Beef Stir-Fry with Peanut Sauce

We're settled. Three weeks in San Diego and the apartment feels like ours. The pictures are hung (I hung them thinking 'maybe I won't have to take these down'). The kitchen is organized. The recipe box is in its spot. This is the moment in every PCS where the new place stops being new and starts being home. It happens faster each time. Jacksonville took months. Pendleton took weeks. Twentynine Palms never happened. San Diego: three weeks. I'm getting good at making home. Good at unpacking the soul of a family into whatever walls the Marines assign us. Emily, Pri, and Jessica are becoming real friends — dinner-at-each-other's-houses, watch-each-other's-kids, text-at-midnight friends. Pri and I swap recipes like baseball cards. Emily's brisket recipe is in my box. Jessica brings wine. Caleb starts kindergarten in four weeks. He's excited and nervous, which he shows by talking about dinosaurs more than usual — his anxiety coping mechanism. Yesterday he told me fourteen dinosaur facts in a row without breathing. 'Caleb. Breathe.' 'Did you know dinosaurs are EXTINCT?' He's been using that word constantly. Everything is extinct now. 'Mama, the crackers are extinct!' (We ran out.) Made Pri's adobo again — adjusting the vinegar ratio, adding brown sugar that Pri calls 'not traditional but acceptable.' From a Filipino grandmother's recipe, 'acceptable' is high praise. Settled. Home. San Diego. Maybe this time for good.

Pri’s adobo gets all the glory — and it deserves it — but some nights I want that same bold, tangy-savory energy without the long braise. This beef stir-fry with peanut sauce has become my weeknight answer: it comes together fast, it fills the apartment with a smell that makes Caleb wander in from whatever extinct thing he’s researching, and it tastes like something a person who actually lives here would cook. That’s the whole goal right now. Cooking like I live here, because I do.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs flank steak or sirloin, thinly sliced against the grain
2 tablespoons soy sauce (for marinade)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup snap peas
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
3 green onions, sliced (for garnish)
Sesame seeds, for garnish
Cooked rice or noodles, for serving
Peanut Sauce:
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sriracha (or to taste)
2–3 tablespoons warm water, to thin

Instructions

Marinate the beef. In a bowl, toss sliced beef with soy sauce and cornstarch. Let sit for at least 10 minutes while you prep the vegetables and sauce.
Make the peanut sauce. Whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil, and sriracha. Add warm water one tablespoon at a time until the sauce is pourable but still thick. Set aside.
Sear the beef. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat until shimmering. Add beef in a single layer and cook undisturbed for 1–2 minutes, then stir-fry for another minute until just cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
Cook the vegetables. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add broccoli and bell pepper; stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add snap peas, garlic, and ginger; cook for 1–2 minutes more until vegetables are crisp-tender and fragrant.
Combine. Return beef to the pan. Pour peanut sauce over everything and toss to coat evenly. Cook for 1 minute until heated through.
Serve. Spoon over rice or noodles. Top with sliced green onions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Nutrition (per serving)

Beef Stir-Fry with Peanut Sauce — The Night I Cooked Something Other Than Adobo