Better Than Takeout Stir Fry

{Picture Pending!!}

I love ordering take out like any other city girl but I don’t love thinking about all the unknown ingredients and excessive oils in there (and don’t even get me started on MSG…). I always thought there was no way I could reproduce something as tasty at home but I took a stab at it and was pleasantly surprised! Here’s what I did and as always, modify as you wish 🙂

Here’s what you need:

  • One boneless ribeye
  • 1/2 lb of prawns, shelled and deveined
  • 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 T toasted sesame oil
  • Juice of one lime
  • 3 T chili paste
  • 1-inch knob of ginger, peeled
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 large shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 6 asparagus stalks, chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 crown broccoli
  • 1 large carrot, sliced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 large handful (yes this is a measurement…) snow peas
  • 2 green onions, sliced (whites & greens)

Directions:

  • Stick the ribeye in the freezer for 20-30 minutes then thinly slice against the grain (when the meat is super cold it’s much easier to run your knife through!). Place in a large bowl with the shrimp.
  • Whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, veggie oil, lime juice, and chili paste. Use a microplane to grate the ginger and garlic cloves into the sauce and whisk all ingredients together again.
  • Pour enough of the sauce over your meat and shrimp to coat them and reserve the rest for later. Let the meat marinate for as long as possible (can be done the night before or if you’re in a time crunch you can let it marinate on the counter while you cook the veggies).
  • Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of a light oil (peanut is the best… Don’t use olive oil as it has a low burning temperature). Once the oil is hot add the mushrooms and cook until they release their juices, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the asparagus and broccoli and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add the carrot next and continue cooking for a minute before adding the bell pepper. Add your meat and shrimp and cook until the shrimps are almost cooked through (about 2-3 minutes). Finish by throwing in the snow peas, green onions, and reserved sauce. Cook for another minute or until the shrimp is cooked through.
  • Check for seasoning! The stir fry should already be pretty salty from the soy sauce but feel free to add salt if it’s not enough. Definitely add some pepper and maybe some extra chili paste depending on how spicy you like it.
  • Enjoy!

TIPS:

  • I served this with a brown rice medley from Trader Joe’s but it would be delicious with any type of rice or Asian noodles.
  • Use whatever veggies look best! I stared at the bok choy at the store for a while before deciding I had enough vegetables in my basket already. You could also add in a jalapeño or any type of chili pepper for some extra heat and flavor or try mixing in different types of bell peppers.
  • For a vegetarian option use a variety of mushrooms instead or add tofu (I hate tofu but I realize there are many people out there that love it). You can actually marinate the shiitake mushrooms and/or tofu in the sauce the same way as the meat.
  • This ended up being too much food for two people… Maybe more like 3 servings. I would definitely double the recipe if feeding 4 people.

Asian Hot & Sour Soup

I’m calling this soup “Asian Hot & Sour” because the flavors were inspired by Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese soups I love. I’d say it most resembles Tom Yum… Essentially I decided to totally wing it and try to make a tasty soup and it actually turned out pretty good!! I’m sure there are many ways to do this better but for a first attempt I’m pretty proud. I’m fortunate to have access to some exotic ingredients at my local grocery store although I couldn’t find kaffir lime leaves or galangal which would have really made this soup sing I’m sure! Luckily ginger can be substituted for galangal but kaffir is a unique flavor that can’t be replaced. Oh well!FullSizeRender 35

Here’s what you’ll need for all components:

  • 1 pound fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined (reserve shells)
  • Five stalks of lemongrass, outer layers removed (four roughly chopped and the last thinly sliced)
  • 2 x 1-inch knobs of ginger, peeled (one kept whole, one finely chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh turmeric
  • I bunch of cilantro (leaves chopped, stems reserved)
  • 2 yellow onions (one quartered, peel kept intact, and the other peeled and sliced thick)
  • 6 cloves garlic (4 kept whole, two finely chopped)
  • 5 stalks green onion (2 roughly chopped, 3 sliced)
  • 1 pound mixed wild mushrooms (whatever looks good – oyster is my fave)
  • 12 thai chilis, stems removed (can substitute with 2-3 jalapeños if you can’t find the little thai ones)
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • Olive oil

For the broth:

  • Combine the shrimp shells, the four stalks of roughly chopped lemongrass, one knob of ginger, one tablespoon turmeric, stems from cilantro bunch, one yellow onion (quartered), 4 garlic cloves (left whole), 2 stalks of green onion (roughly chopped), mushroom stems, and chilis in a large stock pot. Fill pot with water to the top.
  • Simmer stock until water is reduced in half. BE CAREFUL – this happens faster than with other stocks! I accidentally over reduced the mixture (twice!). Makesure that your heat setting is on low as you want the mixture to cook as long as possible without losing too much water so that maximum flavor is created.
  • Strain mixture and reserve stock (can be made a day or two in advance).

For the soup:

  • Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy duty pot or dutch oven.
  • SautĂ© the onions for a couple minutes until they start to get translucent.
  • Add the mushrooms and sautĂ©, stirring continuously until they release their moisture.
  • Add the remaining lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, and garlic and cook for a couple minutes until the flavors start to develop.
  • Add the cleaned shrimp and cooked until they just START to turn pink (they’re going to keep cooking once you add the broth in!).
  • Add the reserved broth and simmer for another couple minutes to let the flavors combine.
  • Turn the heat off and add the lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, green onion, and 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro leaves. Add more/less of any of these ingredients to suit your palette.

TIPS:

  • This is a completely off-the-cuffrecipe that I messed around with one night. I definitely encourage playing around with it and adding more or less of any ingredient. I looked up a lot of recipes to get some inspiration and then played around with whatever ingredients looked good at the store.
  • I like things spicy and this definitely is HOT! Tone down the number of chilis if you like it milder but remember that the heat dissipates after the stock settles and the other flavors balance the heat out.
  • Try out various mushrooms! I found enoki at the store which give it a noodle-like texture. I also love maitake and shitake. The Thai restaurant I fell in love with Tom Yum at always used straw mushrooms but I haven’t found them as easily.
  • Want a heartier meal? Add udon noodles!! The first night I made this as a first course to a big Sunday dinner and then I warmed up the leftovers the next day and served with udon noodles for a complete meal. YUM!

Tasting Vietnam

I think the best thing you can do in life is travel and take in the world – whether it be exploring a new continent or making a 45-minute drive up the coast. I recently traveled to Asia for the first time and openly took in the culture shock. We chose to visit Vietnam as its tourism is growing but it’s still “off-the-beaten-path” and, well, we really like cheap Vietnamese food. It’s a country with a rich, complex history and its cuisine tells a story of similarity and separation. We started in Hanoi, spent a night in Halong Bay, explored Hoi An, and wrapped up the tour in Ho Chi Minh City. Each location offered a different style of flavor and dishes ranged from light broths to hearty, meaty sandwiches. I’m posting some of my favorite dishes here with the intention that one day I’m going to try to recreate them in my teeny American kitchen. Good luck to me….

Hanoi

IMG_2988

My mom commented that when she was my age the thought of ever visiting Hanoi was ludicrous. Perhaps similar to how we conceive Baghdad today? We’ll see. Anyway, it’s hard to describe Hanoi. It’s like old world French colonialism meets cold, rigid Communism. I was expecting big, bold flavors but instead we sampled a number of very mild yet fresh dishes. The pho we ate there was incredibly light and refreshing and actually made the perfect breakfast. There’s something great about starting the day with a warm bowl of soup. We ate a really yummy turmeric fish dish (Cha Ca) which I stupidly forgot to take a picture of. It’s essentially a white fish cooked with turmeric, and tons of herbs (specifically dill) in very hot oil table side and served on top of a bowl of rice noodles. My personal favorite thing we tried in Hanoi was actually a type of coffee… Egg Coffee.  A family friend recommended we seek it out and wow am I so happy we did! It’s essentially egg yolks whipped with sweetened condensed milk so it takes on a texture somewhere between a custard and marshmallow. It’s flavored with a splash of strong coffee and layered on top of a cup of brew and topped with powdered chocolate. Absolutely divine.

Hoi An

IMG_2991

This was where the magic food experience happened. Hoi An is a coastal town in Central Vietnam that is known for it’s textiles (cheapest tailored clothes you’ll find) and it’s FOOD. There’s plenty of street food both on the streets and in restaurants (I know… Is it really street food if it’s served in a restaurant?). We did our research and came across Ms. Vy’s restaurants and cooking school. We visited her famous restaurant Morning Glory and sampled a number of local dishes that were full of such a beautiful, simplistic flavor we couldn’t help but sign up for the cooking class to learn (and taste) more. Cao Lau was easily one of the best dishes we sampled… It’s a thicker style of rice noodle flavored with turmeric so they’re yellow. The noodles are mixed with a bit of broth (not a IMG_3011soup) and topped with pork, fresh herbs, peanuts, and crispy rice crackers. We also tried white rose dumplings and a variety of
spring rolls. At the cooking class we learned to make something called “Mother-in-law Soup” which was essentially a light
vegetable broth with a shrimp paste parcel and minced shrimp and veggies. It gets it’s name from the local tradition of newlywed wives satisfying their mother-in-laws by making this soup. We also IMG_3018made something call Banh Xeo which is a staple of Central Vietnamese cuisine and is essentially a rice flour pancake fried in oil until crispy. Delicious but ohhhh the oil! Lastly we made some barbecued chicken skewers and served them on top of a green mango salad (basically the same as papaya salad). Overall a wonderful and filling meal from start to finish and a fantastic thing to have experienced. Looking back on our stay in Hoi An I would have to say that the tastiest food we had by far was the barbecued pork we got on a street corner. We sat on little plastic chairs and a tray of various herbs, spicy peanut sauce, and rice paper was set in front of us. We were then served freshly grilled pork skewers (literally open flame in front of us on this street corner) which you then assembled into a wrap. So delicious, cheap, and memorable!

IMG_2995IMG_2996IMG_2997

Ho Chi Minh City

Our final stop… This city is very westernized yet it still has it’s charm. It was HOT yet I finally felt like I found some of the spice IMG_3032and flavor I was waiting for the whole trip. We visited the legendary Lunch Lady (made famous by Anthony Bourdain and for good reason). At little joints like hers you basically go sit down and they serve you whatever they felt like making that day… No need to order and don’t even try to guess what ingredients are in your food. We got Bun Bo Hue which was just epic to say the least. We had been searching for this noodle soup dish for the last week, expecting to find it in Hoi An since Hue is not too far
from that city. Let’s just say it was worth the wait. The broth is rich, sour, and spicy and served with chewy rice noodles and various meats (again, not sure what I ate exactly). I have looked up recipes since enjoying this dish and it looks pretty intense but I promise I will try to tackle it at some point! For now, here is a beautiful picture to remind me of that mouth-watering goodness…