Ginger Beef .... MMMM Good!

So, this is something I've been wanting to try for awhile. I love going out for Chinese food but with Annalise's peanut allergy it's harder to feel comfortable going out for ethnic foods so I thought now is a good time to try making my own from scratch. I followed the recipe from this website. Didn't have all the ingredients - no green onions, no garlic cloves (so added garlic powder), no rice vinegar (so substituted balsamic vinegar on the advice of another website that gives good ideas for substitutions), and I added yellow peppers. Darran said it tasted better than any restaurant ginger beef he has had. :) I did find it way to spicy though. The recipe called for 3 tsp of chili flakes. I think next time I'll start with 1/2 tsp and go from there. :) So, here's photos of my process and end result. :)

This is the beef in the corn starch, water and egg mixture ready for the wok.

Missed a picture of cooking the meet but this is stir-frying the veggies (carrots, yellow peppers, ginger and garlic ... 1/4 cup of ginger! Wowzers!)

Added the sauce: soy sauce, balsamic (or rice) vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, and chili flakes.

Added the beef back in. Stir it all up to coat it all in the sauce, turn the heat off so that the sauce can thicken and mmmmmm! smells so good! :)

And here's the finished product on a bed of rice. And, yes, I even used chopsticks to eat it (well most of it until my hand cramped due to not being used to eating with chopsticks ... then I switched to a fork). :)  This was SO delicious and tasted just like some of the better ginger beef I've had in restaurants (although way spicier ... too spicy -  hence me wanting to make changes next time). I highly recommend this recipe! :)

I'm rather enjoying being more adventurous in the kitchen and I think Darran is also enjoying it! :) It was too spicy for Annalise but hopefully she'll try it next time.