Many readers have told me that they are interested in quick and easy recipes that can be made in just 30 minutes or less. Today I’m really excited to share this easy and delicious Japanese Stir Fry vegetable dish called Yasai Itame (野菜炒め). In Japanese, yasai (野菜) means vegetables, and itame (炒め) is a noun form for the verb itameru (炒める), which means stir fry. From the name you might assume it’s a vegetarian dish; however, Yasai Itame usually contains a small amount of thinly sliced pork or sausages. FYI, I have this recipe categorized as Vegetarian & Vegan as you can easily make this vegetarian/vegan-friendly by omitting the meat and oyster sauce. It’s not by mistake – I just didn’t want my vegetarian/vegan readers to miss this delicious recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I don’t know the exact history of this simple dish, but Yasai Itame has been around for many years and it is a common home-cooking dish You might see this dish served as Teishoku 定食 (lunch/dinner set) at Japanese diners. Personally, I feel the dish is underrated and I want to share the reasons why the stir fry vegetables should be made and enjoyed more often.
Cooking Tips for Stir-Fry Vegetables (Yasai Itame)
I put together a list of the things I do when I make stir fry dishes. Hope these tips will be helpful if you are new to stir fry dishes.
Prepare all the ingredients and seasonings before you start cooking. You won’t be able to stop in the middle of the stir-frying process, so don’t try to chop vegetables as you cook. Either wash your ingredients ahead of time or remove the moisture before cooking. You don’t want to add moisture to the stir fry dishes otherwise the ingredients get “steamed” and lose their crispiness. Cut the ingredients into bite sizes so that they will all cook evenly and faster. No wok? Use a big, flat-bottomed fry pan (details in next section). Preheat your wok/fry pan before adding the oil and coat well with oil. When you add the ingredients, they will reduce the temperature of the wok/fry pan. Make sure not to overcrowd the wok or frying pan with the ingredients. You want to give them enough room to make contact with the heated surface. It’s important to stir fry without losing too much heat while cooking. Cook thicker and harder vegetables first as they will take a longer time to cook. Keep stirring and tossing so that all the ingredients are evenly cooked. Make sure the rest of your meal is ready to serve or on the table already so that you can enjoy the stir fry dish immediately after cooking.
Do We Need a Wok?
If your question was whether stir-fry dishes taste better when cooked in a wok or fry pan, the answer would be easy. The wok would win every time. You just can’t beat the flavor of charred ingredients cooked in a good carbon steel wok on very high heat. I own this carbon steel wok and love it (see How to Season a Wok post); however, for this recipe, I used this All-Clad PFOA-free non-stick frying pan (12 inches). Many Japanese home cooks also use a frying pan to cook Yasai Itame. This recipe when cooked on a standard stove may not taste the same as a stir fry vegetable dish from a Chinese restaurant. However, please try this great home-cooked recipe because you don’t need “proper” equipment for it to taste delicious. As long as the pan gives the ingredients enough room to make contact with the heated surface, you can still make great stir-fry dishes at home. Now that we’ve covered the basics of cooking Yasai Itame, I hope you will have more reasons to incorporate healthy vegetables into your family cooking. Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on July 17, 2015. The post has been republished with updated content on November 14, 2017.
