Making Teriyaki Beef Stir Fry!

Hi Everyone! As you can see from the title, I made a Teriyaki Beef Stir Fry! If you have never had it before, try it! The recipe is very easy to follow and it was delicious! When I decided to make this dish, I was very unsure of how it would turn out. I had never made my own sauce for any food before, so I was excited and nervous to try it. Also, this is the first time I am using my new chef’s knife! YAY! Before I get into the details of this experience, I am looking for more ideas of meals to cook, do you have any really good recipes?

After reading the recipe a few times, I made a grocery list and went shopping! For the vegetables, I used bell peppers and carrots. I wanted to continue practicing different cutting techniques with the carrots and I used a video on YouTube to teach me how to cut a pepper! I also learned how to mince garlic for this recipe! I followed a video from America’s Test Kitchen that taught the technique of mincing. The recipe also calls for minced ginger, however, I did not feel comfortable enough with the mincing technique, so I bought a small container of minced ginger. 

Now for the process of preparing!

First, I decided to prepare all the ingredients before starting. I watched the video linked above on how to cut bell peppers. I found the closest knife I had to the one they used in the video, and I followed along. I did not realize how easy it is to cut a pepper! I am glad I tried this and I will for sure be using this skill again.

After the peppers, I cut the carrots. This time around, I did not follow a video because I had learned how to cut them for my last post, Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. The only difference is that instead of just slicing the carrots, I also made them into long strips. I followed the same video, How to Master Basic Knife Skills. In the video, they show this technique on a potato, but you can also do it on a carrot! I also learned that this type of cut is called a Batonnet cut! To see if I could find more resources on different types of cuts, I googled “Batonnet”. I came across a blog post by Petit World Citizen that explained different types of cuts! I also found that her entire blog is about living a healthy lifestyle and she shares many recipes!

Before moving on to the cooking stage, I finished preparing the ingredients. So after the peppers and carrots, I minced the garlic. It was surprisingly easy to learn how to mince! The only issue I had was that garlic is quite sticky and it kept sticking to the knife. I had to constantly wipe it off the knife in order to keep cutting it.

Now to start the sauce! As mentioned above, the recipe is very easy to follow. I combined the ingredients like the recipe says, and I learned one really cool thing about making sauces. I learned that if you add cornstarch and water, it helps to thicken the sauce! This amazed me! I am surprised that I didn’t know this!

After making the sauce, I put it aside and began the vegetables. I browned them, then steamed them to allow them to cook fully. Every time I have made stir fry in the past, I have always cooked the meat before the vegetables, but this recipe said to make the vegetables first, so I gave it a try. I think making it this way, allows the vegetables to get a bit of a crisp on the outside because they are the only items in the pan. After the vegetables were done, I put them in a bowl to the side.

Next was the meat. I cut it into small pieces and fried it. After the meat was done, I added the vegetables and sauce into the pan with the meat. I put a lid on the pan to allow the food to heat up. This is the final product!

This meal was amazing! I did not expect it to turn out so amazing! I am very proud of myself for cutting my own vegetables and mincing the garlic, I never imagined that I would make a stir fry without using frozen veggies.

As mentioned above, I am looking for more recipes! I am thinking that I might put together a recipe book! Let me know in the comments if you have any good recipes that I could try out!