Leftover Tuesday: Stir Fry

I remember having stir fry frequently growing up (is that accurate Mom?). Now that I'm a grown-up, I'm a little like, "Well, duh." Because it can happily incorporate lots of leftovers into its satisfying realm.

This week we have a bunch of chicken, rice, vegetables, and a bunch of peas in the garden (how awesome is that).

If you're using fresh veggies, you'll put them in with the oil and seasonings and give them a few minutes to cook. But you can use not-too-mushy leftover vegetables as well. You'll just cook them until warm and voila--you'll have yourself a 5-minute meal.

Another great thing about a nice Americanized stir fry is that you can use fresh spices if you've got them, but dry spices will work just fine for it too.

I like just about any meat in a stir fry, except ground meats. You can also add nuts. Cashews are my favorite, but I like it with peanuts or almonds too. I like just about any vegetables in my stir-fry. Here are a few of my favorites: carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, asparagus, peas.

What I did:

Cut chicken and let it sit in some soy sauce while you chop your vegetables. This applies if your chicken is raw or cooked (mine was already cooked).

Heat 1-2 Tbsp oil (I use olive) in a skillet. When hot, add a dash of onion powder, garlic powder and a small dash of ginger powder. If using cooked chicken and raw veggies (as I was), throw the vegetables in first and let them cook until tender but still crisp. Douse them with a shake or two of soy sauce or teriyaki sauce or plum sauce. If your chicken is raw, add it first (with the soy sauce) and cook until no longer pink. If everything's already cooked, throw it all in (with soy sauce and another asian-ish sauce if desired) together and heat it up.

When all is cooked, taste for seasonings.

If you'd like your stir fry to be saucy (I always did as a kid), add a bit of water (so that it's just 1/4 inch deep in the skillet), heat to boiling (which will only take a minute) and then add 1 tsp corn starch that has been mixed with 1 Tbsp water. Add to skillet and stir until somewhat thickened.

And you're done.