Teriyaki Beef and Mushrooms

The Recipe

Courtesy of: Label Brands Quick and Easy Cook Book

1-1/3 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
2-2/3 cup water
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tbsp dry sherry
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp grated ginger root
1 tbsp oil
3/4 lb boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut into thin bite-sized strips
6 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 cup Green Giant Select Frozen sugar snap peas
1 cup fresh bean sprouts

Cook rice in water as directed on package.
 
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine teriyaki sauce, sherry, cornstarch, and ginger root; blend well. Set aside.

Heat oil in large skillet or wok over medium-high heat until hot. Add beef strips; cook and stir 3 or 4 minutes or until beef is browned and of desired doneness. Remove beef from skillet; cover to keep warm.

In same skillet, combine mushrooms and sugar snap peas. Cover; cook over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until peas are crisp-tender, stirring once or twice.

Stir cornstarch mixture until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture, beef, and sprouts to skillet; cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and thickened. Serve over rice.

Tips/Tweaks

Keeping it Healthy

We typically make a lot of substitutions or tweaks to this recipe (see below). One that helps keeping this recipe healthy is using low-sodium teriyaki sauce (again, Kikkoman's is typically the best tasting).

Fast Version

Typically, to save time with this recipe, we use a rice cooker to make the rice. Instead of using sirloin steak, you can buy stir-fry beef strips at the grocery store; which is cheap in addition to time-saving. Also, using powdered ginger instead of grating ginger root gives the dish the needed flavor without the additional time to peel and grate the root. 

 

Substitutions and Tips

If you do not have dry sherry, white cooking wine provides the same flavor. In fact, we almost always use white wine in this recipe. 

Instead of using olive or vegetable oil when cooking the meat, we use wok oil and only give it a few turns in the wok. If you do not have wok oil (like what happened to us this time making this recipe), use olive oil with a clove pressed garlic.

For the vegetables, we have never used frozen snap peas, we have always used fresh snap or snow peas (whichever is available at the store or farmer's market). Also, shiitake mushrooms are not always the best looking in the store or cheapest, so we use either baby bella's or white button mushrooms. If bean sprouts are not available or in season, they can be easily omitted from the recipe.

While rice is traditionally served with stir fries, we have also made it with udon noodles. These can be purchased at any local Asian market or even at Woodman's. Cook the noodles in boiling water (they only need about 4 to 5 minutes to cook) and add them to the stir fry at the very end to coat with the sauce.

The meat can be easily changed for this recipe. Substituting the beef for chicken, pork (you can purchase stir fry pork strips at the grocery store too), or even fresh shrimp can be easily done. If using shrimp, add it to the vegetables at the very end before adding the sauce. Also, when cooking the beef, cook it until just barely browned (a little pink is still visible) because the beef will continue to cook when removed from the pan, causing it to become very tough.

Review

We love Asian food, so this is a very easy and delicious recipe to make. It is easily changed to whatever ingredients you have in the house and that is why we highly recommend it!