Scallops, asparagus and baby aubergine chunks stir fried one after the other, then coated in spicy sweet sauce for a fabulous dish. It’s important to cook the ingredients separately but you use just one wok.
Accidental scallop stir-fry
This scallop recipe came about by accident and those are the dishes and recipes I like the best.
It might seem a bit of a fussy dish because you need to stir fry all the ingredients separately. But trust me – if you bung everything to the wok at once, the aubergine will be raw, the asparagus tough and the scallops rubbery. This works perfectly because every element is cooked to its best.
It came about by accident, because I was going to sear some scallops for dinner and serve them on top of stir fried vegetables. And I just couldn’t be bothered with two separate pans to wash up.
All one by one into the wok
It may sound like a complicated process but it isn't. In classic stir-fries you should cook the meat first, remove it from the wok and follow with vegetables and aromatics.
The first rule of the wok: don’t overcrowd it. If you’re cooking for more than two, tough: you’ll have to cook even individual vegetables in two batches each and decant them into an auxiliary bowl.
In this case I suggest you start by cooking aubergines and courgettes. They’ll take the longest, and once they are out of the wok, the asparagus comes in. The third step is searing scallops because they need the shortest time in the wok.
You can wipe the wok in between the batches but I wouldn’t bother. When it all returns and the sauce is added, all the (tasty) burnt bits will dissolve.
How to prepare aubergines
A word about aubergines here: the myth that they need salting prior to cooking isn’t quite defunct.
Nowadays aubergines aren’t as bitter as they used to be, which was the primary reason for salting them, but they will cook quicker and absorb less oil if you sprinkle the slices with salt and wipe dry after a few minutes.
Plus they really need to be cooked through which will take some time, otherwise the vegetable is half-cooked and actually pretty disgusting.
Aubergines, for this dish and any others are ideally evenly browned on all sides. As a minimum you need to at least ensure there are no white raw bits visible on the aubergine dice.
Small frozen scallops for the stir-fry
The scallops used here should be the smaller, cheaper queen variety, preferably frozen ones actually.
This isn’t a dish to savour each plump, horribly expensive mollusc seared in pure butter and presented on a half shell. This is an easy stir fry – and I’m not going to argue which is a better dish. You just need a different option sometimes.
Seasonal note: when asparagus are out of season, you can use green beans or tenderstem broccoli, sliced thinly lengthwise.
Fish fragrant sauce
The sauce is inspired by yu xiang, ‘fish fragrant’ sauce which has no fish in it but bags of umami.
Toban djan, Chinese chilli bean paste is available from most supermarkets or online suppliers, and it’s such a great ingredient you won’t regret stocking up. The rest of the sauce is straightforward, and if you don’t have Shaoxing wine, use dry sherry.
Sprinkle the finished dish with chopped pistachios or salted peanuts.
More scallop recipes
Pan fried scallops with pancetta and spiced Napa cabbage, the perfect starter. This recipe for scallops with chilli and pancetta makes an incredibly tasty dish, substitute bacon for pancetta if you wish.
Scallops thermidor, fat little molluscs baked in creamy fragrant Thermidor sauce on a bed of spelt and pancetta. Who needs lobster?
Scallops with chorizo and courgette. Scallops need to be just seared or flash fried and they go well with gutsy Spanish sausage, bacon or black pudding.
More easy stir fry recipes
Beef and asparagus stir fry with beef so tender you won’t believe it’s a cheaper cut. There’s a secret to a successful beef stir fry and you’d never guess what it is.
Chicken yu xiang, chicken breast pieces cooked in Sichuan ‘fragrant fish’ sauce which has seafood only in the name. With addition of dried cranberries for the sweetness and almonds for crunch.
Orange chicken, spicy, fresh and sweet, ready in twenty minutes including all the chopping, is an easy stir fry lighter and healthier than the orange chicken from American Chinese restaurants. Especially delicious if you top the dish with caramelised orange segments.