Lemon Grass Shrimp and Chicken Breast

To be honest with you, I am getting tired of preparing food that is perfect for rainy and cold days. This so called Spring is getting so depressing and I just can’t wait for nice warm sunny days when salads and lightly grilled food will be on my daily menu. Yesterday, I wanted to prepare grilled chicken breast strips and shrimps that were marinated in lemon grass, lime zest and juice, fish sauce and Sriracha mixture but because of steady rain I had to stir fry them instead. It would have been so nice if they were grilled and served with crispy lettuce leaves, rice noodles and fish sauce/lime juice dipping sauce. Since this meal was stir fried I added bok choy, red pepper and fresh shiitake mushrooms and garnished with corriander (cilantro).

Stir Fried Beef with Peppers

This must be one of the tastiest flank steak recipes that I have come up with. Originally I wanted to do my version of Mongolian Beef but somehow it evolved into this lightly spiced Hoisin sauce based stir fry. The meat was very tender due to fact that it was thinly sliced across the grain and marinated overnight in mix of Hoisin and Oyster sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar, Sake and white parts of green onions.

Half an hour before serving this meal I cooked the rice in rice cooker and prepared garlic, 1” chopped ginger, julienned 1/2 red pepper, sliced 1/2 onion, 3 sliced water chestnuts and chopped green tops of scallions.

 Heat up wok, add 1 tsp. peanut oil, 1/2 tsp. sesame oil and when hot add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 1/2 minute. Add pepper, onions and water chestnuts and cook for another 1/2 minute then add the beef with marinade and stir fry till beef is slightly caramelized, about 1 minute. Serve on preheated individual plate, garnished with green tops of scallions and with steamed rice on side.

Rice noodle stir fry

Last night I made chicken and veggie stir fry with rice noodles. I did it in a sort of Vietnamese style with chicken tenders, garlic, ginger, soaked wood ear mushrooms, green onions, red pepper and coriander with fish sauce, sake, sesame oil, rock sugar, buckwheat honey and sriracha hot sauce. Soy sauce is a good substitute for fish sauce. Incredibly light and so much flavor. Definite repeat but since I never measure and never follow or use recipes it will never be the same.