GINGER BEEF ASIAN FOOD
Easy Beef Stir Fry! With ginger and scallions
and a honey soy marinade
The best thing about stir fries?
They come together so quickly!
In this ginger beef stir fry we marinate strips of beef
sirloin in a honey soy marinade, then quickly fry them in a hot pan with
julienned ginger, red chilis, and sliced garlic.
A cornstarch slurry helps keep the beef strips from
drying out and helps create a tasty glaze over the meat.
Thinly sliced scallions are stirred in at the end, and
the whole thing is served over rice. Fast, easy, and tastes great!
The trick to a good stir-fry is working with
a very hot, relatively stick-free pan. I say relatively stick-free because you
don’t want one of those stick-free pans with the coating that peels off, but
say more like a well-seasoned wok or a cast iron frying pan.
Hard anodized aluminum will work too, as its
surface is bonded into the pan and can take high temperature cooking. Cooking
on high heat allows you to get a good sear on the meat and vegetables without
overcooking them.
Ginger Beef Stir Fry Recipe
Prep time: 15 minutesCook time: 10
minutesMarinating time: 30 minutesYield: Serves 4-6
INGREDIENTS
Marinade
2 Tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
5 Tbsp soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce
if cooking gluten-free)
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp peeled, grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon chile pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Beef
and stir-fry
1 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb top sirloin steak
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (preferably peanut)
1 Tbsp dark toasted sesame oil (optional)
3-4 green onions, cut on a diagonal, 1/2-inch
apart, including the greens
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2-3 hot chilis, preferably red serranos,
seeded, sliced
1-inch nob of ginger, peeled, cut lengthwise
into matchstick shapes
1/2 cup loosely packed, chopped cilantro
METHOD
1 Chill
steak, slice into strips: Chill the steak in the freezer for 30 minutes
before you slice it, this will make it easier to cut in thin slices. Slice the
steak first crosswise in 1/2-inch thick slices. The cut each slice lengthwise
into strips.
2
Marinate the beef: In
a medium bowl, whisk together the marinade ingredients; the soy sauce, vinegar,
grated ginger, honey, red chile flakes, and cumin. Mix the beef in with the
marinade to coat and let it sit for at least 30 minutes, and up to 4 hours, in
the fridge.
3 Make
cornstarch slurry: In
a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water to make a
slurry.
4 Brown
the beef strips: Heat
the oil in a wok (vegetable oil plus dark sesame oil if using), or a large
sauté pan, over high heat until it is nearly smoking. As the oil is heating up,
pat the beef dry and separate it into small batches no larger than what can fit
into the palm of your hand. Working in batches, sauté beef until just brown
outside but rare inside, no more than 1 minute. Transfer beef to a bowl.
5 Stir
fry chiles, garlic, ginger: When all of the beef is cooked, put the chiles and
garlic into the pan and stir-fry 30-45 seconds. Add the julienned ginger and
cook for 30-45 seconds more.
6 Add
beef, cornstarch slurry, scallions: Add the beef back to the pan. Add the
cornstarch slurry. Add the scallions and mix everything together. Cook for 1
minute.
7 Remove from heat,
stir in cilantro: Turn the heat off and mix in the cilantro. Serve at once with
steamed white rice.
