Vegetable Stir Fry with Crispy Pork | You've Got Meal!

We are posting the recipe knowing that it might mean the beginning of the end for a lot of Chinese take away restaurants. Yes, people, YOUVEGOTMEAL is showing you how they make it so you can just do it yourself. Well, us and a lot of other people online, but why would you listen to renowned chefs? Now, modesty and everything behind us let’s get cracking.

For the vegetables you will need : 

• 1 red bell pepper, 
• 2 medium carrots, 
• 1 medium onion, 
• 1 thumb sized ginger, 
• 1 tbs. of five spice, 
• 1 medium hot chili, 
• 2 tbs. of dark sugar, 
• 1-2 tbs. fish sauce, 
• 2-3 tbs. soy sauce, pepper, peanut or sesame oil. 

For the meat : 

• 150 grams of pork (we had some meat from a shoulder cut that we cleaned the fat from), 
• salt, 
• pepper, 
• vegetable oil, 
• 100 grams of corn starch.

As per usual, a couple of notes before starting this dish. The title does  say crispy pork, but you can choose to just add the meat to the veggies in the stir fry and be done with it. I honestly think that cooking it separately and keeping the crunch factor brings a more special note to the whole dish.

The way we did this was by making the pork 1^st because it was a little more time consuming (compared to a stir fry, not a lot of things aren’t). Cut the meat into equal strips, and this is important because when you are dealing with quick cooking you want everything to be done at the same time and not have pieces of the same meal differently cooked. Next, season the pork with salt and pepper – easy on the salt. Run the meat through the corn starch, making sure the strips are well coated. Shake off any excess starch (it will burn badly in the oil) and cook the meat in a heavy base pan in which you have heated some vegetable oil to the blazing hot point. Cook for 3 minutes on each side or until it gets a golden color. Remove the meat from the oil onto some paper towels.  

Next, cut the pepper and carrots in sticks making sure they all have the same size. Slice the onion julienne style, clean and grate the ginger, slice the chili. Heat a couple tbs. of oil in your wok and fry the all the cut vegetables for 1 minute, until the carrots barely start softening. Next pop in the sugar, 5 spice and some grinded pepper and mix everything for another minute, making sure the vegetables are covered in the sugar and spice.  Add the soy and fish sauce, coat the veggies for another 30 seconds and remove from heat. You can add the meat to the vegetables at this point, but keep in mind that it you won’t get the same crispy outcome.

Serve the meat and the vegetables on top of some basmati rice, sprinkle some more soy sauce on top if needed.

Enjoy,

5 Spice Beef and Chinese Fried Rice

Initially I was thinking of going for a Thai based rice, with some coconut milk and saffron, but in lack of a proper main dish to go with it, I decided I wanted to show you that Chinese takeout can be done in your own kitchen without a lot of fuss. Now, this recipe requires a lot of fuss… What? No, just kidding, it’s a super easy recipe that you can cook in a flash and impress any Chinese food lover.

For the rice (and this is where I kinda screwed up) make sure you use a type of grain doesn’t stick to one another. Use basmati or jasmine, make sure you don’t try this with Arborio or carnaroli, typical risotto rice. I have to admit that I was too lazy to actually go and buy a bag of basmati so I used the package of Arborio that I already had in my pantry. The taste is good, but it makes things difficult to actually fry the rice. For 1 cup of rice, use 2 cups of water, cook the BASMATI (final warning) rice until it is done or the liquid is absorbed, and set it aside to cool a little.

You will also need: 1 medium onion, diced, 2-3 cloves garlic, 1 thumb sized ginger, diced, some crunchy veggies (peas, beans, water chestnuts, baby carrot, baby corn, etc.), 1 or 2 eggs (depending on how much rice you have), spring onions or chives(optional), soy sauce, sugar, pepper, peanut or sesame oil. You will have to do this in batches, in a wok, so start by cooking the ginger, onion and garlic for 3 minutes in a tsp of oil, set it aside. Next, add in the crunch (you can either get them fresh or frozen, the cooking time is different for each), and stir fry those for another 4-5 minutes tops with the sugar, until they are cooked enough but still hold some serious crunch. Set aside. 

Mix the egg(s)  with 2-3 tbs of soy sauce, beat them together, and cook the eggs like an omelet or scrambled, 2-3 minutes. Set that aside as well. Now, in a tbs of oil add the rice and stir fry it for 2 minutes, then add the other already cooked ingredients and mix them together, add more soy sauce if you feel like it needs salt.

For the beef, again, super easy, just rub the meat with some sesame oil, salt and 5 spice condiment and cook in a hot searing pan for 3 minutes on each side or for how long you want, depending on what degree of rare you want. I used a piece of tenderloin that I cooked roughly 3 minutes on all sides for a medium rare outcome.

Plate the meat, sliced, the rice (with some chives or spring onions on top), and, if you care for it, some wasabi paste to kick things up.

Enjoy, 

Chicken Noodles Stir Fry - Simple Chinese Recipe

Today we will share with you what has become a tradition in our home. Honestly, if you make sure you always have the ingredients on hand, it is easier and quicker than take out being delivered to you.

Not to mention is has the take-out smell and flavor, but you can control what you put in it.

Rice or bean thread noodles  (the thin type)
300 g chicken breast
1 carrot
1 bell pepper
1 medium onion
5 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs brown sugar

1 tsp 5 spices condiment

Cut the vegetables in long slices or however you prefer them. You can cut the chicken in either fine, thin, long strips, or in small cubes, either way make sure you cut it pretty small so it will cook fast.

In a wok, heat up some oil (sesame, peanut, or just vegetable, don't bother with olive oil), about 2 tbs, then stir fry the vegetables for around 3 minutes. After that, add the meat with the sugar and 5 spice, and brown the chicken for about another 3-4 minutes. Make sure you don't overcook the veggies, they have to be nice and crunchy (if i were Italian i would say al dente, so whatever). Add the fish and soy sauce, mix it up all together.

Now for the noodles: you need about 60-90 seconds to cook them (depending on the type and thickness of the pasta, we used and loved rice or bean thread), and about the same amount of time with the vegetables and meat combo. When you put the noodles in the wok, add another tbs of soy sauce (or don't, it's all about taste). Mix it all together, grab your chopsticks, and enjoy.  

Optional: if you wanna make things hot in this motha-dish, add a nice hot smoky red chilli with the vegetables.