Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry
In a mild Asian flavored sauce
This beef and vegetable stir fry is a great way to satisfy your craving for beef without breaking the bank. The vegetable combination of broccoli, red pepper and water chestnuts provides a nice variety of flavor and texture. Add aromatics of scallion and garlic and your own homemade Asian flavored sauce made from soy sauce, ginger and beef broth and you have a fantastic dinner. You can serve this beef and vegetable stir fry over rice or mashed potatoes or noodles, or if you are limiting carbs this is delicious and satisfying just as it is.
This stir fry can hold it’s own as a meatless recipe also. It has a ton of flavor. You can ditch the meat and enjoy this unusual vegetable combo in a savory Asian flavored sauce as a meal. Or maybe you want to use the vegetables with sauce as a vegetable side dish. This is a very versatile recipe.
Flash Frying
In this stir fry recipe, Ricky uses beef which has been cut into small, thin pieces and he flash fries it. Flash frying is just what you would guess; cooking hot and quick. It makes for a very tender end result, even using a less expensive cut. We will have more for you on flash frying later.
Be prepared!
This recipe cooks up quickly, so it is especially important to have your ingredients prepared before you start cooking. If you are planning on serving this stir fry over a bed of rice, noodles, pasta or mashed potatoes, time accordingly so it will be done when the stir fry is.
This dinner should take 30-40 minutes. If you are not good at multi-taking within time constraints, cook the vegetables first, take them off the heat when they are done to your liking, then flash fry the beef. It will take a little longer than if you fry the beef and sauté the vegetables at the same time, but it is far less stressful.
It’s okay of you aren’t the hare
Some thrive on a chaotic pace. Not me. In my world, haste makes waste and anxiety. Hey, the world needs tortoises. We have been given a bad rap. Slow and steady has won a lot of races!
Learning to spot those things that are likely to send me into a tizzy, and finding a way to get to the goal line without feeling overwhelmed, is a long sought treasure. That ongoing journey of finding how to manage stress, led me to discovering the benefits of preparation! It’s key in cooking but applies to so many other things in everyday life too.
More about preparation
Want to read more about the benefits of preparing before you cook. There are many. We have written some posts Our Formula: Prep time = Time saved, Ready….Set….Prep, Get Ready to Be Ready. Preparation will make the process of cooking dinner so much easier! It really does!
Here’s what YOU WILL NEED:
| 1 pound inexpensive beef, any cut |
| 1 small head of broccoli (about 1/2 to 3/4 pound) |
| 1 red pepper |
| 1 small can water chestnuts |
| 3 scallions |
| 3 cloves fresh garlic |
| 1/3 cup Sesame oil |
| Rice, noodles or mashed potato |
You also need the sauce ingredients
| 1/2 cup beef broth |
| 3 tablespoons soy sauce |
| 2 teaspoons ground ginger or 2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger |
Our COOKING TIDBITS listed at the bottom of our ingredients lists give you a closer look at an ingredient and how to prepare it.
Sesame oil
The sesame oil is part of the flavor profile and should not be substituted with another oil. Sesame oil compliments the ingredients in the sauce.
Are you new to sesame oil and not sure what to buy? Check out the cooking tidbit Using Sesame Oil.
This is WHAT TO DO:
Slice the beef first
Slice the beef in thin slices and then into strips about 1 or 2 inches long, then put the meat aside. Allow it to get to room temperature before you start frying. It is an important step in the flash fry technique.
Slice an economical beef steak into thin strips and then into 1 to 2 inch pieces. Put the beef aside to warm up while you are getting everything else ready. When it comes time to flash fry, it should not be cold.
Prepare the vegetables
Chop the broccoli, red pepper, scallions and garlic. Drain the liquid from the can of water chestnuts.
Chop the broccoli, red pepper, scallions and garlic. Drain the can of water chestnuts.
Making the sauce
Beef broth, soy sauce and ginger make a flavorful sauce for this recipe.
Use dried ground ginger or fresh ginger
You can use dried ground ginger or fresh ginger in this sauce. We used bottled/jarred fresh chopped ginger from the produce department. It can usually be found on the same shelves as chopped jarred or bottled garlic.
You don’t have to worry too much about using a little more or less of fresh ginger, but dried ground ginger is a strong flavor and could easily overpower the taste of other ingredients if you add too much. That is true of any dried vs fresh herb or spice. When dried their flavor gets highly concentrated.
In cooking, it is the root of the ginger plant that is used to flavor recipes. Have you ever seen ginger root? Most produce departments carry it these days. If you want to see what it looks like we have pictures in our cooking tidbit Learn About Using Ginger. We also talk about the difference in flavor between dried ground vs fresh. Our tidbits are short posts highlighting individual ingredients. They give you just a little more information and we hope you find them useful and informative.
The bottom dish in the picture is fresh ginger. It looks much like applesauce. We use bottled chopped ginger from the produce department.
Once I have the ingredients measured out, I mix the soy sauce and ginger right into the broth and mix. It saves having to use another dish.
Mix the beef broth, ginger and soy sauce together in a measuring cup or a small dish.
Let’s start cooking
Have the sesame oil handy to the stove. You will be using it throughout the cooking process.
Sauté the garlic and broccoli in sesame oil
In a heavy bottomed skillet warmed on medium high heat, add enough sesame oil (from the 1/3 cup that is measured out) to cover the bottom of the skillet. You will have plenty of oil left to add later during the cooking process.
Add the chopped broccoli and garlic to the skillet and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes, stay at the stove and move it around while cooking. Since the broccoli will take the longest to cook, we are giving it a head start. It will cook longer as the other vegetables cook. If the broccoli or the garlic is browning, turn the heat down.
We offer you pictures as we make the recipe so you will become accustomed to relying on your senses to let you know when something is done, rather than rely on a given time in a recipe.
The chopped broccoli and garlic are sautéing in the skillet. As the broccoli cooks, it starts turning a brighter green. Keep the broccoli moving in the skillet for even cooking.
Add the scallion and red pepper
Add the red pepper and scallion. You can add a splash more oil if you need it.
One of the things that draws me to cooking is the beauty in the colors and textures of ingredients, especially in dishes like this one.
I see this skillet full of vegetables as a masterpiece of beautiful colors, shapes and sizes. And brightly colored vegetables pack a punch nutritionally also. That’s a win, win in my book.
Sauté for another 3 minutes still on medium high.
Add the water chestnuts
Add the drained water chestnuts and turn them into the vegetables gently so the broccoli doesn’t start breaking up. Sauté, stirring continuously until the vegetables are done the way you like them. Some people like their vegetables still a bit crispy some like them cooked to tender.
Take the skillet off the heat until the beef is cooked.
Add the water chestnuts
In go the water chestnuts.
Do you want a meatless meal?
For a meatless meal, skip over the next section about flash frying and go right to adding the sauce.
Now for flash frying
The new twist for me in this recipe, is the flash frying. Ricky chops the meat in thin slices and sears them in a very hot skillet, constantly stirring for a few minutes; just enough time to cook the meat through. This method of frying keeps the beef very tender.
Get a second heavy skillet ready for frying
In a second skillet with a heavy bottom, heat the empty skillet to “hot” on high heat. After the pan is hot, pour enough sesame oil in the skillet to cover the bottom, and add the sliced pieces of beef that you have brought to room temperature.
Because it is necessary to maintain the high heat of the skillet while frying, you must not pile the meat in the skillet. Too much meat will bring the temperature of the pan down and you will be steaming the meat in its own moisture, which make the meat very tough.
As in the picture below, the beef strips should have plenty of room in the pan to be moved around so all sides can be seared in the steaming hot pan.
Depending on the size of your skillet and how many pieces you are frying, you may need to fry in two batches. It is worth the extra effort.
Flash fry the beef on high heat until it is lightly browned. Do not overcook.
As you can see from the steam, the skillet is hot. Note that there is not a lot of meat in the pan. You should be able to move the pieces of meat around freely. Sear the meat on each side. Stay at the stove and keep moving the pieces around in the pan so they are evenly cooked.
Add the beef to the vegetables
When the vegetable mixture and the beef is cooked, add the beef to the skillet with the vegetables.
All the beef has been added to the vegetable mixture. Now it is time to add the sauce and move that skillet onto the high heat until the sauce comes to a boil.
Pour in the sauce
Pour in the sauce of beef broth, soy sauce and ginger. On high heat, bring the liquid to a boil, and then remove it from the heat. It is important to remove the skillet from the heat once the sauce starts boiling. Otherwise, you end up boiling the meat. It will be rubbery and tasteless.
Serve
Serve over rice, pasta, noodles or mashed potatoes.
Have it your way
Once you have these basic cooking techniques mastered, experiment with your favorite vegetables and or meats.
Think about the cooking time of each of the vegetables. Put the ones needing more time in first, until they are just getting tender, and then add any quicker cooking vegetables.
Cooking is a very creative process, particularly when you are starting with a basic recipe like this one. Enjoy your time in the kitchen by making the dish your own. The only way to gain confidence in the kitchen is practicing the craft, just like anything else. If you are working with ingredients you like, how can you go wrong?
Want to try another one of our easy stir fry recipes? Take a look at CHICKEN STIR FRY.
Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup sesame oil
- 1 head broccoli small head about ½ to ¾ pounds
- 1 red pepper
- 1 can water chestnuts small can drained
- 3 scallions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons ginger or 2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
- ½ cup beef broth
- 1 pound beef steak use a less expensive cut of beef
- rice or pasta, noodles, mashed potato
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients
- Decide what starch, if any you will be using as the bed for your stir fry. According to package directions, plan to cook the starch so it will be done in the 30-40 minutes it takes to make the stir fry.
- Slice the beef steak into thin strips, then cut the strips into pieces about 1 to 2 inches long. Put the beef aside to warm up before you flash fry.
- Chop the broccoli, red pepper, garlic and scallions.
- Drain the water chestnuts
- Mix up the sauce using broth, soy sauce and ginger.
Cooking Instructions
- Put a heavy bottomed skillet on medium high heat, cover the bottom with sesame oil and add broccoli and garlic. Stirring often sauté until the broccoli is beginning to get tender.
- Add a little more oil (2-3 tablespoons) to the pan before adding red pepper and scallions. Still on medium high heat, cook until the red pepper is your desired doneness.
- Add water chestnuts and incorporate them into the mixture as you bring them up to temperature. Take the vegetable mix off the heat.
- Place a second heavy bottomed skillet on high heat and let the skillet get hot. When heated, cover the bottom with sesame oil and add the beef pieces. All the pieces should be exposed to the bottom of the pan and have room around them to be turned quickly and easily. Depending on the size of the skillet, you may need to fry in batches. If you start piling the beef up in the skillet it will bring the temperature down and make the meat tough and rubbery.
- When all the meat has been fried, add it to the vegetable mix, then add the sauce you have mixed up. On high heat, bring the sauce to a boil. Remove from heat. The stir fry is ready to be served.
- Prepare the starch of your choice according to package directions. Know, in advance, how long it will take to cook, so it will be done by the time your stir fry mixture is. The stir fry should take about 30-40 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Let’s talk about scallions
Scallions are also called green onions. They have a little white bulb at the end of a long green stem. Chop up the white bulb after trimming off the “hairy” tip. Then continue to chop the green stems until you have all that you want to add to your dish. The stems are completely edible. Scallions have a taste similar to an onion, yet more subtle.
The whole scallions, as you would buy them, are pictured on the far left. Other onions on the board, from the top outside row: White onion (sometimes called sweet onions), red onion (sometimes called Bermuda onions), yellow onion. Inside row is two shallots with a head of garlic in the middle.