Beef and Bell Pepper Stir Fry

This recipe follows the two cardinal rules for successful camp cooking: few supplies and little on-site work required.

Another successful camping trip with lots of good food!  My family took advantage of the long Easter weekend by camping in Colorado Bend State Park.  I made a Carter campout classic, beef and bell pepper stir fry.  This recipe is from Nancy Chih Ma’s Cook Chinese Cookbook.  My grandmother learned the recipe from one of Nancy Chih’s assistant chefs in Tokyo, and has passed it down the generations to me.  This is traditionally cooked indoors, but it works great on a propane camping stove, especially if you do some prep beforehand.

Supplies: sliced and marinating beef, small saute pan, bell peppers, spatula, knife, cutting board, portioned oil and soy sauce

Before you leave from home, slice beef into thin strips and marinade in pepper, corn starch, and 1 Tablespoon soy sauce.   Measure out the rice, vegetable oil and remaining soy sauce and transport in zip-loc bags or tupperware.   You’ll also need 5 or 6 bell peppers, any colors you please.  For cooking equipment, you’ll just need a propane camping stove, a saucepan for rice, a small skillet (keep in mind the camp stove burners are smaller than kitchen burners), a spatula, small cutting board and knife.

Chef Shannon and Chef Amigo taking orders

Slice bell peppers into thin strips and saute with half of the vegetable oil.  Start cooking rice on the other burner.

The original recipe is beef and green peppers, but I use a variety of colors to add flavor, nutrition, and vibrancy.

Once the peppers are limp, set them aside and cook the beef in the same pan with the remaining oil.  When the beef is cooked through, add remaining soy sauce and return the peppers to the pan, stirring to distribute the sauce.

A propane camp stove can cook almost anything you could make on your stove top at home.

This dish only took about 30 minutes to prepare at the campsite; I’m willing to do a little planning in advance if the result tastes this good!

Spacious kitchen with a view

Did I mention we had Dutch oven peach cobbler for dessert?  I’ll give you the verdict on that next week!

 

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