Pork and Chinese Vegetable Stir-Fry

Today's featured dish is another Chinese one of my own invention.   I knew ahead of time that I wanted to cook something Chinese, and that I wanted to use up a piece of the big pork loin roast I'd bought awhile back and had cut into one-pound portions and packed for freezing.   While shopping, I picked up a few fresh ingredients I'd need, but was able to mostly rely on things I keep stocked.

The dish is pretty straightforward to prepare and make.  Much of the required time is used to marinate the pork, during which time everything else can be prepared.  Once the prep is done, it cooks up quickly.  In exchange for fairly minimal effort, one gets a great meal of tender, seasoned pork and delicious vegetables coated in a flavorful sauce.  As far as I'm concerned, that's always a good trade-off, and it's one reason I love stir-fry dishes.  If your tastes are anything like ours, I think you'll love this.

Pork and Chinese Vegetable Stir-Fry

yield = 4 servings

1                   pound boneless pork loin roast, thinly-sliced
1/2                teaspoon rushed red pepper flakes
2                   tablespoons hoisin sauce
1                   tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1                   tablespoon rice wine
2                   tablespoons peanut oil
2                   teaspoons dark (Asian) sesame oil
1                   tablespoon minced garlic
6                   green onions, thinly-sliced, white and green parts separated
10                 ounces snow peas, trimmed
5                   ounces fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced
1                   can (15 ounces) whole baby corn, drained and sliced into
                            bite-size pieces
1/2                cup low-sodium chicken broth
1                   tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2                   teaspoons cornstarch

Add pork slices and crushed red pepper flakes to a medium bowl.  Add hoisin sauce, grated ginger and rice wine.  Stir to mix thoroughly, then cover with plastic wrap and set aside to marinate for 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Heat peanut and sesame oils in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  When the oil is shimmering, add the pork mixture and stir-fry until the pork is no longer pink and is lightly browned in spots.   Clear a spot in the middle of the skillet, then add the garlic and the white parts of the green onions.  Cook 1 minute, then stir into the pork mixture. 

Add the snow peas, shitake mushrooms and baby corn to the skillet.  Stir-fry until the snow peas start to get tender (about 4 minutes). 

Stir together the chicken broth, soy sauce and cornstarch in a small bowl, then add the mixture to the skillet.  Cook, stirring to thoroughly coat the pork and vegetables, until the sauce has thickened (1-2 minutes).  Transfer to a serving dish, top with the green parts of the green onions and serve with rice. 

Mixed Vegetable Stir Fry with Garlic Sauce

This recipe is something I tossed together for a quick, tasty vegetable dish awhile back, using things we had in our fridge and among our pantry items.  I was in a mood for Chinese, so I decided to stir-fry a bunch of different vegetables and serve the vegetables with a thick garlic sauce. 

This dish offers a variety of textures and a mix of nice vegetable flavors, all unified by a savory, slightly spicy sauce.  It is both simple and quick to make.  Since it uses a lot of canned vegetables along with a few fresh ones, tt took me right around 1/2 hour to make, from start of prep to having it on the table.  If you start the rice at around the same time you start the prep, you'll have a healthy, tasty meal all ready in very little time. 

We both loved this one.  For something I tossed together from scratch, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  We'll definitely be making this again.

Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry with Garlic Sauce

yield = 3-4 servings

3               tablespoons cornstarch
1               cup low-sodium chicken broth
2               tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1               tablespoon chili-garlic sauce
1               tablespoon minced garlic
1               tablespoon hoison sauce
1/2            teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3               tablespoons peanut oil
12             ounces baby bok choy, trimmed and chopped, leaf and stem
                          pieces separated
2               large carrots, peeled and sliced into thin discs
1               can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained
6               ounces button mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
6               green onions, thinly sliced, green and white parts separated
2               teaspoons fresh, peeled and grated ginger
1               can (15 ounces) whole baby corn, drained and sliced into
                         bite-sized pieces
1               can (14 ounces) straw mushroom, drained and sliced into
                         bite-sized pieces

In a measuring cup, dissolve cornstarch in 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth.  Add soy sauce, chili-garlic sauce, hoison sauce, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.  Stir to mix, then set aside.

Heat peanut oil to shimmering in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add bok choy stem pieces, sliced carrots, water chestnuts, sliced button mushrooms and the whie parts of the green onions.  Stir-fry until the bok choy stems have softened and the button mushrooms have given off their liquid and that liquid has cooked off (6-7 minutes). 

Push aside the vegetables to clear a space in the middle of the skillet, add the ginger, cook 30 seconds, then stir the ginger into the vegetables.

Add the bok choy leaves, baby corn pieces and straw mushroom pieces to the skillet.  Stir-fry the vegetables until the bok choy leaves just start to wilt. 

Stir the contents of the measuring cup, the pour into the skillet with the vegetables.  Stir to mix and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and evenly coats the vegetables.  Stir in the green parts of the green onions, transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately with rice.

Options:
If you'd like to make this vegetarian, use vegetable broth or water in place of the chicken broth.

Garden Fresh Broccoli! Plus Spicy Ginger Beef with Broccoli, Revisited

The first broccoli from this year's garden was ready to harvest last weekend, and since then, we've been eating lots of garden-fresh broccoli.  I decided to start off by brushing one of my old-standby recipes, Spicy Ginger Beef with Broccoli, and ended up further fine-tuning the recipe, using stuff I've learned over the past year of cooking to make an already-great recipe even better. 

I also used a bunch of the hot peppers we've been growing.   We're getting a bunch of ripe ones now.

I made a really large batch (about 12 servings total), but the revised recipe, below, reflects the standard (already large) batch.  Either gives you a lot of good leftovers, and this dish freezes really well.   The broccoli does get a bit soggy when reheating, but the flavor is great.   Don't freeze the chow mein noodles, though.   Just add them after reheating.

Spicy Ginger Beef with Broccoli

yield = 8 servings
2           pounds beef (steak or stew), thinly sliced
2-4        red chili peppers, seeded and minced
1 1/2     teaspoon ground mustard
2           teaspoons minced garlic
1           teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1           teaspoon ground ginger
2           teaspoons sesame oil
1/3        cup light soy sauce
2 1/2-3 pounds broccoli florets
1 1/2    tablespoons peanut oil
1 1/2-2 tablespoons peeled, diced ginger
2          cans sliced water chestnuts, 1 drained, 1 undrained
2          tablespoons oyster sauce
2          tablespoons corn starch dissolved in 1/3 cup low-sodium chicken
                       broth, or water

Mix sliced beef with ground mustard, ground ginger, black pepper, chili peppers, garlic, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and soy sauce in a bowl or Ziploc bag.  Cover bowl/close bag and marinate at least two hours, preferably eight or more hours or overnight.

Steam broccoli until it is almost done; remove from heat.

Add peanut oil and 1 teaspoon sesame oil to wok, large skillet or Dutch oven.  Heat the oil over medium heat.  When hot, add the ginger and fry it, stirring often, until it is just starting to darken. 

Add the beef and marinade mixture. Stir-fry until the beef is nearly browned, then add water chestnuts, including the liquid from one of the cans.  Stir fry for a couple more minutes, then add oyster sauce and corn starch/broth (or water) mixture.  Stir until the liquid thickens.  Add the broccoli, stir to mix. 

Serve over rice, topped with chow mein noodles.

Notes: 
1.  The best way to slice the beef into nice, thin slices is to put it in the freezer for about 45 minutes before you're ready to prepare it.  The beef will then be stiff enough to easily cut as thinly as you  might desire.

2.  I don't specify a cut of meat to use because I've found it honestly doesn't matter if you marinate it sufficiently.  If I don't have time to let it marinate a long time, I tend to use sirloin, but round tip steak, chuck steak and stew beef work just fine.

3.  How many chili peppers one should use for this recipe depends on the heat of the peppers and personal taste.  That being said, the purpose of the peppers in this recipe is to add some heat, but they shouldn't overwhelm the other flavors.   I've gotten the best results from cayenne, serrano and red Thai peppers.  If you like things spicier, don't seed the peppers.

Citrus-Basil Chicken with Coconut Rice

Today's featured recipe was inspired by one found at My Gourmet Connection.  The recipe there - Orange-Basil Chicken with Creamy Coconut Rice - looked okay, but I decided to change a few things to bring it more to my taste. Aside from changing the amounts of some ingredients, I felt the dish could only benefit from the addition of a bit of ginger, and I figured Jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk and orange juice would be flavorful enough that I could afford to drop the butter included in the original recipe, thereby cutting out a bit of fat.

The result:  Tender bits of chicken in a spicy-sweet, Thai-seasoned sauce, served atop creamy, slightly sweet rice.  I boosted the amount of lime juice from what was used in the original recipe, and also included some lime zest (the original recipe used only orange zest), and these changes helped give the sauce a more complex citrus flavor than  would have been the case had the flavor mix been more dominated by the orange.  The rice serves nicely to balance out the spiciness of the sauce, but even so, we reduced the amount of sriracha listed in the recipe, as the sauce was too spicy for Juli, and even a bit spicier than I prefer, when we made this dish with two tablespoons of sriracha.

Citrus-Basil Chicken with Coconut Rice

yield = 4 servings

4            tablespoons fish sauce
4            teaspoons cornstarch, divided
1 1/2      pounds boneless, skinless chicken (breasts or thighs),
                 cut into bite-size pieces
2            cups uncooked jasmine rice
2            cans (13.5 ounces) coconut milk
1            cup orange juice + 2/3 cup
1/2         cup water + 1 tablespoon
1/4         teaspoon salt
3            tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice
2            tablespoons hoisin sauce
1            tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sriracha (Thai chili) sauce
1            tablespoon fresh, peeled and grated ginger
1            tablespoon lime zest
1            tablespoon lemon zest
2            tablespoons peanut oil
6            green onions, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
1            cup (loosely packed) Thai basil leaves
              strips of lime and orange zest for garnish

Whisk the fish sauce and two teaspoons of the cornstarch together in a medium bowl.  Add the chicken pieces.  Toss to coat and set aside at room temperature.

While the chicken mixture rests, combine the rice, coconut milk, 1 cup of the orange juice, 1/2 cup water and the salt in a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.  Bring to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat, then cover and reduce heat to low.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender (15-20 minutes). 

After reducing the heat on the rice, combine the remaining 2/3 cup of orange juice, lime juice, hoisin sauce, sriracha, ginger, lime zest and orange zest in a small bowl.  Mix together, then set aside.  Combine the remaining 2 teaspoons cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl.  Stir to dissolve the cornstarch, then set aside.

Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add the chicken and stir-fry, stirring frequently, 4-5 minutes.  Add the green onions and stir-fry for an additional minute, then stir in the orange juice-hoisin mixture.

Cook until bubbling, stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook for about 30 seconds or until the sauce thickens.  Remove from heat and stir in the basil leaves.

Fluff the rice and serve the chicken mixture atop the rice.

Broccoli Stir-Fry with Sesame and Cashews

When I was designing a recipe for Spicy Orange Beef, I knew I'd want to serve it along with a vegetable stir-fry and some rice.   I didn't really even prepare a recipe for the vegetable dish, having decided I'd just stir-fry some broccoli, toss in some other flavors and add a basic Chinese-style sauce.  When it came time to actually make the meal, I improvised when it came to the broccoli dish, just tossing together some ingredients and seeing how it turned out.   I jotted down what I did as I went, and I'm glad I did, because this one turned out pretty good.

The broccoli is stir-fried for a bit, along with some seasonings, then liquid is added and the skillet is covered, to steam-cook the broccoli the rest of the way.   Sesame flavor comes from both sesame oil and some sesame seeds.   Most of the rest of the ingredients - soy sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic - were pretty obvious.  At the last minute I decided to add to the nutty elements of the dish provided by the sesame seeds and oil.  I topped the dish with some cashews and served it up.

There's really not much else to say about this one, other than to reiterate that it's pretty darn good, but as always, I encourage you to try it out and see for yourself.

Broccoli Stir-Fry with Sesame and Cashews

yield = 4 servings

1/2         cup low-sodium chicken broth
2            tablespoons oyster sauce
1            tablespoon soy sauce
1            tablespoon cornstarch
1/2         teaspoon white pepper
1            tablespoon peanut oil
1            tablespoon Asian (dark) sesame oil
6            cups broccoli florets
1            tablespoon peeled, grated fresh ginger
1            tablespoon sesame seeds
2            teaspoons minced garlic
1/2         cup water
1/2         cup cashews

Whisk together chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch and white pepper in a bowl.  Set aside.

Heat the peanut and sesame oils in a large skillet over medium heat.   When the oil is shimmering, add the broccoli and stir-fry 3 minutes.  Clear a spot in the center of the skillet, add the ginger and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute), then add the garlic and sesame seeds and cook 30 seconds.

Add the water to the skillet, then cover and cook until the broccoli is tender (about 2 minutes).   Add the oyster sauce mixture, stir together and cook until the sauce thickens and coats the broccoli (1-2 minutes).  Remove from heat, stir in the cashews and serve.

Spicy Orange Beef

Orange Beef is one of Juli's favorite dishes to order in Chinese restaurants.  I'd never made it, so I decided to do some recipe research, then design my own recipe and try it out.

Orange Beef is pretty straight-forward.  Thin strips of marinated, cooked beef are coated in a spicy, orange-flavored sauce.  The biggest variation between the recipes I studied had to do with how the beef was cooked.  Sometimes the strips of beef are deep fried until a bit crisp, while other recipes call for it to be stir-fried until a bit crisp along the edges.  I've more often had and enjoyed the deep-fried version, but for my first try at the dish I didn't want to go with the extra step (and potential mess) of deep-frying, so I went with the skillet version. 

This dish is pretty easy to make.   It takes a bit of prep time, but if you follow the recipe as written, you can do the rest of the prep and get the rice cooked while the beef marinates.

The result was quite good.  From having had the dish so often, I had a pretty good idea how to give the sauce exactly the flavor I wanted, and I achieved that the first time out.  The beef was tender, yet crispy on the edges, and the flavor and heat level were just right.   Juli was pleased, even though she would have preferred the crisper texture one can get by deep-frying the beef.   Now that I've got the basics down, I might give that method a try next time, but either way, this recipe is a keeper.

Spicy Orange Beef

yield = 4 servings

3                 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1                 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
3                 teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil
1/4              cup plus 2 teaspoons fresh orange juice
1/2              teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2           pounds top sirloin, thinly sliced
1                 tablespoon rice vinegar
1                 tablespoon brown sugar
1                 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1/4              cup water
2                 tablespoons peanut oil
1                 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
1                 tablespoon long, thin strips orange zest
3                 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4              teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Whisk together 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 2 teaspoons orange juice and baking soda in a medium bowl.   Add the beef, mix/stir thoroughly to coat the beef in the marinade, then cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

Whisk together 1/4 cup orange juice, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, rice vinegar, grated orange zest, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and water in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add beef mixture to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned and starting to crisp in places (about 6 minutes).

Clear a spot in the middle of the skillet and add the ginger and strips of orange zest.  Cook 1 minute, then add the garlic and crushed red pepper and cook 30 seconds.  

Pour the orange juice mixture from the small bowl into the skillet.  Stir in and cook until thickened, about 2 minutes.  Serve with rice.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Mushrooms, Snow Peas and Cashews

Probably the first type of cooking I got really good at was stir-frying, and it's still among the types of cooking I do most often.  One thing I love about stir-fries is that once you have gotten down the basic techniques, you can make a whole bunch of different dishes by mixing and matching a set of standard ingredients.  Substitute hoisin sauce for oyster sauce, or baby corn, peas and straw mushrooms for water chestnuts and carrots and you've got a dish that is familiar, yet different.   Often, if you just switch a protein - chicken for pork or shrimp, for example - you can get a different dish without minimal or no other changes.  Similarly, you can make a mild dish spicy by adding a teaspoon of chili oil, or a spicy one milder by substituting dried red peppers with a half-teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. 

The other thing I love is that you  can use so many of my very favorite ingredients in stir-fries.   Ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mushrooms, snow peas, nuts... with ingredients like that, you're almost guaranteed to get something good.

The following recipe is an illustration of these principles in action.  I just decided to toss together some chicken  with some of my other favorite stir-fry staples, and with a minimum of prep - this one doesn't even require you to marinate the chicken - I had a great meal. 

Chicken Stir-Fry with Mushrooms, Snow Peas and Cashews

yield = 4 servings

1/3          cup hoisin sauce
1/3          cup water
2             tablespoons soy sauce
1             teaspoon cornstarch
1/2          teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3             tablespoons peanut oil
2             teaspoons Asian sesame oil
2             pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced
                into bite-size pieces
8             ounces button mushrooms, cut into thin wedges
3             ounces shitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps
               sliced thin
8             ounces snow peas, trimmed
1             tablespoon peeled, grated ginger
2             teaspoons minced garlic
1/2          cup roasted, unsalted cashews, pan-toasted

Stir together hoisin sauce, water, soy sauce, cornstarch and red pepper flakes in a small bowl.   Set aside.

Heat one tablespoon peanut oil and one teaspoon sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add half of the chicken pieces and stir-fry, cooking until the chicken pieces are lightly browned on all sides.  Transfer cooked chicken pieces to a bowl and repeat with the other half of the chicken pieces.

Add 2 tablespoons peanut oil and one teaspoon sesame oil to the skillet and heat to shimmering.  Add the mushrooms and stir-fry 3 minutes, then add the snow peas and cook until they are bright green and still crisp.  

Clear a spot in the middle of the skillet, add the ginger and garlic and cook 30 seconds, then return the chicken to the skillet and stir to mix everything together. 

Again clear the middle of the skillet.  Add the hoisin sauce mixture and cook 20 seconds, then stir the contents of the skillet together to spread the sauce evenly over the chicken and vegetables.  Stir in cashews and serve with rice.

Juli here.  I loved this stir-fry!  A definite 5-star dish, it's got the warming bite of fresh ginger, the heat of the red pepper flakes, and the sweetness of the crunchy snow peas, all blending together to create a really tasty meal.  And I don't think I ever met a recipe that couldn't be improved by cashews!  Definitely trough-worthy, I had to pack the leftovers up first to see if there was enough left for a second serving before I gobbled it all up.  We got 4 generous servings, and if I can wangle a way to do it, I'm nabbing both of the packed leftovers for my own use.  Shhhh...don't tell Jeffrey!

Spicy Pineapple-Pork Stir-Fry

Like I've said before, I like to combine fruit flavors with meat, especially poultry and pork.   I've recently been experimenting with lime, but a few nights ago, I decided to try something combining pork and pineapple.

After considering various options, I decided to make a stir-fry with pork, chunks of pineapple and (for color and to make a more complete meal) snow peas, and to use pineapple juice as the foundation of a flavorful sauce.   Rather than try to design a dish in the style of any particular cuisine, I decided to just go free-form, so I could focus on selecting ingredients that would go along well with pineapple and pork.  Some were a given - ginger and tamari sauce, for example - but as I considered options, I decided I wanted to use a mix of savory, sour and salty flavors to balance out the sweetness of the pineapple.  I also decided to give the dish a bit of heat, courtesy of some Asian hot chili oil and some sweet chili sauce.  All that remained was to round out the flavors a bit, which I did with Chinese five-spice powder (to add some depth to the sauce) and some shallots.

I'm not sure what else to say about this one, other than that it blew us both away.   As I designed the recipe, I expected it would be pretty good, but the delightful scents hinted from pretty early on that this was going to be more than just "pretty good."  The pork smelled wonderful as I browned it in tamari and the hot chili oil, and the pineapple smelled even better as it cooked.   Toward the end, the scent of ginger mingling with the chili sauce and five-spice powder were literally mouthwatering, but none of that really prepared us for how good the first bite would be.

My original recipes aren't always a home run, but this time I knocked it out of the park.   Try it and see.

Spicy Pineapple-Pork Stir-Fry

yield = 4 servings

1 1/2      pounds pork loin, sliced thin and against the grain
2            teaspoons tamari (or regular soy sauce)
1/2         teaspoon Asian hot chili oil
3            tablespoons peanut oil
1/4         cup sweet chili sauce
2            teaspoons cornstarch
1            teaspoon lemon juice
3/4         teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/4         teaspoon table salt
12          ounces fresh snow peas, trimmed
1            can (20 ounce) pineapple chunks in juice,
              drained and juice reserved
1            shallot, peeled and minced
2            teaspoons minced garlic
1            tablespoon grated, fresh ginger

Toss the pork slices with tamari and hot chili oil.   Heat two tablespoons peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until smoking, then add the pork.   Allow the pork to brown on one side, then stir and continue to cook until most of the pork is lightly browned on both sides.  Transfer pork to a clean bowl and set aside.

While the pork is browning, stir together the reserved pineapple juice, sweet chili sauce, cornstarch, lemon juice, five-spice powder and salt in a small bowl, then set aside.

Add the last tablespoon of peanut oil to the same skillet.  Add the snow peas and pineapple chunks and stir-fry until the snow peas and pineapple pieces have started to brown. 

Clear a spot in the center of the skillet and add the shallot and garlic.  Cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds), then add the ginger, stir everything together and cook 1 minute.   Return the pork to the skillet, stirring to mix it in.

Add the pineapple juice mixture to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until it thickens and coats the pork and vegetables (about 1 minute).  Serve with rice. 


Note: 
The easiest-to-find example of Asian hot chili oil is probably also the best on the market:  House of Tsang's Mongolian Fire Oil.  It's as good as, or better than, any version you'll find in an Asian grocery, but a lot easier to find, as it is stocked by most major supermarket chains in the US. 

By thoroughly draining the canned pineapple, you should get about one cup of pineapple juice, which is what you need for the sauce.  If you don't get that much pineapple juice from the canned pineapple, add enough pineapple juice to bring the amount to one cup.