Vegetable Stir Fry

Vegetable Stir Fry

About 5 oz spaghetti, whole wheat
1 (small) Bak choy
½ Chinese cabbage
 1 Zucchini, julienned
1 bunch asparagus
1 green pepper, sliced thin
1 (large) sweet onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 ½ tbsp oyster sauce
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 tsp chili powder (optional)
1 star anise, whole
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Little olive oil

After removing the excess dirt, chop the bak choy into equal sized pieces, separating the stalk from the leaves. Put the stalks into a bowl of cold water and the leaves into another bowl of water. Toss them a little and then let stand so that all the mud/ dirt goes down to the bottom of the bowl. Remove the bak choy gently, shaking out the leaves over the sink to remove excess water and place in two separate dry bowls. When cooking bak choy and Chinese cabbage, stalks need to cook longer than the leaves, which is why the stalks and leaves need to be kept separate. Clean the Chinese cabbage exactly the same way, keeping the stalks separate from the leaves and cutting it into the same size as the bak choy.

Boil a pot of water, and when it comes to a rolling boil, put in the Chinese cabbage stalks. Allow it to sit in the boiling water for about 10 minutes and then drain into a colander. In the mean time chop all the vegetables, and keep separate. Clean the asparagus and cut each into stalk into about 3 pieces. In another saucepan, boil some water with a little salt and olive oil. Break the spaghetti into roughly 3 pieces and cook till al dente. Remove into a colander and keep.

In a wok, heat a little olive oil, on a high flame, then put in the onions and green pepper. Cook till it starts to brown. Then add in the garlic and cook till it too browns. Next put in the bak choy stalks and the cabbage stalks. Cook them of a few minutes, stirring only to stop from burning. Now add the asparagus and after stirring it in, add the zucchini (almost immediately). Cook for a few minutes tossing occasionally. Then put in the chili powder, salt, pepper, star anise, and all the sauces. After blending the sauces in, mix in the bak choy and cabbage leaves. Put a lid on the wok and cook for about 5 minutes on a medium flame, or until the leaves wilt. Mix in the spaghetti. Serve Hot.

The trick to making this stir fry good, is having most of the vegetables be half cooked. They need to be soft outside but slightly crunchy inside.

Stir-Fry Vegetables

One of the nicest parts of cooking in America is all the frozen foods and vegetables. I know, the fresh stuff is way more healthy and much better for you, but the frozen vegetables makes life so much easier, especially when you’re planning to use several different vegetables in one dish. Take for instance the stir-fry vegetable packets I’ve used in this recipe.  The packet contains broccoli, sugar snap peas, grated carrots, mushrooms, green beans, celery, onions and red peppers. Using it is easier and cheaper than buying all these ingredients separately.  So there you have it, my defense for frozen vegetable packets. And here is the recipe for stir-fry vegetables.

Stir-Fry Vegetables

3-4 oz thin wheat spaghetti

2 pkts (frozen) stir-fry vegetables

1 pkt (frozen) 3 Pepper and Onion

3 tbs soy sauce

3 tbs Worchester sauce

1 tsp (heaped) ginger paste

6-8 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tbs ketchup

¾ cup red wine

1 tsp sirachi (chili) sauce

2 tsp hoisin sauce

1 tsp (heaped) sweet orange marmalade

Pepper to taste

Little olive oil

Break the spaghetti into 2 inch pieces. In a pot of boiling water, with a little oil and salt, cook the spaghetti until al dente. 

In a separate pot, heat a little olive oil and fry the chopped garlic and ginger paste till it starts to brown. Add in the packet of 3 pepper and onions and allow it to cook till the onions start to become soft and transparent. Now stir in the soy, sirachi, hoisin, Worchester sauces and ketchup. Once properly stirred in, add the stir-fry vegetables. Mix them well, then put in the red wine and cover till vegetables cook, stirring occasionally. Once the vegetables are done, cooked but still a little crunchy, stir in the marmalade and the pepper, and simmer for a minute or two. Now switch off the stove, and stir in the drained spaghetti until it’s well mixed. Serve hot.

Notes:

*The 3 Pepper and Onion packet is about ½ a red, yellow, and green pepper each and a medium onion, all sliced length-wise.

*Adding a little oil to the spaghetti while it’s cooking, will stop it from sticking and making it one big lump of spaghetti. A teaspoon is all you need to add.