<p>No need to wait in the stir fry line where they can’t seem to brown your onions properly. </p>
<p>Well I found that with a bit of oil, fresh garlic and ginger, and some soy sauce, I can turn a collection of mushrooms, broccoli, baby tomatoes and especially raw onion slices into a delicious meal by itself. (I was using it to prepare a marinade for baked chicken wings originally.) And the thing is, I don’t have to buy these vegetables from outside – using my existing dining plan I just put stuff as much vegetables as I can in the to-go box it makes a decent meal. </p>
<p>Now, my girlfriend and I are hosting this Chinese New Year dinner for our friends using our dorm’s central kitchen this Saturday. With us cooking. I think we have to feed at least 10 people. Our plan is to make soda can chicken, salad dressing marinated chicken wings (yes, I am using the large assortment of flavoured salad dressings from my dining hall), a fairly large pot of slow-cooked jasmine rice, perhaps some sort of Asian dessert, and won-tons. It occurred to me that fried vegetables can be fairly Asian-themed … and I found that it’s not very consuming, so hey! I think it wouldn’t be out of our way to put that on the menu as well.</p>
<p>So, how best do I fry these vegetables to make it worthy of a celebratory social gathering? I mean, I find that frying is awesomely easy. As in, it takes like 5 minutes tops. Almost … too easy. Like, I am not sure if I am missing something to why it’s so easy to mass produce this stuff. The peeling and chopping up the garlic is the hardest part! Is there a reason why more college students aren’t taking out stuff from their dining hall’s salad bar in droves and stir frying it in their own kitchens, with pasta or rice? Or am I on to something here? </p>
<p>I’m spending a large chunk of the budget (my budget is 20-35 dollars, lolz) on getting whole chicken and chicken wings … but is there any cheap way to incorporate chicken taste into the fried caramelised vegetables? Or perhaps fry it and then bake it? (I find that onions, broccoli and tomatoes that are browned then put in the oven with the baked chicken for hours taste awesomely sweet. Awesomely.) </p>
<p>I have curry powder. Now, because this is to feed people within a limited time frame (not like say, cooking for myself where if I mess up I just take a bit more time), I really need to curb the possible disastrous consequences of experimentation. But I am still willing to experiment with discernment. Any advice on how to make curried dishes? Or perhaps incorporate the curry into the stir fry or chicken?</p>