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Forget about Chinese take-out. You can whip up this stir-fry in no time at all.

You'll learn all about stir-frying with this recipe, including preparing and organizing everything before you start to cook and the actual technique itself.

This recipe also introduces you to using fresh ginger, and using a mixture of cornstarch and water to thicken a sauce.

So ... why do they call it a "stir-fry?" I guess it's because, literally, that's what you do. You fry the food while all the time stirring it. That's so that everything gets seared (remember that from Recipe #8 in our series?) and doesn't steam in juices. So stir-fried vegetables retain some crunch.

Stir-frying is a useful technique to know. You can stir-fry just about anything. Open up your fridge. What fresh veggies are hiding there in the vegetable drawer? Cut 'em up and stir-fry 'em. Yum!

You can stir-fry in a skillet or sauté pan, but it's easier to use a wok (click on the link on the left side of this page). The wok's shape provides a big hot surface that gives you lots of room for tossing the ingredients around.

For stir-frying, you want to prepare all of the ingredients before you start cooking. Stir-frying goes really fast so there's no time in between to be measuring or cutting up the next ingredient. Chop/cut/slice everything and have it readily at hand. Measure out any liquids/oils/spices into small bowls so that you've got them right there to add when you need to.

The whole idea with stir-frying is to keep everything moving in the pan. If you let the stuff sit, you're going to end up with a stir-steam instead. So there's no time to open that bottle of crushed red pepper and measure out a teaspoon. Have it ready before you start to cook.

I like to use TWO wooden spatulas for stir-frying. I just find it easier to keep things moving without having them fly out of the pan. Check out the pictures in the step-by-step instructions.

This recipe introduces you to Asian ingredients: soy sauce, gingerroot and sesame oil.

Simple white rice is the classic accompaniment to stir-fry, and that's what I suggest for a side for this recipe. Making the rice is part of this lesson so be sure to do it. Rice is really quite simple to cook. All you need is a sauce pan and some water. You don't need fancy expensive rice cookers. The trick is to use a good, long-grain rice like Basmati. I have you start the rice while the beef is marinating: another time-saving tip to reduce the total time to table.

At-Home Safe Food Handling *

* with permission from Kansas State University Research & Extension