Ground Beef Ginger Bites and Stir Fry

I really like ginger beef.  I enjoy it when we go out for Chinese food, and I also make it pretty frequently.  (Well, maybe once a month, but I feel like that is pretty often!)  The primary obstacle to making it more frequently is the fact that it is pretty rare that we have steak or roast, and when we do that there would be leftovers to use for ginger beef.  So I thought that I would try making it with ground beef instead!  My idea was to make ground beef "bites", almost like a kind of meatball, to replace the strips of beef you usually would use. 

As this would be an "original" recipe, I thought I would share it with you, and include my process too!  I hope you enjoy.


How to Make Ground Beef Ginger Bites and Stir Fry.

1. Thaw some ground beef from the freezer.  Not an easy task on short notice when you don't have a microwave, but I found that the "warm" setting on the toaster oven worked pretty well.

2. Put on a pot of rice.

3. Mix ground beef with seasonings, bread crumbs, and an egg.  Seasoning raw meat is an interesting process, since you can't taste test it to see how it is.  I used some minced garlic and a bit of paprika, chili powder, powdered ginger, and a dash of hot sauce, and hoped for the best!  The egg and bread crumbs are to hold the meat together.

4. Turn on Christmas music, because we're allowed to now!

5. Use two small spoons to put small pieces of the meat mixture into the frying pan.  Kind of like drop cookies.  Or mini meatballs.  Except that they are not really round.  So meatblobs.  That does not sound appetizing.

6. Realize the fire is dying, so go give it a poke and add some more wood.

7. Return to frying the meat bites, while baby is hanging off your legs, desperately trying to get attention.

8. When the rice is done, remove from heat.

9. Wonder if baby's cries of "Nana!" mean that he is wanting water.  ("Nana" means a lot of different things these days.)  Give baby his sippy cup.

10. Decide to take a picture of baby with his sippy cup.  But as soon as baby sees the camera, he rejects his sippy cup in favour of trying to eat the camera.

11. Put baby in high chair and give him cherrios.

12. Mix the ingredients for the sauce, which includes soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, corn starch, red pepper flakes, and water.

13. Get a call from husband saying he is going to be late.

14. Notice the time, and think NO WONDER baby is grumpy!  He hasn't eaten in ages and it's almost his bedtime!

15. Feed baby sweet potato and applesauce, because that's what's in the fridge.  If there's any leftover ginger beef he can have that tomorrow.

16. Grab some mixed nuts to keep you going.

17. Stoke the fire because it is dying again.

18. Finish feeding baby, and notice that he has dumped water all down his front.

19. Change baby's diaper and onesie and put him to bed, realizing that this is the second day in a row that you've skipped brushing his teeth and reading his bedtime story but you can see how tired he is and want to avoid dealing with a tantrum at all costs.

20. Back out in the kitchen, contemplate the fact that nachos sound like a really good idea.

21. Decide that making nachos would be too much work.  Eat a bowl of cold cereal instead.

22. Realize that all of the spoons are dirty.

23. Find one clean spoon hidden at the back of the drawer.

24. Chop the vegetables for the stir fry while eating the cereal.  I used an onion, red pepper, zucchini, carrots, ginger, and garlic.

25. Hear a really loud banging sound that sounds like it's coming from the roof.  Wonder whether someone is coming to kill you.

26. Fry the vegetables.  I remembered that I also had two green hot peppers from my garden that I had just picked today, since I was cleaning out my garden plot.  With the cool weather we are having now they weren't going to ripen any more.  I figured I might as well add them!

27. Wonder how hot the hot peppers are.

28. With fear and trepidation, try eating a piece of one.  Realize they aren't too hot.  Chop them both up and add them to the stir fry.

29. Hear more loud banging.  Have the sudden terrible thought that it might wake the baby, and think venomously that if it did, someone would feel your wrath.

30. Add the sauce and meat to the pan, reduce heat, and simmer.

31. Put on one of husband's sweaters because you are cold.

32. Stoke the fire yet again.

33. Log into facebook and scroll aimlessly through your newsfeed.

34. Realize that supper is going to be ridiculously late.

35. Wonder why you didn't just order Chinese food.


Despite the fact that it was quite the process, supper did turn out well!  I would recommend it.  And just to be sure that you are not intimidated by my arduous saga, here is the recipe in a more traditional manner:


Ground Beef Ginger Bites and Stir Fry

For Meat:
1 pound ground meat
1 egg
3 tbsp bread crumbs
Powdered ginger, paprika, chili powder, and hot sauce "to taste"

Mix, and drop in small balls or "bites" in pan and fry until cooked.

For Sauce:
1/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tbsp hot pepper flakes
1 tbsp vinager
1/4 cup sugar

Mix in a small bowl and set aside.

For Stir Fry:
6 cloves garlic, minced
Chunk of ginger, julienned
Carrots, sliced
Zucchini, sliced
Onion, chopped
Bell pepper, chopped
(optional) Hot pepper, chopped fine

Fry in pan.  When softened, add sauce and meat.  Stir to combine.  Reduce heat and simmer for approximately 5 minutes, or however long you want.

See, that's not so bad!