I would heat them up in the microwave, I noticed that they would leak an orange oily substance. This happened for a quite a while. It wasn't until I did some research online that I found out that the leaking was because of beef fat. I was absolutely disgusted, and now I only buy turkey dogs. On another note, after reading this article, I was thinking of becoming a vegetarian. However, I still plan to eat fish. Does anyone have any suggestions on what it will take to alter my diet?

RoyalSpyder

@Chmander - I agree with you on many points, especially how fish is healthier than beef and pork. In my opinion, it really shows us that some choices of meat can affect an overall dish, for the better and worse. As an example, although it's much more dry, chicken sausage is a lot healthier than beef sausage. Think about that the next time you make a pasta, and you're contemplating on a sausage to use.

As another example, though turkey burgers aren't as hearty as beef or pork burgers, they're generally healthier and have less of a chance of clogging your arteries. In fact, if someone doesn't want to become a full vegetarian, turkey and/or fish are great food substitutions for other meats.

Chmander

I'm definitely familiar with stir-fry, but before reading this article, I didn't know much about fish stir-fry. On top of that, the article makes it sound really delicious, and I'm also assuming that it is.

From also reading the article, I can also tell that fish stir-fry is much healthier than most other kinds. The reason why is because overall, fish is a lot healthier than other kinds of meats, such as pork or steak. Generally, we've become so accustomed to those meats, that they're always used in stir-dry. The next time I go to a restaurant, I'll definitely be giving this a go.

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    • Fish stir-fry can be prepared in a standard frying pan.
      By: cosma
      Fish stir-fry can be prepared in a standard frying pan.
    • Peanut oil has a high smoking point and mild taste ideal for any fish stir-fry.
      By: WimL
      Peanut oil has a high smoking point and mild taste ideal for any fish stir-fry.