No... not that...
It's been a very mild winter in Yonkers... until now. This past week, it's never gotten out of the low 20s for HIGHS!!! So you'll understand my freak-out when our heat suddenly went out yesterday afternoon. It was getting colder by the second in the house. But our wonderful oil company came riding to the rescue on a white charger... OK... it was a guy in a truck, but hey...
He saved the day.
I know that in the post-Sandy Northeast, one cold day is very easy compared to what others have been going through. But we had been so cold that we agreed that a very hot AND warming meal was necessary. So it was time for a stir-fry filled with heating "elements."
I stir-fried a thumb-sized piece of microplaned ginger (yes... that much) with about 10 cloves of garlic(yes... that much!), and the chopped white parts of 1 bunch of scallions for 1 minute, then added ⅓ of a pound of ground beef. As soon as the beef was no longer pink, I added ¾ C of broth that had been mixed with 2 T corn starch, and splashes of soy sauce and fish sauce... then a big splash of my habañero hot sauce!
As the sauce began to thicken, I added a cup of frozen baby peas. This fried for about 2 minutes. And I served it on basmati rice and topped it with the chopped scallion greens.
This soon had us hot and sweating... believe me, a bonus after such a cold, cold day. Plus... you can't overestimate the health benefits of garlic, ginger, onions, and hot peppers in the midst of this flu madness!