In the food-blogging world, we tend to show off our best work – great pictures of dishes that never seem to fail. In the real world, there are some flops. This recipe wasn’t exactly a flop – the recipe is fine, the mistakes were almost entirely mine.
While this dish was spicy as promised and bursting with wonderful orange flavor, I learned a thing or two along the way. Keep working, move quickly and DO NOT let the dish sit while taking pictures, otherwise your noodles will become soggy. It will cook up quickly, and once cooked through, get it out of your wok. The second “mistake” might not have been a mistake, but rather a personal preference. There weren’t enough vegetables – the recipe called for 1 bag of mixed vegetables. As you can see by the pictures, one bag will disappear into the meat. The recipe below has been adjusted to call for 2 bags – giving a more equal amount of vegetables and beef, thus assuring a little of both with every bite.
You’ve heard it said before, and I cannot stress this enough here – gather all your ingredients before you begin. Have all the meat cut into strips, the veggies and other ingredients set and ready to go. Stir-fry dishes don’t take long to make, and you will need to be ready to add the next ingredient quickly.
Spicy Orange-Beef Stir-Fry with Ramen Noodles
½ Cup Cold Water
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 ½ lbs Boneless Sirloin Steak, cut into thin strips
Olive Oil
½ Teaspoon Ground Ginger
2-3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1 Cup Orange Juice
1 Cup of water
3 Green Onions, sliced – separate white from green
2 packages Beef-Flavor Ramen Noodles with seasoning pack
2 Tablespoons Orange Zest, Grated
2 Bags Frozen Cut mixed vegetables of Broccoli Florets, Cauliflower and Carrots, thawed
½ Cup Green Bell Pepper, Chopped
½ Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
1 Orange
Mix water, cornstarch and soy sauce; set aside. Trim fat from beef steak. Cut beef with the grain into 2-inch strips. Cut strips across the grain into thin strips, about 1/8-inch thick.
Heat work until 1 or 2 drops of water bubble and sputter when sprinkled into wok. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, rotate wok to coat evenly. Add beef, ginger and garlic. Stir-fry about 3 minutes or until beef is brown. Remove beef from wok.
Add onion base, orange juice and water and cornstarch-soy mixture; bring to a boil. Add Ramen Noodles, broken into pieces and seasoning packs from noodles. Return to a boil; then reduce heat.
Return beef to wok. Add mixed vegetables; simmer 3 minutes or until noodles are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Add bell pepper, green onion tops, orange zest to wok and red pepper flakes ; toss and heat through.
Place Orange-Beef Stir-fry onto a large serving platter, drizzle with a little orange juice from ½ an orange. Slice remaining orange into this slices and garnish dish with slices. Serve immediately.
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