Creating Pleasing Combinations In The Kitchen

I’d copied a recipe from a magazine quite some time ago. It was held by a magnet on the exhaust fan cover above my stove top, where I saw it daily for months. I’d put it there so I’d be sure to try it. But there were ingredients I knew Dennis would balk at, so it continued to sit there. That visual reminder finally got to me when I had an epiphany. The thought of combining this with the chow mein recipe I’d gotten from his mom 40-some years ago entered my head, and that got me going.

I’ll first give you both of the recipes, as originally written, then my combination, which created a new Chinese-style dish. I’ll start with the 40-plus-year-old recipe, then the one from the magazine, back-to-back.

Chow Mein

1 pound hamburger (or chopped roast)

2 Tbl shortening

2 Tbl soy sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1 C beef bouillon

1 C chopped onion

1 can chop suey vegetables

1 can bamboo shoots

1 can water chestnuts, sliced

1 can mushrooms

1 Tbl cornstarch

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 Tbl molasses

1/4 C water

Brown meat in shortening. Add soy sauce, salt, and bouillon. Cover and cook until meat is tender. Add onions and the next four ingredients. Cook 10 minutes. Blend cornstarch, ginger, molasses, and water. Add and stir until thickened. Serve over rice and/or chow mein noodles, with soy sauce.

Unstuffed Egg Roll Stir Fry

1 1/2 pound ground beef

1 head green cabbage, sliced thin

3 small carrots, cut into matchsticks

6-8 green onions, cut into 2” pieces

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbl freshly grated ginger

1 Tbl sesame oil

1/4 C low sodium soy sauce OR liquid aminos OR coconut aminos

2 Tbl toasted sesame seeds

Brown beef. Stir in the veggies and stir-frying about three minutes. Whisk together the garlic, ginger, oil, and soy sauce. Drizzle over the meat/veggie mixture and stir-fry an additional four minutes, until crisp-tender. Sprinkle with seeds and more chopped green onions, if desired.

Now, for my version, that I’ve given this unwieldy name:

Chinese-Style Non-Egg Roll Chow Mein

1 pound hamburger

Salt and pepper to taste

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

2-3 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 Tbl sesame oil, divided

1/4 C soy sauce OR amino acids

1 can bean sprouts, drained

1 can mushrooms, not drained

1 can bamboo shoots, drained

1 can water chestnuts, drained and sliced

1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks

1 large fresh broccoli stem, peeled and cut into matchsticks

2 Tbl toasted sesame seeds

2 green onions, sliced

Brown beef. Season with salt and pepper. Drain fat, leaving meat in colander. Using the same pan, mix in 1 Tbl oil, brown the onion and garlic until translucent. Return meat to pan. Add ginger, soy sauce, and canned veggies. Mix well, cook over low heat, covered. In a separate pan, stir fry the carrot and broccoli in the remaining 1 Tbl oil. Mix into the beef mixture. Sprinkle with seeds and chopped green onion over each serving.

I knew Dennis wouldn’t eat the cabbage, carrots, or broccoli, which is why I cooked them separately, and only added them to my plate. You could stir fry them with the onion and garlic, leaving one less pan to wash. I’d feared the cabbage flavor would overpower the other ingredients, so left that out. Plus I only had red cabbage on hand, and that would color everything reddish and be visually unattractive.

Using the water the mushrooms were canned in eliminated the need for added water. Normally, I’d slice and use fresh mushrooms, but was out of those. I also skipped the bouillon, but would have used Better Than Bouillon if I’d thought it needed. And I used amino acids as soy sauce is frowned upon by the Whole Life Challenge folks. It has added sugar.

It’s easy to toast seeds, sesame or others. Simply put them in a dry pan, and stir over low heat until golden and/or aromatic. You toast nut meats the same way. This toasting releases more flavor. You could skip this step if you want.

Happy cooking to you. It will be spring (by the calendar, if not in actuality by Montana weather) in less than a month! I may have to start cracking open those seed catalogs.