Basil Stir-Fry

October 10, 2008

This is an easy recipe that’s great for using up any leftover vegetables or meats at the end of a week. You may notice that it’s quite similar to the lo mein and fried rice recipes I posted, and that’s because it’s from the same book (Pam Anderson’s How to Cook Without a Book). Still, she has a great collection of easy, tasty recipes.

I started off with a single frozen pork chop (it’s pair had been used in the aforementioned fried rice), a yellow onion, a couple carrots, a green bell pepper, a piece of ginger, two cloves of garlic, soy sauce, a quarter cup of chicken broth, two teaspoons of rice wine vinegar, a half teaspoon sugar, and a small handful of fresh basil leaves.

Since stir-fry moves pretty quickly, I prepared a full mise en place. I cut my pork chop into small pieces and marinated them with a tablespoon or two of soy sauce in a bowl. I then sliced my onion into wedges, peeled and cut my carrots into rondelles at an angle, cored, seeded, and sliced the bell pepper,  and minced about a tablespoon of peeled ginger and both cloves of garlic. I mixed my flavoring sauce in a liquid measuring cup, combining a quarter cup of chicken broth, a quarter cup soy sauce, a half teaspoon sugar, two teaspoons rice wine vinegar, and some minced fresh basil leaves.

With my mise en place complete, I preheated my 12″ cast iron skillet between medium and medium-high. The oil seems to start to smoke around medium-high, but medium isn’t really as hot as it should be for stir-frying. When my skillet was hot enough, I first added my marinated pork and stirred it around until it was browned on all sides and about cooked through. It only took a couple minutes since pork was in pretty small pieces.

I removed the pork, added another tablespoon or two of oil, and let the skillet reheat for a minute. I first added my onion and stirred it around for a minute or two, then added my sliced carrot. I let this mixture cook for a couple minutes before adding my garlic and ginger, and then quickly afterward the green pepper. I stir fried these for a final couple minutes then turned the heat down to medium low.

I added the pork back to the skillet, mixed it in, then poured on my flavoring sauce. I mixed this around and let the sauce simmer for a minute or two, then turned off the heat. I served my stir fry over a heaping bowl of jasmine rice.

This was a very tasty (and pretty easy) recipe. My only complaint was that I probably should have used more basil. The recipe recommends a quarter cup, but I was slightly below that I think.

Tips

• The amounts are quite variable here regarding the meat and vegetables. Feel free to mix and match with what you have on hand. Just be sure to use an onion and add your longer cooking vegetables first.
• Don’t use more than a tablespoon of minced ginger. I’m pretty sure I had more than a tablespoon and it was a bit overpowering.
• Marinating the meat is important. Without it, the meat doesn’t taste like anything but itself. It won’t absorb the flavors after cooking, but the soy sauce marinade makes it mesh with the dish much better.
• Also about the marinade: the recipe recommends one tablespoon of soy sauce and one of dry sherry. I didn’t have sherry, so I just used two of soy sauce.
• You can add a mixture of cornstarch and chicken broth at the end to thicken the sauce, but I don’t think it needs it.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Stir-Fry

• 1-2 pieces of meat/poultry, chopped into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry (optional)
• 1 onion, cut into wedges or slices
• 1 pound of vegetables, cut into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Flavoring Sauce

• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, minced or shredded

Recipe:

1. Prepare your mise en place: mix your flavoring sauce, chop your vegetables, mince the ginger and garlic, and chop your meat into bite size pieces. Marinate the meat in a separate bowl with the tablespoon of soy sauce and sherry for around 15 minutes. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. When the skillet is hot, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and then the meat. Cook the meat for 2-3 minutes, or until it is browned on all sides. Remove the meat to a separate bowl.
3. Add another two tablespoons of vegetable oil to the empty skillet. Add the onion and cook for a minute or two. If you use two additional vegetables, add the one now that takes the longest to cook and stir-fry it for a minute or two. Add the ginger and garlic, and the second vegetable subsequently. Cook for a couple minutes. You want the vegetable crisp, but slightly cooked.
4. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the meat back to the pan. Pour the flavoring sauce over the mixture and stir it in. Let it simmer for a minute or two to thicken. Serve and enjoy!

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