Using ground meat and lots of vegetables, this stir-fry is about as fast and colorful as they come. Feel free to increase the spice if you'd like. Smarts: It will seem like a lot of vegetables when you first add them to the pan, but the carrots will shrink down considerably as they cook. Just keep cooking them until they are very tender and reduced in quantity.
Carrots
- 10 oz
, shredded
(look for pre-shredded)
Cilantro, fresh
- 2 Tbsp
, chopped
Oil, cooking
- 1 Tbsp
Snow peas
- 8 oz
(sub snap peas)
Pork, ground
- 1 lb
Lime juice
- 2 tsp
Quinoa:
Quinoa, uncooked
- 3/4 cup
Stock, any type
- 1 1/2 cups
Prep
Quinoa - (Double if making Thursday's meal.) Combine quinoa with stock (portion for quinoa) in a saucepan. Add some salt. Bring to a boil covered. Lower heat, keep covered, and cook until liquid is absorbed, 8 to 10 minutes. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
Ginger / Garlic - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
Carrots - If not pre-shredded, shred with a box grater or food processor.
Make sauce - Whisk together ginger, garlic, stock (portion for sauce), Tamari, cornstarch, brown sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili garlic sauce. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
Heat a wok or large saute pan with cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add carrots and snow peas and saute until tender, 6 to 7 minutes.
Move vegetables to one side of the pan and add pork to the other side. Saute pork, breaking it apart as it cooks, until cooked through, ~5 minutes. Stir pork into vegetables.
Give sauce a good stir (or shake if using a jar with a lid) to be sure that the cornstarch fully dissolves.
Pour sauce over stir-fry and bring to a simmer. Cook everything together until sauce thickens, ~3 minutes.
Add lime juice and cilantro to stir-fry.
If quinoa was made ahead, reheat in the microwave (reserve half if doubled).