Easy Spicy Stir Fry

by mephistia

Over the years, my husband and I have developed quite the taste for Eastern-Asian themed food. The PNW, like most of the West Coast, has a long (and often turbulent) history with the Eastern cultures. As a result, we have easy access to both restaurants and grocery stores offering us a variety cuisines and ingredients ranging from Americanized to traditional versions of Chinese, Monogolian, Thai, Japanese, and Vietnamese foods. It’s pretty cool.

This is a “leftover” dish we like to make when we have leftover pork, chicken, or steak strips. We slice up the meat thin and stir fry it with veggies, noodles, and spices to make a quick and tasty meal.

Easy Spicy Stir Fry

Ingredients

Yakisoba noodles
1-2 Thai chiles (optional; to taste)
2 leaves bok choy
1/2 head green cabbage
1 broccoli crown
4-5 shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons oil (canola, sesame, or peanut)
Firm tofu
Simply Asia stir fry seasoning
Soy sauce
Yoshida sauce
Lemon juice
Thinly slice meat of choice (chicken, pork, beef)

Instructions

  1. Roughly chop (about 1-inch pieces) the vegetables (bok choy, cabbage, broccoli, green onion) and mix together in large bowl, set aside.
  2. Slice mushrooms and set aside.
  3. Slice meat of choice, put in a bowl with about 2 tbls of soy sauce, set aside.
  4. Chop the tofu into cubes. I usually use about 1/2 of a 12-oz package, but this is really to taste. If you like more tofu, use more.
  5. Lightly fry the tofu cubes in oil until they’re golden brown.
  6. Meanwhile, soak the packet of yakisoba noodles in warm water and dice the Thai chilies
  7. When tofu is golden brown and crispy, remove it from oil, drain, and set aside.
  8. In a large wok, sautee the thai chiles in about 2 tbsp of oil (you can re-use the tofu-frying oil).
  9. Add lemon juice to taste, about 1/2 cup of Yoshida sauce, and the yakisoba noodles, turn meat to medium-low and cover. Stir occasionally, cooking for about 5-7 minutes.
  10. Liberally add Simply Asia seasoning (about 2 tbls)
  11. Add the chopped vegetables, a squirt or two of lemon juice, and 1-2 tbls of soy sauce. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  12. Add more Simply Asia seasoning to taste.
  13. When vegetables have cooked down, add mushrooms and meat, and cook another 5 minutes.

Sometimes I pick up fresh bean sprouts, asparagus, canned water chestnuts, or canned bamboo slices and add them. This recipe is really endlessly variable — if you don’t like it hot, reduce the Asian seasonings and omit the Thai chilies. If you don’t have Thai chilies on hand, substitute jalapenos or habaneros. If you don’t have the Asian seasoning, crush a garlic clove and grate some fresh ginger up on there. It’s easy, tasty, and filling. The resulting liquid tastes great on steamed rice, and the whole pot cooks up enough for a family of three to eat dinner and have lunch leftovers for two or three days. It’s also (as mentioned earlier) a great way to use up leftover grilled meat and/or the tail end of vegetable bunches bought for other meals. This is, in essence, our family’s “leftover casserole.”