Stir Fry

A few years back my husband bought a wok for me. It was a replacement for my electric wok that broke in the many moves from apartment to apartment to house. I absolutely love my wok. I like the feel of the wooden handle. It really is a light weight wok and is perfect for me to cook stir frys and even other foods in it. It just isn't for stir fry. I have cooked other dishes in it too I like it so much.

I made stir fry the other day. If you have some cheap steaks that arne't very good for anything else or maybe some steak that has been in the freezer too long and starting to get freezer burn stir frying it may be just the thing to revive it into something useful. I had cheaper steaks I bought the other day. They were in the refrigerator. I put them into the freezer on a plate for 15 minutes. They are easier to cut partially frozen especially with a duller knife (I really need to get a professional sharpening done with my knives).

When I make stir fry, I always prepare all the ingredients before I even warm up the wok. I have everything on hand that I will need so I can focus my attention of stirring the meal and cooking it to my desires. I cut up the steaks into long strips. Some people chunk them up. Either way is fine. I peeled and slices some carrots. I cut up some onions and garlic pieces too. Celery was next. Last, was the fresh broccoli. I cut off the stems and put them aside. I cut up the broccoli heads into bite sized pieces and then put them into a bowl, added a little teriyaki and let them sit while I finished preparing and cooking everything else. The broccoli stems are a great addition to any stir fry. Take a vegetable peeler and slice off the hard outer layer. Slice up the stem and add into the stir fry when you add the broccoli heads.

Add a little olive oil to the wok and turn on a medium high heat to get it going. It should sizzle when you add the meat. Once it's warm enough, add the meat and cook until you see no more red oozing from it. You can add soy sauce at this time or some other seasoning if you'd like. Then start adding the vegetables. We like our carrots barely cooked so I add those last. But adding them at any time is fine. I added the onions and garlic the last five minutes so that the garlic would only be steamed and very pungent. Many people can't withstand the heat and bite of semi-cooked garlic so it's a personal choice.

On the side I made gingered white sticky rice. I just made regular white rice without rinsing it and added a lot of powdered ginger to it. Overall, it was a wonderful meal.