Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Back to basics

One of my favorite basic dinners to make is stir fry (which technically it isn't really a stir fry since I don't have a wok and don't cook it hot enough like you're supposed to, but whatever). Kev and I usually have it a couple of times a month. It's easy, tasty, filling and there's usually enough for leftovers for lunch. We normally do chicken stir fry, but occasionally if we catch beef on sale we'll do beef stir fry.

The basic recipe usually includes green or red bell peppers, some hot chilies like habaneros, serranos or jalapenos (usually all of them), onion (caramelized), mushrooms, garlic, and sometimes broccoli if I think to pick it up. I cook the meat first, usually in a bit of olive oil, some stir fry sauce like szechuan suace or teriyaki sauce (usually both), seasoned with a bit of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic. Then I cook up the onions first to get them nice and browned before adding the other veggies (which have been given the same seasonings as the meat, and broccoli always goes in last just to get it a nice bright green but without making it mushy).

The hotter the peppers and the hotter the stir fry sauce we can use, the happier we are. We love to have it extra hot w/a tall glass if milk to drink. We eat it served over jasmine rice and it's just perfect. I don't think we've ever had a bad batch even though we never measure, never time and the ingredients usually change a little bit each time we make it. And it's a million times better than the frozen bag stir fries and infinitely better for you. And this is simple enough that Kev can make it if I'm not in the mood to cook (which he did last night).

Does anyone have stir fry recipes they like to make? Or any extra veggies we can toss in there that would make a good addition? I'm thinking maybe baby corn would be welcome to the party sometime.

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