Recipes Can Meet Dietary Needs: Beef

by Susan Braverman

Food as Herbs, Health, and Medicine

Spring Volume: 1996 Issue: 3(1) page(s): 9

A recipe for Beef with (Young) Ginger, which appeared in the December 1995 issue of Flavor and Fortune on page 12, generated several letters of interest in young ginger, and with concern for its high sodium content. Therefore, it is the recipe modified for this issue. This modification is to show a reduction of the sodium content of the recipe, as several of those letters requested. The taste will change to some extent, however, you will see that it will not be a dramatic change, and most important, the dish will be very tasty.

Beef with Young Ginger
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of young ginger slices
6 Tablespoons coarse (kosher) salt
4 Tablespoons oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound of flank steak, sliced thinly into one- by one-quarter- by one-quarter-inch strips
2 Tablespoons light soy sauce
2 Tablespoons dry sherry
2 teaspoons sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 Tablespoons dark soy sauce
3 scallions, sliced thin
Preparation:
1. Mix ginger and salt and let stand for ten or fifteen minutes. Rinse thoroughly in cold water and drain.
2. Heat two Tablespoons of the oil and fry the garlic for one minute. Ten add the meat and fry until just pink. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the rest of the oil and fry the ginger root for two to three minutes; do not let it brown.
4. Mix the rest of the ingredients, except the scallions, and add this mixture and the meat to the pan; stir until thickened.
5. Serve garnished with the scallions.
Note: To modify this recipe in order to lower the amount of sodium:
1. Decrease the coarse salt to three tablespoons, which will allow only half-teaspoon of salt to be absorbed.
2. Use only a low sodium (low salt) soy sauce and not the kinds called for in the recipe and in addition, delete the total amount of soy sauce from four to three tablespoons in total.

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