Oriental Beef Stir Fry

This is a pretty easy and inexpensive recipe to make, especially as you can use an inexpensive cut of beef – more below. It also has plenty of veggies in it, and you do not need a Wok to cook it.

This is from the Anabolic Cookbook, with a few tweaks by me.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of beef – You can use any type of beef for this you like, but you do need to remove any fat and gristle and slice it thin. I usually use sirloin or top round:

o   Tenderloin works well but is expensive and high in fat

o   Ribeye is delicious, but high in fat and requires a lot of trimming and cutting

o   Sirloin is tasty and relatively low in fat – a winner

o   Round (I prefer top round) is cheap and low in fat. It is tougher, but if you cut it thin and against the grain it works well

• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce (low sodium if you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic, ideally minced fresh but pre-minced in jars from the market is OK too
• 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard, for example grey poupon
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped ginger – you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of powdered ginger instead, although it will taste different

• Veggies, ready to go

  2 red peppers, sliced thinly

• 3 cups broccoli florets (that just means cut up broccoli, discarding the stems. You can buy it already cut up if you’d like)
• 4 scallions, chopped into short pieces maybe 1/8 to ¼ inch long. Length is not critical at all
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped coarsely
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (any kind) or cooking spray

Simple Cooking Steps

1. First cut the beef into thin slices if not already done. You want to cut against the grain so that it is tender.
2. Mix the soy sauce, water, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and mustard in a large container, and then add the sliced beef and mix until it’s all coated. You can do this ahead of time if you’d like, even the night before.
3. Heat a large prying pan or wok on the stove on high, with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (or a cooking spray like Pam).
4. When hot, add the thin sliced red pepper and broccoli florets and cook, stirring regularly, until they are slightly tender yet still crisp. Remember they will be cooked more in the next step. This will take about 5-10 minutes depending on how small they are cut and how crisp you like them. Don’t sweat the time – they’ll taste great!
5. Add the thinly sliced beef and cook while mixing for another 5-10 minutes, depending on how you like the beef done. I definitely like it on the rare side!
6. Mix in the scallion and parsley and stir until mixed. This will take maybe a minute or less.

It’s done! Thanks to The Muscle Cook for this recipe!

I serve it as is, but you can also serve it on your favorite rice (my kids like it on white rice, I eat it without).

Nutrition:

If you divide this into 3 servings and use a low fat beef like top round or sirloin, each serving will have approximately 310 calories, 50 grams of protein, 10 grams of carbs, and 10 grams of fat.

Remember that regardless of how great your workout program may be, proper nutrition is absolutely critical!