Whatever You've Got Stir-Fry

This is a based on recipe in Zen: the Art of Modern Eastern Cooking - I modified it based on what I had on hand.

Note: To store fresh ginger for up to six months, cut the ginger into 1-inch lengths and peel. Place in a sterile glass jar and cover with a decent quality sherry. Store in the fridge. When cooking, just mince or grate as you would fresh ginger. The sherry adds a sweet note to the ginger, and can be used separately, such as in this sauce, adding a subtle ginger flavor.

sauce
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 orange, zested and juiced
1/4 cup soy sauce, low sodium
2 tablespoon fish sauce (Get this at Asian food markets like Dynasty at the corner of Spring Garden and Pomona. Fish sauce has a terrible smell but adds an unidentifiable but complex flavor to whatever it is in.)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup fresh basil; finely chopped
2 hot chiles; minced (Remove seeds and membranes for less heat)
1/4 teaspoon, or according to taste, red chile flakes
1 tablespoon garlic; minced

Combine lime and orange zest and juice with remaining ingredients. Set aside.

stir-fry
The only trick to stir-frying is knowing your ingredients well enough to be able to cook from those with the longest cooking times to those that cook most quickly. Generally, the heft of the raw veggie is a pretty good indicator: kale takes longer than spinach, carrots take longer than bell peppers, onions take longer than mushrooms... or at least most mushrooms. Beefy fungi like portobellos can cook for a while.

Use whatever veggies and/or proteins you have in the house, including but not limited to:

• Broccoli spears
• Slivered snow peas
• Vertically sliced onion
• Bok choi: leaves removed from the stem, both bunches sliced (the stems take longer to cook than the leaves)
• Sliced Napa cabbage
• Mushrooms: shiitake, portobello, oyster or even button, preferably fresh. (Clean by brushing with a toothbrush designated to kitchen tasks. Washing mushroom changes their texture for the worse.)
  
• Sliced bell pepper
• fresh ginger to taste, minced or grated
  
• garlic to taste, sliced or minced
  
• Almonds or cashews, un- or lightly-salted
• Chicken
• Seafood or fish

Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large skillet or wok. More oil would taste dandy but there's no real health benefit to overeating even monounsaturated fats. Cook your protein (if using) until about 2/3 done and remove from pan.

Add a touch more oil; once heated, stir-fry the garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir-fry veggies, starting with those that take longest to cook, like onion and carrot. Cook until starting to soften then add the next layer of veggies and so on. (If using spinach, don't add until the last minute of cooking, after the sauce and protein have been incorporated.) This step will probably not take more than 10 - 15 minutes, from first veggie to last.

When the veggies look about 3/4 of the way cooked, add the protein and sauce to the pan and toss gently to incorporate. Serve over rice, preferably brown.

Yield: 6 - 8 servings

Preparation Time: Depends on your quickness with a knife - cutting the veggies is the real time consumer of this recipe.