Happy Family Stir Fry

Happy Family Stir Fry is a Chinese-inspired dish that is a mashup of meat, seafood and vegetables tossed in a flavourful light brown gravy. The combination of proteins can be a little weird but we assure you it works!

The stir fry is usually served with white jasmine rice but you can also have it with crispy fried noodles (birds nest noodles). This is a very easy dish that you can make for dinner and take to work for lunch the next day.

Happy Family Stir Fry

This easy stir fry is a popular Chinese restaurant dish that you sometimes see on menus as combination stir fry.

It’s usually made with beef, chicken and seafood, however our version is made with just chicken and seafood since the cost of beef in Australia has dramatically increased. Even the cheap cuts aren’t cheap anymore!

Use Up Your Leftovers

This is a very versatile recipe that is great for using up cooked and uncooked vegetables.

If you’re using vegetables that are already cooked then add them in at the end just to warm them through. Leftover boiled or steamed vegetables like broccoli, carrots, green beans and snow peas are perfect.

Ingredients

Protein

  • Chicken – We use thigh fillets since there is no need to tenderise. This saves time and effort!
  • Other protein options include beef, pork and lamb.
  • Seafood – We use prawns and squid in this recipe. I generally use frozen seafood since we always have them in the freezer.
  • Other seafood options – scallops and seafood sticks.

Aromatics – ginger, garlic, onions and spring onions

  • Vegetables – I like to use carrots, broccoli, baby corn, shiitake mushrooms in the stir fry.
  • Other vegetable options – Asian greens, straw mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, green beans, snow peas, capsicum and bamboo shoots.

Sauce

  • Chinese sauces – oyster sauce, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine
  • Seasoning – salt, pepper and chicken bouillon powder
  • Stock – store bought liquid chicken stock

Making Happy Family Stir Fry

The key to making this stir fry is to have everything prepped and ready before cooking:

  • The vegetables need to be washed and cut thinly.
  • The protein needs to be washed and prepped (shelled and/or cut into pieces).

Lastly make sure you have the sauce and cornstarch mixture combined and ready in two separate bowls.

Cooking the Stir Fry

Once everything is prepped and there is nothing left to do but cook, fire up the wok / fry pan over high heat.

Cooking the Proteins

  • Heat the fry pan / wok up and add 1 tbsp of oil. Once the oil is hot fry the chicken with a pinch of salt. Once cooked set aside in a bowl until needed.
  • Add another tbsp of oil to the wok / fry pan. Add the prawns and squid with a pinch of salt and fry until cooked. Once done, put aside in the same bowl as the chicken until needed.

Cooking the Vegetables

  • Add 1 tbsp of oil and add the ginger and spring onions. Fry until fragrant.
  • Add the broccoli, carrots and baby corn with a tablespoon of water. Cook for a few minutes.
  • Add the shitake mushrooms, onions and garlic. Toss the vegetables around in the wok for a minute.

Combining it all together

  • Add the proteins back into the wok / fry pan.
  • Pour the sauce over the top and thicken it with the corn starch mixture.
  • Taste check and adjust to your liking.

Serving the Happy Family Stir Fry

  1. Jasmine rice – This is the easiest way to serve this recipe
  2. Crispy fried noodles (birds nest) – Have the noodles on a plate and pour the stir fry over the top. Make sure you pour enough gravy to soak the noodles.
Happy family stir fry on a bed of white rice

Other Stir Fry Dishes You’ll Love

If you guys do make this recipe, please tag us at #scruffandsteph on InstagramPinterest and Facebook. We would love to see your creations!

We hope you have enjoyed our happy family stir fry recipe!

Scruff & Steph

Happy Family Stir Fry

Scruff
Happy Family Stir Fry is a Chinese-inspired dish that is a mashup of meat, seafood and vegetables tossed in a flavourful light brown gravy. The stir fry is usually served with white jasmine rice but you can also have it with crispy fried noodles.
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Soaking (if using dried shitake) 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Rice Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 5
Calories 276 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Wok or large fry pan

Ingredients
 
 

  • 4 shitake mushrooms (dried or canned) sliced thinly
  • 3 slices of ginger
  • 1 spring onion roughly chopped
  • 1 carrot peeled and sliced thinly
  • 150 gm broccoli 1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets
  • 6 spears canned baby corn cut in half widthways
  • 1/2 onion cut into thin wedges
  • 3 garlic cloves peeled and chopped finely
  • 2 chicken thigh fillets sliced
  • 8 prawns peeled
  • 8 squid rings
  • 3 tbsp neutral oil divided
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp water

Sauce

  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
  • 3 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • pepper to taste

Thickener

  • 1.5 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp water

Garnish

  • coriander roughly chopped (optional)

Instructions
 

Prep Vegetables and Proteins

  • Shiitake mushrooms – if using dried then cut in half with a pair of kitchen scissors and soak for 30 minutes in just-boiled water. Skip if using canned shiitake mushrooms.
  • Cut the vegetables (including the soaked/canned shiitake mushrooms), chicken and seafood. Set aside until needed.

Sauce and Thickener

  • Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Set aside until needed.
  • Combine the thickener ingredients in a separate bowl. Set aside until needed.

Cooking the Stir Fry

  • Heat a wok / large fry pan on high. Once the wok / fry pan comes to temperature, add a tbsp of oil.
  • Add the chicken to the wok with a pinch of salt and fry until cooked. Once cooked pour into a bowl and leave aside until needed.
  • Add another tbsp of oil and add the prawns and squid. Add a pinch of salt and cook until done. Pour the seafood into the bowl with the chicken.
  • Add 1 tbsp of oil to the wok / fry pan and add the ginger and the spring onions. Fry for about 1 minute or until fragrant.
  • Add the carrots, broccoli and baby corn with 1 tbsp of water. Toss and cook for 2 minutes.
  • Add the shiitake mushrooms, onions and garlic. Toss and cook for another 1 minute, adding another splash of water if it seems too dry.
  • Add the chicken, prawns and squid back and toss to combine.
  • Pour the sauce in and mix well for 30 seconds.
  • Add the thickener and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened.
  • Taste check the stir fry and adjust to your taste.
  • Serve with steamed rice or crispy noodles and garnish with fresh coriander.

Nutrition

Serving: 6gCalories: 276kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 13gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 83mgSodium: 691mgPotassium: 422mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 2332IUVitamin C: 31mgCalcium: 42mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Happy Family Stir Fry
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

2 thoughts on “Happy Family Stir Fry

  1. I love this recipe! I substituted with gluten-free soy sauce and oyster sauce, and it turned out so good. The addition of bouillon to the sauce was a great idea! Thank you for such a great recipe!

Leave a Reply