Stir-Frying Beef with Vegetables

This is the prototype for all meat-and-vegetable stir-fried dishes. The meat is stir-fried to brown, then set aside while the vegetable is stir-fried. Just before the vegetable is done, the meat rejoins it in the wok to heat through with any sauce. The variations and substitutions are endless—pork or lamb for beef, virtually any vegetable for asparagus. A good combination is beef with diagonally sliced bok choy or whole snow peas. Feel free to add seasonings to the marinade or additional flavors to the sauce; oyster sauce or chili paste with garlic are two possibilities. The cornstarch in the marinade lightly thickens the sauce.