Orange Beef.....made during a pandemic

This NYT's recipe by Sam Sifton is not really a pandemic-style recipe aside from the fact that it can be served up on some of your stockpiled rice. However, it does demonstrate how you can switch up, or leave out ingredients altogether, and still produce something tasty. Remember, perfectionism impedes progress.

Ingredients:
For the Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon neutral oil
• 1 & 1/2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced (Didn't have, so used some ground ginger)
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced (Didn't have, didn't use)
• 2 tablespoons orange zest, plus the juice of one orange
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ cup rice vinegar (Didn't have, so used cider vinegar)
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

For the Beef:

• 1 large egg white
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• 1 boneless rib-eye steak, approximately 1 to 1 1/2 pounds, cut into 1-inch pieces
• ¼ cup neutral oil
• 6 scallions, white and green parts cut into inch long pieces and separated
• 2 to 4 dried red chiles, or to taste (Didn't have, so used some dried pepper flakes)

Methods:

Make the sauce first. Heat the oil in a small sauce pan set over medium-high heat. When it begins to shimmer, add the ginger, jalapeño and orange zest and stir to combine. Sauté the mixture until the ingredients soften, approximately 2 to 3 minutes, then add the garlic and continue cooking until it softens, approximately 1 to 2 minutes longer. Add the orange juice, brown sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce and fish sauce to the pan and stir to combine. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until it thickens and reduces by half.

Meanwhile, prepare the meat by combining the egg white, cornstarch and salt in a bowl. Add the steak, and toss it to coat with the batter.

In a large skillet or wok set over high heat, heat the oil until it shimmers, then add the beef in a single layer and cook without stirring until the bottoms of the pieces are crisp and golden, approximately 60 to 90 seconds. Add the white pieces of scallion and chiles to the pan, then turn the beef pieces over and cook the other sides, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes more for medium-rare. Transfer the meat to a platter, then pour the orange sauce into the pan, let it boil and stir it as it thickens. Add back the meat and white scallions and stir to coat with the sauce. Scatter the dish with the green parts of the scallions when serving it up over the stockpiled white rice.