Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe
Beef and vegetable stir fry is a hearty delicacy originating from the Asian stir-fry cuisines. It has been widely adopted globally with different cultures customizing it to desirable tastes and flavors. In most cases, stir-frying brings together flavorings, sauces, vegetables and a protein.
Flavorings comprise of herbs and spices. The most common for stir-fried meals include garlic, ginger, onion, corriender, celery and peppers. Soy sauce is mainly used as the primary ingredient to prepare stir-fry seasoning sauces. Other ingredients include cornstarch, lemon juice, water, sugar, herbs, spices and wine.
Stir-fry recipes use an assortment of vegetables. Some are used as primary ingredients while others are used for color enrichment. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflowers, zucchini and snow peas are some the best primary vegetables whereas colored bell peppers and carrots add beautiful colors to the final meal.
The list of proteins comprises of different types of meat. The most common ones include beef, pork, chicken, fish fillets and shrimp. Lean beef is the best for beef stir fry.
Important Tips for Stir-Fry Recipes
- From meat to vegetables, all the ingredients should be cut or sliced into reasonable pieces. This increases the surface area for absorption of flavors, seasonings and oil.
- Meat should be tenderized or pre-cooked. Ideally, stir-frying recipes involve a few steps of sautéing and mixing. There is no room for cooking raw meat that requires a long time to soften
- Different vegetables should be added at different stages starting with the ones that require more time to cook. This allows all the vegetables to cook evenly.
- Stir fry sauce should be thickened lightly and with a thickener that does not alter the final flavor.
- Cooking oils with a high smoking point are the best for stir-frying because they do not smoke unnecessarily.
- Stir fry recipes are highly customizable. You can always choose different sets of vegetables and pair them with your favorite meat.
- Do not allow vegetables to over-cook. Cook evenly through continuous stirring and tossing
My Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe
For this recipe, I combined precooked beef with an array of vibrant vegetables. I bought the meat from a local butchery and from a closer look, I could tell it needed to be made more palatable.
I quickly thought of an old trick that I learnt from my mama. Just placing the stubborn cuts in a pressure cooker, adding a little bit of ginger, salt to taste and hot water. You follow up by placing the lid to position and letting it cook in full pressure for about 15 minutes.
The vegetables that I used were rich in color and flavor. The overall meal was simply enjoyable. My husband and brother-in-law were very impressed. I served with rice but of course there are many ways to enjoy beef stir fry.
Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe
Equipment
- Cooking pan
- Cooking stick
- Chopping board
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds beef (preferably lean)
- 2 cups of water
- 2 medium-sized broccoli heads
- 3 medium-sized carrots
- 1 cup sliced purple cabbage
- 1 medium-sized red bell pepper (you can include yellow and orange varieties as well)
- 1 medium-sized zucchini
- 1 large red onion
- 1 large white onion
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- ½ tsp black pepper (divided into two portions)
- 1 tbsp ginger (divided into two portions)
- 1 tbsp garlic paste (divided into two portions)
- 1 small green chili pepper
Instructions
- Transfer beef, ½ tbsp. ginger paste and ¼ teaspoon salt into a skillet. Add water, cover, and let boil until the beef is soft and tender.You can use a pressure cooker to speed up the process (Skip if not applicable).
- Wash broccoli heads and purple cabbage. Cut them into small pieces separately.
- Wash, peel and cut carrots into thin round pieces or thin strips. This depends entirely on your preference
- Cut 1 medium-sized zucchini into round pieces
- Remove seeds from a clean red bell pepper and slice it into thin strips.
- Cut red and white onions into thin slices separately
- Mince garlic and ginger to form a paste.
- Cut chill pepper into small pieces
- Transfer sliced red onion into a cooking pan and add two tablespoons sunflower oil. Let cook on medium heat while stirring until they are almost cooked. Add the remaining ginger and part of the garlic paste.Continue stirring for about one or two minutes.
- Add beef and season with salt and black pepper. You can also add a small about of green chili pepper. Stir slowly for about 5 minutes. Remove beef from the pan and set aside
- Add white onion and a tablespoon of sunflower oil to the pan. Stir for about a minute and add the remaining garlic paste and chili pepper. Continue stirring for about a minute and follow up by adding broccoli and carrots.
- Season with salt and black pepper. Let cook on low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add purple cabbage, red bell pepper and zucchini. Continue stirring for about a minute.
- Add beef to the pan and stir to mix the ingredients. Taste and season appropriately. Let cook for a minute or two.
- Remove from heat and serve with an accompaniment of your choice. Personally, I prefer rice or roast potatoes.