Ooh, the brown crust is a
treat, we used to fight over it in my house. It just needs to cook the rice it'll be fine but follow the water ratio directions.
I know you can't have dairy but if you can at least physically work with it you could really make a bubble tea cafe experience for family and friends by making milk tea with tapioca or Thai style iced tea with condensed milk.
Next foundation ingredient is rice wine. If you're going to go without soy sauce or fish sauce of any type then you can get some flavor with wine. Wine and ginger also reduce gaminess while imparting flavor. I buy and use just about any brand of rice wine. You could use actual drinking sake or cooking wines if you're more comfortable with that. The rice wine I use is super cheap and probably strips paint.
Along with wine I'd keep on hand a bottle of vinegar, some ketchup, white pepper, red pepper flake and when it comes time to cook fresh mushrooms, an entire bag of fresh green onions.
I've tried to keep most, if not all, of these ingredients standard items you'd find while buying OJ and bacon, no special stores, low risk (as opposed to risk free), simple but still nutritious. The concept is to take what you normally buy and "freak it" a bit through technique.
1. Good quality, plain, steamed white or brown medium grain rice (we use half brown rice with half quinoa often).
2. All veggies fresh. We don't use a lot of meat and even if we have a stir fry dish with veggies we always serve with
at least one other separate side of fresh sauteed veg, and maybe some freshly pickled item like cabbage or cucumber.
3. Main dishes flavored well enough to balance out plain steam rice. If serving fried rice tone back on the salt in the mains.
4. Serve family style with chopsticks if it helps set the mood for restaurant at home. That's how we normally eat but I can see how it might contribute to feeling an experience if you usually use forks and knives.
5. When slicing meats do it when they are half frozen and cut across the grain with a sharp knife. You want to shear off a thin wafer across the muscle strands. My crude illustration is below.
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6. Use a pan with a large amount of surface area that can get HOT and stay hot. Keep in mind that no matter how much you prep at home you can't match the BTUs a commercial kitchen has so adjust expectation. I don't use special woks I use a really wide bottomed heavy stainless steel pan.
General advice for stir frying which is what I think OP is after.
*Slice meats thinly half frozen across the grain or if chicken thigh in smallish chunks.
*Moisture is your enemy in a stir fry so keep ingredients dryer when practical.
*Wide bottom pan with good surface area that can get good and hot.
*High smoke point neutral oil like canola, safflower, etc.
*Chop all your veg in uniform pieces. I like to not pre-mix the veg instead adding each according to how long it needs to cook.
Instead of reinventing the wheel I'm going to link to what's already well written.
Super Easy Stir Fry Article allrecipes.comPay attention to marinating the meat separately from the veg. Then cook the meat fast, in halves if you must to keep it frying instead of boiling. Same for the veg, make sure it's sizzling and moving. Don't add any sauce until the end when you return the precooked meat and veg back to the pan. THEN add you liquids with slurry (premixed cornstarch with water to thicken.)
It's mostly method that makes the dish when it comes to everyday cooking.