Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Rosie Stir Fries.

I love a good stir fry. And that's exactly what I have in mind for lunch.
I'm only using one pork chop for the two of us. The vegetables provide the bulk for this meal.
Slice into thin strips. It helps if the pork is slightly frozen. Makes it easier to slice thinly. Unfortunately, my pork was past the frozen state. Mea culpa.
First, I'm making a marinade for the pork. I took one of my frozen 1-inch cubes of ginger, nuked it, and squeezed it to get out the juice, then minced the ginger. Add in three-four cloves of minced garlic.
Oyster sauce and soy sauce, with the garlic and ginger complete my marinade.
I prefer to mix by hand.
Veggie ingredients for my stir fry: mushrooms red and green peppers celery carrots garlic water chestnuts bean sprouts
I need a chicken broth or stock. Lately, I've been using this McCormick's Chicken Base. A teaspoon in a cup of cold water.
Stir to dissolve, then nuke a frozen 1-inch cube of ginger and press the juice in along with some garlic cloves.
Add the cup of cold ginger broth to a heaping tablespoon of corn starch. The cornstarch is the thickening agent for this light, flavorful sauce which will envelop and coat the rest of the stir fry ingredients.
Stock and cornstarch in the ramekin. Add in a couple tablespoons each of mirin and soy sauce.
My mise en place. Marinated pork strips. Water chestnuts. Julienned carrots. Beans sprouts. Sliced mushrooms. Finely chopped garlic. Minced ginger. Sliced celery. Sliced onion. Sliced red and green pepper.
Heat up your wok on high. Add a few tablespoons of peanut oil. I like to use peanut oil for the high smoke point. Add in the sliced shrooms.
Stir fry for about a minute or two. That's my personal taste. I like my mushrooms browned. By the way, never salt your shrooms before or during cooking. This releases water and they will steam, not sear. Now start adding the rest of the veggies.
Celery.
Red peppers.
Green peppers.
Onions and garlic.
A touch of sugar.
Carrots. Just that fast over high heat. Stirring the entire time.
Transfer veggies to a bowl and partly cover.
I added a little bit of sugar to my marinated pork to help in caramelizing.
Add a few more tablespoons of peanut oil in the wok and add the pork strips individually. High heat.
Add in the chicken stock/ginger/Mirin/soy sauce/cornstarch down the side of the pan, very slowly, allowing it to cook and thicken on its way down the hot wok.
Goodie bits of ginger and garlic going in. Add the vegetables back in and toss to coat.
Serve stir fry over a bed of rice and top with bean sprouts.
This is a whole lot better than what is served at the local fast food China buffets. And that's just wrong.

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