I was contacted by the PR company who works with Blue Dragon, a company that makes a series of delicious stir-fry and other Asian-inspired sauces before the holidays. As I was going away, I asked that they hold of sending me anything until I returned. Last week, they sent me a huge box containing not only four pouches of cooking sauces, inspired from different regions, but also what appeared to be full-sized jars, all in a box that came with a booklet and CD. Over the next few weeks, I will be making some meals using these sauces and posting them on DelectablyChic!. These dishes are simple to make and don’t even require marinating the meat before cooking.
Case of Blue Dragon sauces sent from the PR company
The first recipe I’m going to make is sweet and sour beef. Yes, I know. It’s a little bit “different” from the standard pork or chic ken that one would eat at a restaurant. The stir-fry sauce is a delicious blend that includes tomato puree, pineapple, sugar, , chilli paste, peppers, onions as well as soya sauce, star anise and garlic. I decided not to follow the recipe on the package exactly, but come up with something on my own.
Sweet and sour stir fry sauce
Sweet and Sour Beef:
What You Need:
- Beef, cut into strips
- Broccoli or brocollini, chopped into bite size pieces
- Two bell peppers, chopped
- Vegetable oil
- 1 pack of Blue Dragon Sweet and Sour stir fry sauce
- Chicken broth (optional)
- Chopped green onion (optional)
The final result
Method:
1. In a greased wok or skillet, stir fry the beef for 30 seconds to one minute and remove
2. Add the chopped broccoli/brocollini and peppers and stir-fry for 1 minute
3. Return beef to wok, stir fry for another minute before adding the sauce to simmer (an additional minute)
4. Serve with noodles or rice.
I have to admit that I was little hesitant about these sauces. I rarely use so-called “stir-fry” or other Asian cooking sauces as my family didn’t use them much when I was growing up. A standard stir-fry marinade consisted of soya sauce, a bit of corn starch and cooking wine or gin. That was it. Everything else was flavoured by other ingredients that went into the food such as garlic and ginger. However, I have to admit that the stir fry sauce does enhance the taste. Verdict? Not too bad. A little different from what I’m used to (and it reminded me more of black bean sauce based stir fry than sweet and sour in the “gwoo lo yuk” (sweet and sour pork) sense), but the tangy and spicy tastes definitely added to the meal.
Look for more recipes from Blue Dragon coming soon!
