Stir frying (chinese: 炒; pinyin: chǎo) is a cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. the technique originated in china and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of asia and the west. it is similar to sautéing in western cooking technique. some scholars think that wok frying may have been used as early as the han dynasty (206 b.c. – 220 a.d.) for drying grain, not for cooking, but it was not until the ming dynasty (1368–1644) that the wok reached its modern shape and allowed quick cooking in hot oil. however, there is research indicating that metal woks and stir-frying of dishes were already popular...

Source: Wikipedia