Recipes From The Road- Thai Stir Fry

On our last day in Houston we followed a tip from our friends Mark and Lianna and went shopping at the Canino Produce Market. The front portion of the market resembles a regular grocery store, but there is an adjacent area in the back of the market where local farmers set up booths and sell their produce directly to you. In this section of the market you can bargain on the prices and there is quite more variety to be found. While there we stocked up on a bunch of fresh vegetables and fruits, so we needed a recipe that called for what we'd purchased. Given our love of Thai food, we did a quick search on the Thaifood.About.com site and quickly found a stir fry recipe that hit the spot. That night we made a super delicious meal and I thought I would share it with you!

Inside Canino Produce Market- the grocery store portion

Inside Canino Produce Market- the farmer's booths section 

So we didn't follow the recipe completely. It called for beef and I'm not a huge fan of beef so we substituted the much leaner protein- ground turkey. We also didn't have any ginger root on hand, as well as cornstarch, so we did without those two ingredients. We added green beans to the recipe because we'd bought a huge bag of them and I like the crunch that green beans add to a spicy dish. So, without further ado, here is the recipe (copied from the linked website) and pictures of how our meal turned out:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 to 1 lb. (0.45 kg) beef steak or other cuts
• 1 medium head broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
• 1 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1 shallot OR 1/4 cup purple onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 thumb-size pieces ginger, thinly sliced into matchstick-like pieces
• 3 Tbsp. sherry (or cooking sherry), or red wine
• 1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3 Tbsp. cool water
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 2-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

MARINADE:

• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cornstarch

STIR-FRY SAUCE:

• 1/2 cup good-tasting chicken stock
• 3 Tbsp. oyster-flavored sauce
• 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 to 2 tsp. brown sugar, to taste
• 1-2 red chilies, minced, OR 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. dried crushed chili (chili flakes), to taste

Preparation:

- Cut steak on the bias (on an angle) into thin 2-3 inch long strips and place in a bowl. Combine marinade ingredients in a cup, stirring well to dissolve the cornstarch. Pour this over the beef and toss. Set aside.

- In a cup or small bowl, combine the stir-fry sauce ingredients together, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.

- Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add oil and swirl around, then add the shallot/onion, garlic, and ginger. Stir-fry 1 minute to release the fragrance.

We sauteed the purple onion with the garlic

- Add the beef together with its marinade. Stir-fry until browned, 4-5 minutes. Add the sherry as you   stir-fry to keep pan moist.

Here is where we added the ground turkey

- Add broccoli and red pepper plus stir-fry sauce. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have softened but still retain some crunch.

Adding in red pepper and green beans

And loads of broccoli!

- Stir together the cornstarch and water mixture. Push ingredients aside in the wok to reveal the stir-fry sauce. Add the cornstarch-water mixture and stir to thicken the sauce. Then stir-fry everything together. (we skipped this step and everything turned out just fine)

- Switch off heat and drizzle over the sesame oil. Taste-test the dish. If not salty or flavorful enough, add more fish sauce until desired taste is achieved. If too salty for your taste, add a squeeze of lime or lemon juice. If not sweet enough, add a little more sugar. Add more chili for more heat. Serve with plenty of Thai jasmine rice. Thai chili sauce can also be served on the side for those who like it extra spicy. 

The finished product, num!!

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Happy Thai Stir Fry!

M.