When the team at Very Lazy sent me some products samples to review I was excited that I finally had a guilt free excuse to try their products. I recall a friend once sending a message to me stating “what has the world come to?” with a picture of a Very Lazy jar of chopped garlic or ginger and I chuckled. I honestly thought that it was a great idea because let’s all be honest food prep can sometimes take up far too much time and if you’ve had a long day at work, have lots of mouths to feed or in fact if you have a physical issue which makes things difficult in the kitchen these products make absolute sense. That being said my steadfast need to chop my own garlic has not allowed me to just pop a jar or tube of a Very Lazy product in my shopping basket. Is it fear of judgment? Perhaps. But as I get older that fear of judgment is becoming less and less significant and so I embraced the opportunity of being very lazy with gusto. I embraced it with so much gusto that when I realised that I didn’t have all the ingredients for the stir-fry and that I might have to leave my home in pursuit of the missing items this was my reaction:
So I was authentically “Very Lazy” and didn’t use corn flour, sherry or cashew nuts, which may or may not have had an impact on the overall outcome of the stir fry but it tasted good to me regardless! These products are such a blessing – they made everything so easy! If you’re concerned that the garlic/chilli/ginger won’t taste fresh so to speak then set your mind at ease, they taste great. So aside from saving you time, they enhance your dishes as they would if you were chopping them up from scratch.
Here’s the recipe of the Ginger Beef Stir Fry which you can try just in time for Chinese New Year or simply as a treat for yourself any day of the week.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus 15 minutes marinating time
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons Very Lazy Chopped Ginger
1 teaspoon Very Lazy Chopped Garlic
1 teaspoon cornflour
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or sherry
450 g beef rump steak, trimmed of fat and cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
400 g ready prepared stir- fry vegetables
75 g cashew nuts, toasted
To serve:
Egg noodles or rice
- In a bowl, mix together the ginger, garlic, cornflour, 1 tablespoon of the soy and wine or sherry. Stir in the beef and leave to marinate for 15 minutes.
- Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a wok or large frying pan, until really hot, add the beef strips and marinade and stir-fry over a high heat for 2-3 minutes until browned. Remove from the pan .
- Add the remaining oil and when hot, add the stir- fry vegetables and cashews and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender.
- Return the beef and any juices to the wok, then stir in the remaining soy sauce and wine or sherry. Stir constantly until the sauce has coated all the ingredients.
- Serve immediately with noodles or rice.
For more tasty Very Lazy recipes and inspiration visit www.verylazy.com and to find out more about Very Lazy follow on Twitter @VeryLazyFood, Instagram @VeryLazyFoodUK or Facebook @VeryLazyFood
