I’ve never really had much of a green thumb when it comes to gardening, but I found something that grew well in my yard. If you haven’t heard of scapes they are basically the long green stalks that grow out of the ground from garlic. You can harvest these before they bloom and get too chewy and use them for all sorts of things from soups to butters to dips. I found them in a lot of Chinese dishes so I thought I would give a quick stir fry a try.
Beef and Garlic Scape Stir-fry
(Adapted from Closet Cooking)
1 pound beef (thinly sliced)
1 teaspoon garlic (grated)
1 teaspoon ginger (grated)
1 teaspoon Shao Xing Chinese cooking wine (or cooking sherry)
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of the cornstarch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon garlic (grated)
1 tablespoon ginger (grated)
1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
6 garlic scapes (cut into 1 1/2 inch slices)
1 can water chestnuts (drained and sliced)
1/2 cup beef stock
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 green onions (sliced)
Marinate the beef in the garlic, ginger, Shao Xing, light soy sauce, cornstarch and sesame oil for 20 minutes.
Heat the oil in a pan.
Add the beef and stir-fry until cooked, about 2-3 minutes and set aside.
Heat the oil in the same pan.
Add the garlic, ginger and red chili pepper flakes and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the garlic scapes and water chestnuts and stir-fry for 1 minute.
Mix the beef stock, light soy sauce, oyster sauce and cornstarch in a bowl.
Add the liquid mixture to the pan, bring to a boil and simmer until it thickens.
Add the beef and the sesame oil and remove from heat.
Serve over steamed rice and garnish with the green onions.
