Szechwan-Style Stir Fry

I thought I'd already posted this on here, but I can't find it. So if this is a repeat, apologies. This is slightly modified from my ever-trusty Menus in Minutes. This is one of our favorite stand-bys. It's easy to make a bigger batch, if you've got a wok (hard to find a big enough skillet). I actually like this cold, too. I serve it over basmati or jasmine rice (which I make in my rice cooker), but you could do it with hot cooked rice noodles, too. Or probably just linguini. I haven't tried it, but I bet it'd be good.

Stir together (whisk, really)

1/3 C. bottled teriyaki sauce

3 Tbsp Szechwan spicy stir-fry sauce

2 tsp cornstarch

Set aside, but stir ocassionally through prep & veggie cooking process.

Prepare:

• 1/2 C chopped red onion (these are all approximate and to taste. Add whatever you like. I chop the onion into maybe 3/4 inch pieces)
• 1/2 C. broccoli florets
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, cut into bite sized chunks
• 1 medium green pepper, cut into bite sized chunks
• I love mushrooms, so I use about a big bag and a half of sliced baby bellas, maybe 4Cs? But that's just me. The book calls for 1 4&1/2 oz jar of sliced mushrooms, drained. I think fresh are way better.
• 1 14-15 oz can whole baby corn, drained and cut in half
• 1 C. fresh snow pea pods if you've got 'em, trimmed.

In a large skillet or wok, preheat about a tsp or 2 olive oil over medium-ish. Add the onion; cook and stir for about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook and stir for maybe 4-5 minutes. Then broccoli, cook and stir for another minute or so, then peppers for another minute or so. Then the corn and pea pods. Basically, you want all of this sort of hot and tender crisp.

You can do this next part by pushing the veggies aside, but it works best if you remove them from the pan. Then stir the sauce, add it to the skillet. Cook and stir until it thickens and gets bubbly. It'll get darker, too. This won't take very long. Dump the veggies back in, stir to coat with sauce and heat through.

Serve over basmati or jasmine rice.

If you want, you can add shrimp to this, as I do sometimes. I buy the precooked, just cuz it's easier. I make sure it's thawed, take the tails off, cut it into bite sized pieces if it's not bite-sized already, and throw it in when I throw in the baby corn.

IF you want to do chicken, you want to cut a 1 lb skinless boneless chicken breast into bite-sized strips. Once the veggies are done, take them out of the skillet, then add about 1/2 the chicken at a time, cooking about 4 minutes. Remove when no longer pink in the middle. Then take the chicken out, too, and do the thing with the sauce.

Jamaican Jerk marinade

I LOVE this marinade recipe, which I adapted from Steven Raichlen's The Barbecue Bible, truly the best bbq book I've seen. This marinade is great on salmon. I imagine it'd be good on chicken, too. Salmon or shrimp should marinate for about an hour. Chicken for 3 hours. Pork for 6. I'm providing the full marinade recipe, but I halve it for me and Beej. The full recipe (here) is enough to marinate about 4 lbs of pork, chicken, or seafood.

8 jalapenos with seeds (the recipe calls for 4-15 scotch bonnets, but I don't have those here. Scotch bonnets, by the way, are VERY hot.)

1 bunch scallions, both white and green parts, trimmed and coarsely chopped

2 shallots, halved

1 small red onion, quartered

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried

2 tsp ground allspice

3 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil

3 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp fresh lime juice (or more to taste). This is about two limes

2 Tbsp firmly packed dark brown sugar

3 Tbsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 C. water.

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Add salt and/or lime juice a necessary. 

Store, tightly covered in the fridge, for up to 2 weeks.

We love this on salmon on the grill. SO GOOD!