First of all, I got a few likes on my last post and that kind of shocks me… in a good way. I just started this thing, and I’m just a nightly, amateur, home kitchen warrior that most of the time is just faking his way into family meals. That anyone would read, much less “like” what I have to write is pretty damn cool. Honestly, I just started this thing to chronicle my way through cookbooks (which I’ve done a great job of not following through with), and to give me an easy online reference to some recipes that I like. So thanks! And happy eating!
Now on to the stir fry…
A stir fry should be simple enough, no? Cook some noodles, cook some veges and meat, mix ’em up in a wok and voila! But how many times has your stir fry turned out an oily glob, a soy sauce bomb, or just something that was passable enough to be called dinner? For me it was far to often, and at one point I had almost abandoned them all together. However, I found a technique or two, and a sauce, that can help you make a better than takeout (unless you happen to have a really, really good takeout place, which I do not near my house) stir fry. It’s also one that can be made for vegans and omnivores. So here’s how I did it…
I mixed up the sauce the night before, and it’s really, really simple. It’s 3tbsp soy, 2tbsb brown rice syrup, 1-2 tbsp sabal olek, and 3 cloves of garlic minced. I’m cooking for two… pause and let me say something…
Two for me and my wife means that she counts as one, I count as one, I may count for another one, and she counts as another one because she takes what we eat at night to school the next day for lunch. So while some teachers eat disgusting cafeteria food or turkey sandwiches, she eats Indonesian stir fry, pesto and serrano ham paninis, spring rolls, enchiladas, etc. Me? I take the same to my 8-5 bank job if I haven’t eaten two huge helpings the night before. Tonight I did just that because it was freaking good.
Back to the recipe. I doubled the sauce recipe so I would be sure to have enough, and it helps to nuke it in the microwave (at cooking time) a little so the syrup and soy can get mixed up. The night before I also thin sliced a steak (just a cheap sirloin) and cut one large red bell and one medium onion into strips. I put the steak in some tupperware and lightly coated with soy, and I put the veges in some tupperware coated with nothing. This just saves prep time for when you’re ready to cook, but I would only do it one day in advance.
On the day of eating, the first thing I did was dry out one package of extra firm tofu between some paper towels and some plates.
Cook some brown rice noodles according to package instructions. For me, this mean bringing water to a boil, removing from the heat, putting the noodles in, covering, and letting sit for ten minutes.
Saute the peppers and onion in some olive oil until the onions just begin to brown and caramelize. Add some of the sauce and cook for just about a minute longer. Remove from the skillet and place in a bowl.
In a separate pan, sear up the meat (let maillard do its thing until tossing) until almost done, add some sauce, cook just a little longer, then remove and place in a bowl.
Cube up the dried tofu and throw it in the skillet you cooked the veges in. I like to really let it sear up, then add the sauce and keep cooking until it’s nice and browned up.
The noodles should be nice and soft by now. Add half the noodles to the skillet the meat was cooked in, add the meat back, add half the peppers and onions back, add some sauce, and stir it up while still heating.
Add half the noodles to the tofu skillet, add the other half of the peppers and onions, add sauce, stir it up while heating.
Voila… two stir fry dishes. One beef, pepper, and onions to go with on tofu, pepper, and onions.
Garnish with green onion and sriracha at your pleasure and enjoy. Tip: I like to keep the green onion cold right up until cutting and garnishing. Something about the cold onion with the heat of the sriracha and warm noodles just makes this dish a little extra special.
Here’s the result of the vegan dish. Just imagine the tofu is thin strips of sirloin for the omnivore dish.
One other thing. I take a major short cut sometimes with my garlic. Instead of minced garlic, I add Cajun Power Garlic Juice. About 1tsp per clove called for. You could get away with 1/2 tsp, but I really, really like garlic.
What I think helps make this dish not turn into an oily mess is… the lack of oil. You are using sauce for the moisture in cooking except for when you saute the veges initially. There’s actually no frying, as understood as cooking something in oil, at all. All you are using is heat, sugar from the rice syrup, and salty from the soy. The noodles don’t soak up any heavy amount of oil and neither does the meat or tofu. A lot of vegan recipes I’ve read do something similar in that they constantly add water to sauteed stuff, but water is boring. Sauce is fun! Another key is to let the maillard take place with the meat. I sort of try and do the same with tofu. It adds some good flavor without any other ingredients.
I’m making bbq egg rolls for Valentines Day. You’ll get a post about the success or failure either way. Happy Eating!
The Bookworm with Blades 