Ginger Beef Stir Fry

I probably make some form of stir-fry at least once a week.  It's just so easy to chop up a bunch of stuff, throw it in the pan with some sauce, and have dinner ready in a few short minutes.  Tonight I dug an old recipe out of my box to make Ginger Beef Stir Fry.  I have no idea where this recipe came from, since it's been written on an index card and shoved into my recipe box for quite a few years now.  More than likely, though, it came from one of my mom's magazines.

The recipe is pretty simple, however I managed to goof it up at more than one point.  Let's just chalk it up to a long day, shall we?

Ingredients - 4 servings

8oz top round steak
1/2 cup beef broth
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
12oz asparagus
1 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup broccoli florets
4 green onions, sliced
3 teaspoons sesame oil

1. Slice meat across the grain into thin strips.  Set aside.

2.  Mix broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, and ginger.  Set aside

This is where my first "oops" of the night happened.  See, the original recipe I had written down was for 2 servings.  Off to the side of the card I had written the double amounts for the ingredients, like 9 teaspoons soy sauce.  Somehow I thought the card said 9 TABLESPOONS of soy sauce.  

Oops!

Even as I was measuring it out and pouring it into the beef broth I was thinking "Wow this is a LOT of soy sauce!"  Then I looked down and saw the mistake.  I hate wasting ingredients but I had no idea how to salvage broth mixed with a whole boat load of soy sauce.  So down the drain it went. 

3.  Heat some oil in a large pan or wok.  Stir fry veggies for 3-4 minutes until crisp-tender.  Remove from pan and set aside.

4.  Heat a little more oil in the pan.  Stir fry meat for 2-3 minutes or no longer pink.  Push to the side of the pan.  Stir the sauce and pour into the center of the pan.  Cook until thickened and bubbly.

5.  Add veggies back into pan.  Stir to coat and cook for 1 minute till heated through.

I served my stir-fry with a side of brown rice.  Here is where my second "oops" occurred, though I don't know how.   I cooked the rice in our new rice cooker, which should be easy enough, right?  I even pulled out the instruction booklet to see how much rice and liquid I should use.  Thirty minutes later I opened the lid to find burnt rice.  Seriously?  I think I'm the only person that can burn rice using a rice cooker.  And this isn't the first time it's happened either!  Isn't this thing supposed to make cooking easier? 

See the brown burnt bits?  Ugh!

The recipe is technically for 4 servings, but it was the perfect amount for the the two of us.  Maybe we just have big appetites?