STIR FRY ANYTHING

Steps:

• Cut your cleaned chicken, beef or pork tenderloin into 1 inch cubes or thin strips. At this stage you may marinate the meat or you do not have to do so. In the comments section, I and other JAP chefs usually add tips for my recipes so look for marination tips and or suggestions there in the future. Remember this is the basics of stir frying - my way. ;) PS You can buy marination sauces at Kroger and other grocery stores. I use Mr. Wong's Oriental WoK sauces, but I mainly make my own marinates. It's just a lot cheaper and easy to do. Marinating meat for stir fry takes only 10 minutes to 30 minutes- normally. Set aside your cleaned and cut up meat and or your peeled shrimp. (If making Shrimp stir fry, place your shrimp shells in a 3 Qt. Pot (We'll create a savory stock for our Shrimp Stir fry sauce with those. Don't panic, it is easy to make.)
• Dice 2 Tbsps of onion and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. (Should you use fresh garlic, you may mince or cut garlic cloves in small strips, but use about a 1/4th to 1/3rd head of garlic - for a pound of meat, to your taste.) Also, add 1 tsp of fresh ginger paste with the onion and garlic. Set aside.
• Mix 2 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of corn starch plus some of your canned broth and set aside with the rest of your broth. (I use chicken broth with chicken and or shrimp. I use beef broth with beef. I use vegetable broth with whatever. With pork, I have used chicken and or vegetable broth.)
• Next, Cut up fresh vegetables: Any combination of your choice~ Onion (Red Onion makes a good presentation) Celery Mushroom slices *Cabbage *Carrots *Broccoli Bell Peppers (red, yellow, green for presentation) Snow Peas Sugar Snap Peas Squash etc... Cut vegetables into varying shapes and sizes. (I cut Broccoli in 1 and a half to two inch florets and bell peppers in 1 inch cubes. Onions, I cut lengthwise, into strips approximately 1/2 inch wide. (I buy my mushrooms already sliced.)) *NOTE: The asterisks with the above vegetables - I recommend "boiling" those vegetables for three minutes minutes in a 3 Qt pot of water because they take a good bit longer to stir fry. After boiling for several minutes, I drain and set them aside with all the other cut up vegetables. (Note: DO NOT INCLUDE the diced onion, minced garlic and ginger with these vegetables.) Here is a good example of what I would do for 2 to 3 cups of fresh vegetables 1 cup of onion 1/4 cup of celery 1/4 cup of carrots 1/4 cup of mushrooms 1 cup of two different colors of bell peppers 1/4 cup of carrots
• Heat oil on medium high heat in WOK. When the oil shimmers, it is ready and so add your diced onion, garlic and ginger; saute for 1 minute at most and then...
• Add cut up chicken or beef or pork tenderloin and saute on medium high, stirring constantly til done. This process will take approximately 7 to 10 minutes. As the meat cooks, you may add seasonings of your choice. (I use poultry seasoning with chicken, Tiger Seasoning with Pork, Salt and Pepper with beef. Of course I use whatever else I like. It is difficult to mess up if you do not add a lot of any one seasoning.) Check meat for doneness by sticking a knife in it to see if it's juices run clear.) When done, remove from wok and set aside.
• Add to the WOK ~ all fresh vegetables, including those which were blanched (boiled) and stir fry for several minutes, til crisp and tender. (Remember, we're cooking on medium high) At this stage, you may add a can of drained water chestnuts and or a can of drained baby corn too.) TIP~ The more vegetables you have, the slower they'll cook so keep in mind my recipe is calling for a couple to several cups of fresh vegetables. With this recipe, you may cook for as many people as you'd like by adding more vegetables and meat. Once vegetables are cooked, add meat and corn starch, soy sauce broth and continue stirring until sauce has thickened. TIP~ Keep in mind the sauce should not be so thick it looks like gravy. If it is not thick enough, you may mix some more corn starch and a 1/4th cup of water and add to the WOK. The sauce should be thicker than the water state but more runny than gravy. (Hope I make sense to beginner stir fry chefs.)
• -STIR FRY SHRIMP- ADD the below vegetables to the Pot of SHRIMP SHELLS~ Core with attached stem and seeds of from the bell pepper Cut off the top from a bunch of celery and throw the celery tops, including leaves, in the pot with the shells. Add a 1/4 of a medium onion. (No need to cut up onion) Add a half tsp to of Black PepperCorns and a 1/4th tsp salt. Pour a can of chicken broth into the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer with lid on for an hour and a half and discard the shells, vegetables and peppercorns. *This broth will become your savory sauce when making Shrimp Stir Fry.
• Once your stock (seafood broth) is made, Add a tablespoon of corn starch to a 1/4th cup of water plus 2 Tbsp of soy sauce. Combine together. Heat your oil and saute diced onion, garlic and ginger in WOK for 1 minute and then add your blanched vegetables, fresh vegetables and cook for several minutes til tender, but crisp. (Do not over cook.) Now add the shrimp and seasonings of your choice such as Seafood Magic. Once the shrimp turns pink (which should take approximately 2 to 3 minutes - depending on their size) add the seafood broth which has been mixed and well blended with the corn starch and soy sauce, stirring until sauce has thickened, but not thick as gravy. You may add a little more corn starch, if needed, but don't over do.
• At this stage, sample the finished product to see if you should adjust seasonings by adding more spices such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, soy sauce, Seafood Magic, Tiger Seasoning, Poultry Seasoning, etc... depending on the choice of meat you used.
• Serve over HOT Rice or Noodles. OPTIONAL - May add a couple teaspoons of sesame seed oil to your hot cooked noodles and mix well for added Asian aroma and flavor.
• VARIATION: - Stir Fry Mexican Quick Fajitas - Stir fry the pound chicken or beef, or shrimp or all three with oil. Set aside. Stir fry sliced onions, bell peppers, and fresh mushrooms. Add your meat back to the WOK of vegetables and 1 package of Fajita Mix. Stir until well blended. SERVE WITH TORTILLAS and lime wedges. (Squeeze a wedge of lime over your meat and vegetables before rolling up your fajita tortilla. Yum yum.