We love stir-fries and I am always looking for new recipes to try. I came across this recipe and thought I would give it a try. I made a few changes; I added chicken and extra veggie. So the trick to this stir-fry is to cook most of the veggies separately, bringing them together at the end with the sauce. The result? The sauce is superb and the veggies perfectly cooked, not too mushy, not too hard. The sauce with honey, chili, soy sauce, and ginger is at once hot, sweet, salty and tangy.
Ingredients:
Glaze
2 Tbsp soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if you are avoiding gluten)
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup of chicken or vegetable broth
Sauce
3 Tbsp soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if you are avoiding gluten)
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce
1 Tbsp corn starch
Vegetables
4 teaspoons minced garlic
4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
4 Tbsp vegetable oil, preferably a high smoke-point oil such as grapeseed oil, peanut oil, or canola oil
About 2 lbs of cremini or button mushrooms, quartered
2 cups of a long-cooking veggie such as sliced carrots. Other long-cooking vegetables that can be used are broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, asparagus (diagonally cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces), or green beans (trimmed, diagonally cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces)
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup of a more quickly cooking vegetable such as red bell pepper (stems, seeds removed, cut into 1/2-inch dice) or snow peas (strings and ends removed)
1 1b leafy greens - bok choy or napa cabbage (separate the stems of the bok choy and the tougher core of the napa cabbage from the greens)
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Directions:
Whisk the glaze ingredients together in a bowl and the sauce ingredients together in a different bowl. In a third bowl, mix the garlic, ginger and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil.
Heat 3 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large, stick-free skillet on medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, without stirring, until browned on one side, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and use tongs to turn the mushrooms to brown the other side. When mushrooms are browned and tender, about 5 minutes, increase the heat to medium-high and add the glaze. Cook, stirring to coat the mushrooms, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer mushrooms to a large bowl. Wipe out skillet with a paper towel.
Heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the skillet on medium-high heat until the pan begins to smoke. Add carrots (or other longer cooking veggie) and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup broth and cover skillet. Cook until carrots are tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates. Transfer carrots to bowl with mushrooms. Wipe skillet clean with paper towel.
Heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the skillet on medium high heat until it begins to smoke. Add the bell pepper and bok choy stems or napa cabbage cores and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to brown and soften, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add leafy greens and cook for a minute further. Push the veggies to the side of the pan and add the garlic-ginger mixture in the clearing. Cook 15 seconds, until fragrant, and then mix in with the other vegetables.
Add all the vegetables back into the pan (mushrooms, carrots, etc.). Add the sauce to the pan. Mix well and cook, stirring, until the sauce has thickened and all the vegetables are coated with the sauce, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds if desired. Serve immediately. Recommended with rice.
Yield: Serves 3 to 4.
