Stir fry is a typical entrée ordered at many Asian restaurants with various meats and vegetables. It is very easy to make for a great week night meal. You get to choose what meat and vegetables to add as opposed to the order out menu, where they say “Please no substitutions.†Also, you can adjust the heat by increasing or decreasing the amount of sambal oelek, which is a type of spicy chili paste. The ingredients will create a wonderful sauce that goes perfectly over rice or noodles – you choose. In this recipe shrimp is added, but you get to choose which meat if any you would like to add. If you are using chicken, pork or beef add it in the beginning and cook for a couple of minutes, so it will be thoroughly cooked. Cooking time for the meat will vary depending on how small it is cut. It is extremely important to have a Mise En Place, because it only takes about 6 minutes to cook and all you need to do is dump and stir quickly. If you are using chicken, pork or beef, it will take longer than 6 minutes to cook. Chopping is going to take most of your time, but you can usually purchase most of the vegetables and meat already chopped or the shrimp already cleaned and deveined. Also you can prepare some of the ingredients the night before or during the day, so all you need to do is dump, stir and dinner is served!
Ingredients
1/4 cup of sesame oil
2 carrots cleaned and chopped about 1 cup
1 cup of fresh broccoli florets
2 cup of shiitake mushrooms cleaned, stems removed and sliced
1 bunch of baby bok choy washed and chopped about 2 cups
1/2 cup of yellow onion thinly sliced
1/2 lb. of shrimp shelled and deveined
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of sweet chili sauce
1/2 tablespoon of sambal oelek or chili paste
1 green onion sliced
1 tablespoon of black sesame seeds or toasted sesame seeds
Technique
Before beginning, make sure you have all of your vegetables prepped and in separate bowls, your chosen meat ready in its separate bowl and the sauces out and ready to go. In a wok or large deep skillet, heat sesame oil. Once oil starts to sizzle add carrots and broccoli and cook for a minute stirring. Add mushrooms, bok choy, onions and shrimp and cook for a minute stirring. At this point the mixture will seem dry and you will need to add the soy sauce, honey, sweet chili sauce and sambal oelek. Cook for about 2 – 3 minutes or until shrimp is pink, stirring. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds if desired and serve over rice or noodles.
Suggested Beverage
Schloss Schönborn Riesling Kabinett, Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken, Ménage à Trois Folie à Deux California White Wine, Tsingtao or Sapporo.
Chatty Advice
To clean baby bok choy or regular bok choy, cut the bottom as you would a stalk of celery or romaine lettuce. Wash thoroughly in water to remove grit that easily sticks to the bok choy.
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