Friday, March 1, 2013

Tangerine Beef and Bok Choy Stir Fry


I'm hungry and it's dinner time!

Yesterday I had a beef and orange salad that inspired me to take this wonderful combination of flavors and turn it into a delicious stir fry.

It just so happened that I had most of the ingredients already in the house.  Tangerines are slightly more sweet and will lend a great flavor mixed with ginger, creating a sauce to die for.  Baby bok choy is just a wonderful vegetable that lends crunch and veggie goodness to the dish.  I also put in some asparagus tips for good measure.  

All I needed was the beef.  So I used some very thinly sliced sirloin.  Something that can be cooked up quickly and stay tender.



This was a GREAT dish!  Again, there is no need for take-out when you can create a masterpiece such as this one.  It's way better than take-out!  This dish comes together fairly easy.  The most time spent is making the rice, and creating the sauce.  Segmenting tangerines takes a little while and since they are a key ingredient, it's best to make the sauce first and have everything ready when you start to cook.  

So this dish is a little more involved, but I was still able to get dinner on the table in about 45 minutes.  I'm sure that you can buy stir fry beef, and use mandarin oranges and some juice as a way to cut time, and everything will be equally splendid.

Oh, and the topper is that this dish is LIGHT...that is low in calories.  It contains no sugar, like many Asian stir frys do.  The veggies are healthy and a good source of vitamins and fiber.  The protein is lean, and the fruit is fresh!  Great combination all the way around, and fits so well into the EAT WELL 2013 motto....I just love that!




Enjoy!

Tangerine Beef and Bok Choy Stir Fry

Serves 4
Time:  45 minutes

2 cups water
1 cup long grain white or brown rice
2 T low sodium soy sauce
1 T cornstarch
1 lb of sirloin cut into very thin strips 
3 tangerines
zest of 2 tangerines
1/4 c sherry
1 T ginger, minced
1 t cornstarch
1 t toasted sesame oil
4 t canola oil, divided
2 heads of baby bok choy
1/4 lb of thin asparagus

Boil water in a medium sauce pan over high heat.  Add rice, reduce and cover.  Simmer rice for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile add soy sauce and cornstarch to a medium bowl.  Stir to combine.  Add beef strips and toss to coat.  Allow to marinade while you make the sauce.  No need to refrigerate.

Zest two tangerines and place zest in a medium bowl.  Slice off the top and bottom of two tangerines.  Running your knife from the top down the sides, remove all white pith.  Segment the tangerine sections and place in the bowl.  Squeeze juice into the bowl with any leftover flesh and pith.  Do this with two tangerines.  With the third tangerine, peel and squeeze out all the juice and place in the bowl.  Add sherry, ginger, cornstarch and sesame oil.  Whisk to combine.  

Chop bok choy into chunks.  Cut off asparagus stalks, using only the tips.

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large skillet.  Remove beef from the marinade and place in hot skillet.  Stir fry, turning often, for about 3-4 minutes until just cooked through.  Remove from skillet to a bowl.  Add remaining 2 teaspoons of oil and heat.  Add bok choy and asparagus to the skillet and stir fry for about 3 minutes until tender.  Add tangerine sauce.  Add beef and stir to coat, and allow sauce to thicken.
Serve over rice.

6 comments:

  1. I think this dish is very exciting to cook! I really love eating stir fry especially when the ingredients are very healthy. I hope I can cook this when I have time.

    Beef Stir Fry

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  2. Confused about what to do with the tangerines! Am I squeezing all the juice out of them? The segments in the photo look plump! I don't see the difference of what I am doing with the third tangerine, or why I am squeezing the juice out of the first two. Please help! This looks delish, and I would really love to try it this week:-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry to confuse you! Let me see if I can make this a little clearer. You'll need 3 tangerines. 1 Tangerine you will squeeze all the juice out of it. the other two tangerines you need to section them. Take a knife and cut off the top and the bottom skins. The run your knife down the sides taking off the skin and cutting off the with pith. Once the skins are off you will need to cut sections out between the membranes and add these whole sections to the sauce. What you are left with is a bunch of memberanes and possibly some pulp. You can squeeze the juice out of this pulp too if you like, or just throw it away. Hope this helps!

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    2. Got it! Thanks so much for the explanation. I am going to try it tomorrow night:-)

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  3. I am so making this- but first, two questions:
    What could I substitute for the sherry?
    Did you only use the green part of the bok choy?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Heather, glad this caught your eye! Instead of sherry you could use beef broth, or equal parts soy sauce and water. Red wine vinegar might be a nice addition as well. For the bok choy I used both the green and white parts but not the bulb which can be tough.

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