Wasabi Stir-fry

This was a challenging photo selection, as I ended up cooking on my own yesterday. Unfortunately not a whole lot of photos, but quite a tasty dish regardless.

This stir-fry ended up being distinctly Asian--ginger notes and a splash of soy sauce--with a light zing given by the pineapple wedges, lemon juice, tomato slices and wasabi paste; a bean paste smoothed out the flavor giving it more body.

I began with two large leaves of bok choy and sliced them in a diagonal pattern and separated the thicker stems from the greener leaves. I added the greener leaves, tomato slices and pineapple wedges to a bowl and set them aside. Those ingredients were to be crisp and lightly cooked.

After heating up some peanut oil and minced ginger on my trusty blue pan, I tossed on the other ingredients that I didn't take any other pictures of. The above shows them, mid-cook, to be white mushrooms, halved, the bok choy stems and green onion slices.

While the hardier items were toasting in the oiled pan, I set to work on the sauce. Soy sauce, bean paste, rice vinegar, lemon juice, miso paste, and wasabi paste were mixed in a bowl (ingredients ordered from largest concentration to smallest). Following my father's footsteps in cooking, nothing was measured out. I recommend sampling the sauce after mixing it to ensure it is to a flavor of your liking.

To thicken the sauce a small glass of water (too much and you will 'water down' your sauce) with a teaspoon's worth of cornstarch mixed in was set aside.

By this time the hardier ingredients will have cooked and the lighter ones will need to be added in. Additionally, add the sauce you have created. Cook for about 1-2 minutes until the bok choy leaves just start to wilt, stiring the sauce around as well.

Add the small cup of water and corn starch to the pot. Make sure that the corn starch is mixed well with the water so you do not get clumps. The sauce should immediately begin to thicken. Heat for another 1-2 minutes and serve on white rice.

The finished dish sprinkled with sesame seeds.