One of the things I love about an Asian-inspired stir fry is that you can do it as simply or as complicated as you’d like. I often use it to clean out the fridge of veggies that need to be cooked. The most important thing to do before you start cooking is what chef’s call mise en place (which literally means “putting in place” in French). Why is it important? Well not all veggies and meats cook in the same amount of time and you don’t want one thing overdone and another raw. You also don’t want to be scrambling to chop, etc. In this dish I do the meat first to keep the crispy coating crispier and then start cooking all the other veggies in order of how long it takes to cook them before finishing up with the addition of the sauce. Hope you enjoy today’s recipe!
Sauce
1/2 teaspoon gochu-jang (red chili paste)(and if you haven’t gathered this is my new go-to seasoning!)
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium preferably)
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
Ingredients
2 tablespoons corn starch or flour or Wondra flour
1 cup thinly sliced strips of beef (a tender cut or one which needs to cook fast, like flank or skirt steak)
10 asparagus spears cut on the bias into one inch pieces
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1/4 cup red pepper in thin strips
1/4 cup sliced scallions (and include some of the green tops too!)
1/4 chopped walnuts (or peanuts or cashews)
Directions
Toss the beef with the corn starch and/or flour to lightly dust it. You don’t want a lot of flour/corn starch on the meat.
In a large skillet and/or wok heat 1 tablespoon peanut oil. Once it is shimmering and very hot, toss in the meat. Cook for a minute or so until the outside is light brown and flip. When the other side is light brown, remove from the pan and set to the side.
Add another tablespoon of peanut oil and heat until shimmering. Toss in the red pepper and asparagus. Cook for about 3 minutes and then add a 1/2 cup water and let the veggies steam until almost all the water has evaporated. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute. Add back the meat and add the sauce. Stir for another minute or two before adding the scallions and walnuts. Shut off the heat and serve.
The nice thing is you can also mix things up by adding other vegetables. Mushrooms, but cook them first after the meat at high heat since they release a lot of moisture. Baby corn. Thinly sliced carrots. Broccoli. You name it. Make this recipe your own!
