Weekday Dinners – How to cook Indomie 3 ways. Part 2: Indomie Stir Fry

I continued happily with my Indomie Jollof, my brother looooved it, and so did the rest of the family. I introduced it to a few friends too and got great reviews. Everyone wondered why they had never thought about it before. Suddenly daddy, I mean daddy joined in the happy Indomie eating. It shocked my mum to say the least. Then the idea to try it like Fried rice came up, and it just did not taste right to me until I sat down to a Chicken Noodle Stir Fry meal at a restaurant on a date one evening and I thought to myself. Really, thousands of Naira for that? Google to the rescue. In as much as I love Fried Rice, I hate the prep work preceding it. So Indomie Stir Fry became easier when I could purchase already packed thinly sliced vegetables designed for, you guessed it? Stir Fry. If you are going to use veggies you already have in the fridge, just slice very thinly. If you have a food processor. Voila. You can make a big batch of Indomie Stir Fry when friends are coming over and you really don’t want to slave in the kitchen or if a horde of children are descending on your house. When you prepare Indomie Stir fry style no one is going to accuse you of being lazy.

So you’ll need:

1 cup of Stir Fry veggies for every 2 packets of Indomie – anything can make up your veggies – carrots, runner beans, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, cabbage, baby corn, peas, any veg you enjoy, use.

Shredded Meat/firm fish/seafood – This must already be cooked, well except Prawns and Seafood. If you are using firm fish, click HERE for how to prepare it for

Olive Oil

Ata Rodo

Garlic Salt – regular salt will do, simply chop garlic finely and add to the veggies

Red Onion

1 tsp Curry Powder

1 tsp Thyme

Balsamic Vinegar/Soy Sauce* – optional

How to

If you have a Wok, fantastic. If not, a large frying pan would do

1. Chop the onion and Ata rodo and add to the veggies. Sprinkle on the curry, thyme and garlic salt

2. Boil 1 cup of water and add the noodles and the seasoning – I say boil the noodles first because stir frying takes all of 3 – 5 minutes. You want both components to cook right about the same time without one getting cold.

3. Heat up the Wok/frying pan to very high heat. If you are using raw seafood e.g prawns, sprinkle pinches of curry, thymee and garlic salt and sear on each side for 1minute each and set aside.

4. If you are not using any seafood simply start with Stir Frying the veggies. Stir frying is basically frying in a little oil and stirring regularly. Hence the name Stir Fry. If you’ve got a good firm grip on the handle, toss the veggies around, otherwise toss around with a wooden spoon. Fry until you see the veggies start to soften and slightly wilt. This should take about 2minutes. Unlike our Fried rice, you don’t want to fry the veggies till they are a soft soggy mess. With this recipe, your veggies should still be crisp and crunchy.

5. Add your choice of Meat and a tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar or Soy Sauce, toss around and keep on the heat for another  2minutes minutes tossing regularly. The idea behind stir frying is that the components in the work are moved around so much that they are not exposed to constant heat. Leaving your vegetables in a pan will ruin it.

6. Drain any excess liquid from the boiled Indomie and add to your frying pan. Using a very big pasta serving spoon or two forks, toss around the noodles till it has thoroughly combined with the veggies. This should take a minute or 2.

…………..and that’s it. I am expecting this to take you all of 6 – 7minutes, because trust me, you want to taste crunchy vegetables. If you are cooking a large batch, of course it will take much longer but the principle is still the same. I call this recipe a lesson in Flash Cooking, so it is perfect for a Weekday meal