One of my favorite creative pastimes is cooking. And for this family of vegetarians, I am constantly on the lookout for simple and delicious ways to combine veggies. I love a good stir fry, but I’ve usually found both my attempts and recipes I’ve consulted to be hit-or-miss.
This week was different – hooray! We had visited the farmers’ market, so I had a fresh red bell pepper, a head of broccoli, an onion, gorgeously crisp green beans, and baby bok choy; I had some rainbow carrots already in the fridge.
See the original recipe here.
Of course I played with it… don’t most cooks? I adjust for what I have on hand, for our palates and dietary issues. Then again, I don’t want to be one of these ridiculous recipe blasters…
Instead of snow peas, I used red bell pepper and bok choy. I divided my veggies into two bowls: those that would take longer to cook and those that wouldn’t; we like even our cooked veggies on the crispy side. Right at the end I added some hoisin sauce and some garlic-chili paste. I left out the salt because soy sauce has enough. I didn’t add more ginger, but I might next time (true confession: I think my eyes skipped that line in the recipe).
So here’s my take on Ginger Veggie Stir-Fry:
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp fresh ginger, chopped (divided use)
1/4 c veggie oil
1 head broccoli, chopped into small florets (peel stem and chop that up, too)
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped (I like mouth-sized pieces)
3 large carrots, julienned
3 baby bok choy or 1 large bok choy, chopped
3/4 c green beans, halved
1/4 c low sodium soy sauce
1 heaping Tbsp hoisin sauce
1/2 tsp chili-garlic sauce, or more to taste
In a large bowl, combine first four ingredients (1 tsp of ginger); add broccoli, onion and bell pepper and toss to coat. In a smaller bowl, set aside carrots, bok choy and green beans.
Heat remaining oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute veggies from large bowl for about 4 minutes, stirring often. If pan dries out, add water 1-2 Tbsp at a time as needed. Add veggies from the smaller bowl and toss to combine. Add soy sauce, hoisin and chili-garlic sauce plus remaining ginger. Cook until veggies are just hot and remove from heat.
I served the veggies with a simple fried brown rice (prepare brown rice, then fry with a little oil, scramble some egg into the same pan and keep stirring as it cooks through and combines with rice, toss with some low sodium soy sauce, and top with sesame seeds).
I had hoped I’d made enough for lunch leftovers, but even the initially-reluctant Tween (he takes a while to warm up to certain foods) went back for seconds. In my book, that makes this recipe a definite keeper!
Oh, and a tip: I love ginger and throw it in lots of recipes (including most smoothies, and I have a smoothie most days). I use a veggie peeler to shave slices; fresh is best, but a little ginger goes a long way and I hate to have it go bad, so I shave the whole root and freeze it so I always have some on hand.
