Give your vegetables room in the pan

A pan full of vegetables is not always a pan ready to brown them. Leave visible space between pieces so you can see what the cooking surface is doing.

Start with a dry pan and a modest batch of similarly sized pieces. When every gap disappears beneath a heap, divide the batch. The extra round can be less work than repeatedly stirring a crowded pan while waiting for the liquid to leave. Choose a pan that sits securely on your burner rather than the widest pan in the cupboard.

Watch the space between pieces

Listen and look after adding the vegetables. A shallow pool collecting around the pieces calls for a different decision from a few beads of moisture disappearing from exposed metal. You can lift out some vegetables and continue in batches. Turning up the heat without checking the pan and oil is not a dependable cure.

Leave a piece alone long enough to inspect its underside with a spatula. Stirring continuously makes that observation harder. Turn pieces when their colour and texture suit the meal, then combine the batches at the end. If you want soft vegetables in a sauce, some liquid may be useful. Browning is a choice about the dish, not a score that every vegetable must achieve.