Alex Marsalek on Challenge No. 1
I prepared a Sweet and Spicy Asian Stir Fry.
I chose this dish because when I found out what the monk fruit is, I thought about a sweet and spicy sauce and then evolved that idea into the whole meal.
My initial reaction to the secret ingredients was a little puzzled. The other three were familiar enough, but I had never used monk fruit before, so I did not know what it was. I read the label and tried a drop of it to taste what it was like. It was super sweet, so I knew I would have to find a way to cut down the sweetness.
I like spicy food, and I know that sweet and heat go together great. The sweetness cuts down the heat and vice versa.
The high of this experience was seeing the final dish. It was a challenge, but it was fun to work through it and see the end product. Seeing the final pictures and having people taste it and like it was very rewarding.
- Alex Marsalek