Clean Out The Fridge Stir Fry

 

Today's recipe is the type of recipe everyone should have tucked up their sleeve.  It comes in very handy when you are not ready yet to go shopping and you find yourself with a few bits in the refrigerator which are still good to use, but not enough that a person could make a meal of them on their own.  



I will often find myself with a piece of a head of broccoli, an onion, perhaps a carrot or two, a couple pieces of bell pepper, a tomato, etc.   You know what I mean.   There is nothing wrong with them but for the fact that there are not huge amounts of them.



Its happened to us all, but that doesn't mean that any of these tasty vegetables should go to waste, or that you need dash to the store until you really want to.   You can make a delicious, quick and easy stir fry with them by adding a bit of this and a bit of that and a lot of ingenuity!  



One thing I love about stir fries is you don't need a lot of anything really, not even the protein part . . . and almost anything works protein wise.   Beef, chicken, pork, fish, tofu . . . quorn.   You can even use leftover cooked meats if you really wanted to, but I like to use fresh myself.  



That way I can marinate the protein first and really get some flavour into it, but I suppose you could marinate cooked meats as well if you really wanted to.   A few nice flavours such as soy sauce, sesame oil, hot chili oil, garlic, five spice powder, garlic . . . and all of that lovely veg and protein thrown together in a pan and cooked into a delicious chinese feast.  All you need on the side is a bit of rice, and Bob's your Uncle.



No need to shop right away, and everyone is happy.  Feel free to use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge.  Just add them from the order of the ones which will take the longest to cook to the quickest cooking ones and it will all work out well.  Cheap, cheerful and cooked to order.  You can't get much better than that!  Enjoy!

*Clean Out the Fridge Stir Fry*
Serves 4  

Printable Recipe  

A great end of the week supper.  Quick and easy to make. 

1/2 pound of meat or poultry

(You can use raw beef steak, chicken, lamb or pork)

125ml of dark soy sauce

1 TBS soft light brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp five spice powder

2 TBS rice wine vinegar

1 tsp grated ginger root

1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tsp red chili oil

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 pound of assorted raw vegetables, cut into bite sized pieces

or thinly sliced (I used broccoli, carrot sliced thinly on the diagonal, wedged onion, broccoli florets, assorted peppers cut in slices and a ripe tomato
cut into wedges)

Salt and pepper to taste
rice to serve 

About an hour before you plan on eating, cut your meat into thin strips on the diagonal.  Place into a bowl.  Whisk together the soysauce, five spice powder, sugar, vinegar, ginger root and oils, along with a bit of salt and black pepper.  (Be judicious as the soy sauce is salty and the chili oil quite spicy).  Pour over the meat and give it a quick stir to coat.  Allow to marinate for about half an hour while you get your vegetables ready, giving it a stir every now and then. 

Cut your broccoli into florets if you are using it and your carrots in thin diagonal slices.  I cut the onion into wedges along with the tomato, the rest I thinly slice.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add a TBS of peanut  or vegetable oil.  Drop in the meat.  No need to drain.  Cook and stir, flipping it around and adding vegetables as required and according to the length of time it will take them to cook.  Add the ones who take the longest first and work your way up to the ones which will cook really quickly.  Keep flipping and stirring until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are crispy tender.  Serve hot with rice.