Showing posts with label stir fry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stir fry. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 August 2014

Garden Stir Fry

There is nothing better than walking outside into your garden, picking vegetables to have for your dinner! You really can't get any fresher than that can you?



After wondering round my garden I managed to harvest an eight ball courgette, a handful of mange tout, 2 green peppers and a bunch of spring onions. I instantly craved a stir fry with all this green goodness. I love stir fries as they don't take long to make and with a couple of added ingredients can taste amazing and fresh!

Ingredients - Serves 2

Splash of Groundnut oil
1 Bunch of spring onions, cut down the centre, stalk and all
1 Red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 Piece of ginger, finely grted
3 Garlic cloves, finely grated
1 Green pepper, cut into strips
1 Courgette, cut into half moons
150g Mangetout, cut into strips
3 tbsp Soy sauce
½-1 Tsp Five spice powder
160 Tofu (I used the cauldron marinated tofu for super quickness)
250g Cooked brown rice
Good grind of black pepper

Method

Heat the oil in a wok or similar pan and throw in the spring onions, chilli, garlic and ginger and saute for 1 minute. Add a splash of water if things start sticking and be careful not to burn the garlic or ginger.

Add the green pepper strips and stir fry for another 3 minutes. Add the courgette and stir fry for another two minutes. Keep adding a splash of water if things start to stick. Add the Mangetout with the soy sauce and stir fry for another minute.

Add the five spice powder and stir to coat all the vegetables. Add the marinated tofu (or if you prefer marinate your own). Stir to coat in the five spice and soy sauce then add the cooked rice and stir through. Serve straight away with a good grind of black pepper for extra heat.




You could serve this with some of my homemade garlic bread too.



Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Satay Stirfry

Hubby has gone pizza mad since the night we made pizza. He had some friends round the other day and they went shopping and bought lots (and I mean lots) of pizzas. He is still scoffing his way through them all as they didn't manage to eat them on the day! He's going to look like a pizza soon!

I on the other hand wanted something loaded with veg, quick and of course tasty. What else could it be other than a stir fry. I didn't want to use a packet of stir fry sauce as I wanted it to be fresh, crisp and unprocessed!

I decided to make a satay sauce, now when I've made this in the past its turned out stodgy so I knew what NOT to do. Today it turned out brilliantly and I still have some left to use for another day. OK so its not 100% unprocessed as I used ready made peanut butter, but it sure was tasty.


I also made some garlic bread to go with the stir fry, this time I used olive oil instead of a vegan margarine and, my oh my it come out so garlicky and buttery it was untrue. It was truly delicious. I will definitely make garlic bread this way again. Plus its much quicker than the margarine version I have done previously.

Ingredients for stir fry - serves 2-3 people depending on how hungry you are
2 nests of wholewheat noodles
1 onion, finely sliced
1 red pepper, finely sliced
1 green pepper, finely sliced
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 courgette, cut into matchsticks
Handful of green beans, top and tailed and cut in half length ways
Packet of marinated tofu pieces (OK these are processed, but they're organic)
1 chilli
Knob of ginger
2 Garlic cloves

Ingredients for Satay Sauce
5 Tbsp crunchy peanut bitter
2 Tbs Soy sauce
3-4 Tbsp Warm water
3 Tsp Red Thai Curry paste (OK this is also processed-but you could make your own)
½ Can of coconut milk

Ingredients for Garlic Bread
1 Baton of crust white bread
5 Tbsp Olive oil
4 Cloves Garlic
Fresh Parsley

Method
Before you start cooking the stir fry you need to make your garlic bread. Cut into your chosen bread and split open. I chose to do diagonal cuts but this wasn't that successful and I ended up cutting through the bread completely and working with the round pieces of bread individually!

However you choose to do it, all you need to do is finely chop the parsley on a board, then crush the garlic onto it and finally pour over the olive oil. Give everything a mix with your fingers and stuff the mixture into the bread. Use the bread to soak up any remaining oil. Or if you're like me rub each piece of bread in the mixture on both sides. 

Get a rectangle of baking paper and wet it under the tap scrunching it at the same time. Wring out the water with your hands and transfer the bread onto the paper. Fold the paper over the bread and transfer to a baking tray. Pop it in the oven that's been preheated to a moderate temperature about 180°C. It will be ready by the time you've chopped and stir fried all your veg and made the sauce.
Bring some water to a boil in a saucepan and when the water has reached a rolling boil add the two nests of wholewheat noodles. Cook for 4 minutes and drain.

Finely chop the garlic, chilli and ginger and stir fry in a little olive oil with the onion. After 3 minutes add the carrots and green beans and continue to stir fry for another 3 minutes. Next add the green and red pepper slices and stir fry for another 3 minutes. Add the courgettes and tofu and stir fry for another 3 minutes. 

Whilst you are stir frying the vegetables make the satay sauce. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add more water if its too thick for your liking, and more peanut butter if its too thin. You won't need all of the satay sauce for the stir fry. 

Add the drained noodles to the vegetables and toss to combine. Pour in the satay sauce, I used about half of what I made and using tongs carefully mix through. Serve straight away with the garlic bread.