Beef Stir Fry

 

Back in the day (Spice Girls, Madonna’s cone bra and the “Rachel” haircut)  I thought I was ever so trendy and chic because I cooked what I thought was real Chinese food in an electric wok. I know. . .I had much to learn. On top of that, washing the wok wasn’t easy because you had to be careful not to get water in the plug. The last time I cooked in this wok I was (unsuccessfully) multi-tasking and ended up burning dinner. The burnt taste never left the wok so it was kicked to the curb and I never got around to buying another one. I’m strictly a skillet gal these days. One of my favorite things to make in that wok was this Beef Stir Fry ~ thinly sliced beef with a variety of vegetables over rice. I may have been off base about the chic part, but this Beef Stir Fry is so delicious it’ll have you saying, “take out? who me?”.

The vegetables I used for this Beef Stir Fry can be swapped for any vegetables you have a taste for or what’s on sale at your grocery store. I have a few must-have’s: onions, red bell peppers and bean sprouts but the rest vary each time I make it. Mushrooms or zucchini are also really good.

I only marinate the meat as long as it takes me to prep the rest of the meal. The marinade goes like this:

• 1/2 cup of beef stock
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 2 – cloves of garlic, grated
• 3 – tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of soy sauce (low sodium if you prefer)
• 2 – tablespoons of corn starch
• Small pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil (additional olive oil needed to sauté)

Whisk it all together until there are no corn starch lumps.

Slice about a pound of flank or sirloin steak very thin against the grain:

The beef is added to a bowl and just 3 tablespoons of the marinade on top of it, saving the rest. It doesn’t look like that’s enough to do the job. It is. The job — in case you’re wondering is to season  and tenderize the meat. I like it when stuff works. This works. Anyway, I get my hands in there and really mix the marinade all around the beef. Then I cover it with plastic wrap and into the frig she goes.

While the meat is marinating, I get the vegetables ready:

• 1 – red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 – medium onion, sliced
• 2 – cups of fresh broccoli chopped into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 cup of carrot match sticks

Start preparing the rice now so it’ll be ready to eat when the rest of the Beef Stir Fry is done. You may already know I’m a fan of Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown 90 Second Rice. It’s really good, good for you and 90 seconds? Don’t know how you do it, Ben! If I’m out of this 90 second rice, I always have white rice on hand which is also delicious.

While the rice is cooking, Add a drizzle of olive oil to your largest skillet over medium-high heat. Drop in the vegetables and season with pepper only. Let them cook, browning a bit and when they’re done, remove them from the skillet and leave on a plate for now.

Using tongs, add the beef to the skillet spreading it out into a single layer. Color = flavor; let it brown. No flipping it back and forth. 

This is what you’re looking for ~

When the beef is done, add the marinade and whisk it around over low-medium heat until it’s a smooth, tasty sauce. Then add the veggies and bean sprouts blending it all together.

Serve the Beef Stir Fry over rice or noodles. 

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