Stir Fry Those Holiday Calories Away
So, ABrooklynLife spent some quality time at the grandparents' this past weekend, and was naturally stuffed with all manner of good-but-bad-for-you foods. Five kinds of homemade
cookies, pies, tiramasu, ice cream, chocolate, lasagna, roast pork, pork ribs, veggies swimming in butter, all amazingly good but none of it conducive to that trip to Mexico we're taking in a month (hello bikinis and swim trunks in February!). So, in some attempts at caloric responsibility we've been attempting moderation at dinner. Here's a stir fry recipe we whipped up the other night. Oh, and if you really want to be healthful, you should serve it with brown rice, which requires about 45 minutes cooking time. The key to good brown rice is the proper amount of water--too much and it's a mushy gross mess, too little and it's like eating a Crackle bar. So measure the water amount carefully and keep the temperature low and steady.
Ingredients for sauce:
3 TBS soy sauce (Tamari)
3 TBS fish sauce
1 TSP sambal paste (aka. Red Rooster or Hot Cock)
2 large cloves of garlic
1 knuckle of ginger (about 1 1/2 inches long, 1/2 wide)
1 TBS sugar
Set aside:
Chicken or veggie stock
1 TBS starch mixed in 1/2 cup cold water (corn starch or rice flour)
Ingredients for stir fry:
3/4 cup (handful) roasted unsalted cashews
1 bunch young asparagus
1 small red bell pepper
1/2 small onion
1/2 cup or more snap peas
3-4 carrots
(or whatever veggies you like)
Canola, safflower, or peanut oil
(for high heat cooking safflower is the best)
Preparation:
-Sauce-
- Mix soy, fish sauce, and samba paste with sugar.
- Crush the garlic add it to the mix.
- Peal ginger and then use micro-plane grater to pulverize.
- Add ginger to the mix.
-Veggies-
- Clean the asparagus, cut off the bottoms and then slice in 1/3s.
- Julienne the red bell pepper, onion and carrots.
Cooking:
- Heat a large saute or wok pan, add the canola oil after about 45 seconds, and continue to heat the pan until it almost smokes.
- Add the onions, fry for 20 sec, then add the asparagus and carrots.
- Wait another 20 sec and add peas and cashews.
- If the mixture starts to dry out, add a splash of stock.
- Cook for about 1 minute adding more stock when it drys out.
- Add the sauce and mix the veggies.
- Add another TBS or two of stock, push the veggies to once side of the pan away from the heat.
- Tilt the pan so the sauce flows to the hot side.
- Add 1 or 2 TSPs of watered starch and mix the sauce until it thickens.
- Toss the cooked veggies in the thickened sauce and serve.
2 Comments
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The correct ratio for water to brown rice is 2.5:1
I buy my brown rice from the take out spot around the corner. For 75 cents it can't be beat, and it's impossible to ruin (I am smart and a decent cook, but completely unable to cook rice - brown or otherwise).