Why not give Peter Valder's stir-fry recipe a try? There is no oil used in the cooking, it's very quick (provided you've chopped up all the ingredients beforehand) and best of all, it's delicious!

Ingredients

• 6 Spring onions
• 1 red capsicum
• 2 Lebanese cucumbers
• 250g snow peas
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped coriander
• 750g green prawns
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 50ml soy sauce
• 2 dessertspoons plum sauce
• Dash of Tabasco or 1 dessertspoon sweet chilli sauce or small amount of finely chopped chilli
  

Method

Chop the spring onions, cucumbers and capsicum into pieces suitable for picking up with chopsticks. Remove strings from snow peas. Peel the green prawns, pull out the digestive tracts, and halve lengthwise. Next place garlic, soy sauce, plum sauce and tabasco or chilli sauce in a deep frying pan with a lid or in a wok with a lid, mix thoroughly and bring to the boil over high heat. Add remaining ingredients except prawns at once and replace lid without stirring. After about one minute stir thoroughly to coat ingredients with the sauces and replace lid. After two further minutes add prawns and stir in. After another 1 1/2 minutes check to see that prawns have turned pink and opaque and, if so, tip into a bowl and serve at once with boiled rice. Serves 4.

Peter's tips:

This type of stir-fry can be made with whatever ingredients and flavourings you like. The sauce can be varied using any of soy, black bean, hoisin, oyster, sweet chilli or plum. You can use a little sesame oil, or whatever appeals. Likewise with the vegetables and meats. However, when using meat or hard vegetables such as carrot, it's a good idea to put them in first for a couple of minutes before adding the softer vegetables. If you are lashing out and using prawns or scallops, put these in last as they shrivel and become rubbery if cooked for more than a minute or two.

Copyright CTC Productions 1999