With stir fry sometimes there's an order you have to follow to get the best results. Sometimes you sautee the veggies first then add them later or sometimes you sautee the meat first and then the veggies into the remaining meat sauce for best results. Most of the time I find that higher heat gives better results. The slight browning it gives the vegetables gives it an added dimension of flavor which is very appealing. Things like broccoli, brussel sprouts, green beans, etc may not be as appealing when just steamed (though many of us may like it just fine that way) but giving them a nice sautee with a bit of browning adds a really enjoyable dimension.
I love garlic and I seem to overload a lot of my sautee with it. Find the flavor you like and then find recipes of things you want to cook that's inline with your preferences and follow those. There's lots of great resources online and on youtube which really helps you not only with the recipe but with the needed technique to get the best results.
Doing a lot of Asian stir fry, it's best to stock up on a lot of the core ingredients. Soy sauce, rice cooking wine, rice vinegar, mirin, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sesame seed oil and some spices helps out a lot. Adjust it to taste of course and some recipes may be too salty, so you can add more water or chicken broth/beef broth to lighten it up. Have some corn starch on hand to as that helps thicken the sauce and make it stick to the food.
High heat is what helps stir fries have that nutty flavor. Make sure when you cook to not overcrowd the pan unless your heat source can handle a larger quantity. Most home cooking stoves cannot handle much at a time so it's better to cook in small batches for best results.
Some recipes require a time period where you marinade and let the flavors really seep into the food, but it's also helping tenderize the meat depending on what the ingredients are. If you have any questions about particular recipes and I'm familiar I would be happy to point you to some of my preferred ones.
In college when I learned the wonderful world of credit cards (I had to learn this on my own as my dad was strictly a cash guy), I racked up a good amount of debt. It wasn't debt from purchasing goods, it was a lot of debts from eating out as I explored many restaurants. As I got older I learned to cook a bit more here and there and now when I eat out and find a dish I love, I try to find recipes at home so I can learn how they make that dish and attempt it at home. Some dishes are worth making at home, some are a lot more work than one dish is worth and I will leave that to the professionals.
Buying a premade sauce works in a pinch, but learning to make it from scratch yields much better dividends over time. It allows you flexibility to adjust it to how you like it regardless of if the recipe is authentic or not. That really never mattered to me, it was just about how much I and my family enjoyed the food. Not sure about you, but I have always found cooking is much more enjoyable when I have a good drink nearby
