Big Green Stir-Fry with Garlicky Beef
By Catherine Newman
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Makes: 6 servings
Total carbohydrates per serving: 10 grams
If you're looking to:
Lower the carbs: Swap in lower-carb vegetables such as mushrooms or bamboo shoots or more celery for some of the broccoli or daikon.
Lower the fat: Swap in boneless, skinless chicken breasts for the beef.
Lower the salt: Use low-sodium soy sauce.
Ingredients
1 pound sirloin or flank steak, sliced thin, or 1 pound beef labeled “stir fry”
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or ½ teaspoon table salt)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 clove garlic or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 bunch broccoli, crowns cut into florets, stems peeled with a vegetable peeler and and then sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced on the diagonal
1 daikon radish, peeled, halved, and sliced into half-moons; or 6 radishes, sliced
3 scallions, ends trimmed off, sliced (reserve some for garnish if you like)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons dry sherry, cooking sherry, or Shaoxing wine (if you have none of these, substitute 1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar)
Instructions
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Sprinkle the beef with the salt, cornstarch, and garlic. Use your hands to toss it all well, then leave it while you prepare all the vegetables, if you haven’t already prepped them.
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Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a very large pan (not nonstick) or wok over medium-high heat, until the oil is shimmering and a piece of beef sizzles when you drop it in. Add the rest of the beef and leave it undisturbed for a minute to sear then stir and fry it until it’s browning at the edges, another 4 minutes or so. Add the soy sauce and stir the mixture for another minute, then move the beef from the pan to a bowl using a spatula or a slotted spoon.
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Add all the vegetables to the pan along with the remaining tablespoon of oil, then stir to coat everything with the oil and the juices from the pan before leaving it for a minute to sear and brown. Now cook, alternating stirring and leaving it alone, until the vegetables are browning and just tender but still have a little bite to them, another 5 minutes or so.
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Add the beef back to the pan along with the sherry and stir until it is all glossy and heated through, about another minute.
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Move the stir-fry to a platter, garnish with the remaining scallions, and serve.
About Catherine
Catherine loves to write about food and feeding people. In addition to her recipe and parenting blog Ben & Birdy (which has about 15,000 weekly readers), she edits the ChopChop series of mission-driven cooking magazines. This kids’ cooking magazine won the James Beard Publication of the Year award in 2013 – the first non-profit ever to win it – and a Parents’ Choice Gold Award. Her book "How to Be A Person" was published in 2020. She also helped develop Sprout, a WIC version of the magazine for families enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), as well as Seasoned, their senior version. They distribute over a million magazines annually, through paid subscriptions, doctor’s offices, schools, and hospitals. Their mission started with obesity as its explicit focus – and has shifted, over the years, to a more holistic one, with health, happiness, and real food at its core. That’s the same vibe Catherine brings to the diaTribe column.
[Photo Credit: Catherine Newman]
