Another Asian Night Hit

Last month's Woman's Day magazine had a featured they called "stir crazy" which gave like four stir fry sauce recipes, and then a sort of mix and match stir fry plan. So far, I've tried two of the sauces. Loved both sauces, but didn't have great luck with the combination of food with the second sauce (I made the sweet-and-sour sauce, and then stir-fried it with chicken and veggies. I didn't have the cherries or pineapple you normally get in a Chinese restaurant, and I think that would have made a huge difference, so I'll try it again with those and report back. Plus, we're sweet-and-sour pork people here and I did chicken).

First thing I made turned out GREAT. Ginger-Soy Beef with the ginger-soy sauce, beef, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus and edamame.

There was an adventure finding the edamame in my supermarket -- I finally got it in the organic frozen section. Edamame is high in soy, very good for you. And I snuck it in with success into this dish. Not a single child noticed. I think they thought they were peas (they look like peas).

Ginger-Soy Beef Stir Fry

Sauce

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons water

1 teaspoon grated ginger (that's the real thing, folks; the one that looks like a root)

1 teaspoon minced scallion (I had no scallions, so I minced up shallots)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon sesame oil (found in the Oriental/Asian section of the supermarket)

Stir Fry:

1 pound beef, cut into 1/4 inch strips (I used a sirloin steak)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons oil (I almost always use peanut oil, but you can use canola or vegetable)

veggies of choice -- I used:

1 pound asparagus, cut into thirds

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

1/4 pound carrots, sliced

1 cup edamame, shelled

In a zip bag, shake cornstarch with meat. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Stirfry until browned, then remove. Add 2 more tablespoons of oil, then add veggies and stir-fry until crisp-tender. Add sauce and bring to a simmer. Add meat back in and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Serve with noodles or rice.

I served this with homemade fried rice, which is the recipe I ran before. Easy to make, and the more you do it, the easier it gets ;-). Here's a picture of it, all done and cooked by moi.

My son really wants to learn how to make it, so next time I make fried rice, I think I'll have a helper. It's pretty easy -- and once you see how easy, you'll never pay to order it again!

Shirley