Stir fry is something relatively new to my kitchen. Growing up, this was a dish that was never served. My sister has a dislike of rice, and my dad is not a fan of veggies, which meant any stir fry had ingredients in it that half the family wouldn’t eat. After marrying Cole, he always enjoyed the food I made, but after about five years, he started asking why I never made stir fry. I took a step back and started looking at some recipes, but I was pretty intimidated. The flavor palates were something I was completely unfamiliar with since I had only eaten at Chinese restaurants a small number of times. However, I had eaten Beef Lo Mein, so I knew I wanted my steak stir fry to taste similar to that. Cole isn’t a fan of Lo Mein noodles, so I knew my dish needed to be combined with rice instead. Because I wasn’t super familiar with the flavors of soy sauce, ginger, and sesame seeds, this dish took quite a while to be blog ready, but I am finally happy with the product I have created.
*This dish serves three people with normal dinner-sized portions, or four people with smaller lunch-sized portions.
Ingredients
Meat
1 lb Flank Steak
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Cornstarch
2 tsp Olive Oil
Sauce
½ tsp Minced Onion Flakes
⅔ cup Beef Broth
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
¾ tsp Garlic Powder
¾ tsp Ground Ginger
1 ½ tbsp Soy Sauce
Garnish, Veggies, and Rice
1 tbsp Sesame Seeds
20 oz Frozen Broccoli Florets
2 cups Minute Rice
**Optional – Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms – see Kitchen Tip between Directions 8 and 9
Directions
1. Trim the fat off the flank steak and cut the rest of the meat into ½ inch cubes.
2. Combine the steak, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, and 2 tbsp of cornstarch in either a Ziploc bag or bowl. Set aside to let it marinate while preparing the other ingredients.
3. Place the sesame seeds in a small frying pan. Turn heat to medium and stir the seeds continuously until they start to brown, then immediately remove them from the pan so they don’t burn.
4. Steam the broccoli according to the directions on the bag. Directions on these bags come in minute ranges. Use the lowest time increment and subtract a minute. This will allow the broccoli to be semi-steamed, which will stop it from becoming mushy when added to the rest of the stir fry.
5. Make the rice according to the instructions on the Minute Rice box – make enough for four people.
6. Heat the beef broth in the microwave and combine all the other sauce ingredients into it. Make sure the brown sugar dissolves completely into the mixture by stirring with a whisk.
7. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan or wok. When heated, add in the flank steak bits and cook while stirring continuously for five minutes.
8. Add the semi-steamed broccoli to the pan/wok, then pour the sauce and toasted sesame seeds in. Simmer on low heat for 4-5 minutes to let the flavors combine.
**Kitchen Tip: I only use broccoli in this stir fry because Cole has an aversion to mushrooms, but if I was making this dish for just me, I would definitely add in a package of Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms. This would also increase the size of the dish to possibly make it feed more people.
9. Serve the stir fry over the top of the Minute Rice in bowls.
Even though I may have needed multiple attempts of trial and error to perfect this dish, it is now a staple in our home. There is one thing to note about this recipe that is a bit different from most of the entrees on my blog. This stir fry has an element of sweetness. Most foods on my site have more of a zip to them, but this one sticks strictly to sweet and savory at Cole’s request.
Soup's On with Schallock 