20 minutes to Tasty

Kimberly's House Special Stir-Fry
One of my favorite meals is stir-fry. Fast, easy, and delicious...that's the trifecta, right? With so many variations, it never gets boring, and by playing mix & match with the ingredients you can get a new dish almost every time you make it! Mom & I came up with the idea for making this Wednesday when my brother and his kids were joining us for dinner, rounding out the total number of people to 10...another reason stir-fry is such a great meal: add some rice and you can feed plenty of people for a reasonable cost.

I like to use whatever veggies sound good on any given day :) No hard and fast rules here! This time we used snap peas, water chestnuts, and broccoli "slaw", which is really just shredded broccoli and carrots. I would have preferred more water chestnuts, but that is just because they are my favorite stir-fry veggie! So crisp! Next was the sauce. Now, there will already be plenty of flavor because the meat is marinated for a time in equal parts hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, and soy sauce....but I love a good sauce, as I've said before, so I made a quick Chinese style brown sauce to go with the stir-fry and rice (and chow mein noodles, gotta have those!!). The sauce is easy:
6 tbsp light brown sugar
6 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp corn starch
3 cups water or chicken broth
That's it! Just combine in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally so the cornstarch doesn't clump and form a lumpy sauce. Boil 1 minute, then remove from heat. This is spooned over the stir-fry or the rice, or both. I prefer to have the stir-fry atop the rice, then a bit of sauce atop that. Oh, and then sprinkle on the chow mein noodles. Liberally, please :)

Ok, as I mentioned the meat was marinated with the trio of sauces. You don't have to do this for long, just 20 min. or so will be plenty. You can use just about any meat you like...this night we used both chicken (boneless, skinless breasts) and pork (loin chops). Stir fry quickly, in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan. When all the meat is done, stir fry the vegetables, adding a bit of soy sauce and a bit of sesame oil. This adds a lot of flavor very simply. Once tender-crisp, toss with the meats. Here is how it looked when finished:

And there you have it! Easy, fast, and delicious! I didn't take pics of the rice and chow mein noodles, because I'm sure you've seen them before :) You can also serve this with Yakisoba (stir fried soba noodles), in place of the rice or along with the rice, your choice. Enjoy!