The beer sauce on this Stir Fry is incredibly versatile.  Beer sauced broccoli is a favorite in our house; the sauce is a quick and easy vegan dinner idea that can be used for stir fry and pasta dishes alike.  You can put it over nearly any vegetable you want, but I find that it goes best with cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, rapini, and greens of all kinds – kale, collars, chard, cabbage), and mushrooms.  It is amazing with mushrooms!

This is also a sneaky vegan recipe.  As in, it wasn’t designed to be vegan, but it just so happens to be.  A delicious, plant based dish to please any skeptical omnivore (especially one who likes beer!).

The amounts in this recipe are designed to feed a family of four with leftovers (to put in thermoses for lunches the next day!).

Ingredients

Vegetables of your choice.
1 large Onion
2 cups diced mushrooms (or more, if you like!)
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tbsp garlic powder)
1/4 cup vegetable broth (or substitute 2 tbsp high heat oil like avacado, palm, or grapeseed)
1 – 2 tbsp sesame oil (optional, for Asian style stir fries)
***
SAUCE INGREDIENTS
2 12oz bottles of beer (3 cups)
3 tsp vegetable or mushroom bouillon granules (OR substitute 2 tbsp BBQ sauce OR 2 tbsp soy sauce or liquid aminos OR replace 1/3 of the beer with vegetable broth)
1 1/2 tsp dried Thyme (3 tsp fresh)
1/2 tsp pepper (or to taste)
4 tsp maple syrup (or brown sugar)
4 tbsp arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)

Directions

1.  Dice the onion and mince the garlic.  Set aside for at least 5 minutes.

2.  Put your rice or noodles on to boil (or in the pressure cooker, etc.) or prepare you potatoes.  Bake tofu (if desired).  This is an excellent topper to this dish.

3.  Stir together all sauce ingredients and set aside.

4.  Heat the vegetable broth in a large wok or skillet to sautée the vegetables.  Add the garlic and the toughest vegetables (onions, broccoli, cauliflower, halved brussels sprouts, kale, chard, or collard stems, etc.).  Stir fry over high heat for 3 – 4 minutes.  Keep just enough broth (or oil) in the pan to keep the vegetables from sticking.

5.  Add the mushrooms and any other fast cooking vegetables (chard, greens off the stem, bok choy, asparagus) and stir fry for another 2-4 minutes, until all the vegetables are just softened.

6.  Move all the vegetables to a serving dish (or get a separate saucepan).  If you’re making an asian-style dish, drizzle the sesame oil over the veggies.

7.  Stir sauce mix well and add it to the pan.  Cook on high heat, stirring continuously, until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in vegetables (and optional tofu) until well and evenly coated.

8.  Serve over rice (for asian style), noodles (for european style), or potatoes (for US style).

Let me know if you try it!

The post Beer Sauce Stir Fry appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

       This was a great way to repurpose some of the cabbage left over from New Year’s Eve.  Really, you can use pretty much any veggies you have on hand for this quick, simple, nutrition, and YUMMY stir fry.

       Ingredients:
       Approx 1/3 a heat of cabbage
       2 small zucchini
       2 carrots
       1 med onion
       2 big handfuls diced shitake mushrooms
       3 cloves minced garlic
       3 dried chili peppers, seeded and chopped
       1/4 c organic low sodium veggie broth        
       2 tbsp white while vinegar
       1 tbsp fermented black bean sauce
       1 tbsp ground ginger         
        1 tsp sugar
       1 tbsp sesame oil

1.  Chop the onion and set aside to rest.

2.  Shred the cabbage and slice the zucchini and carrots – a task for which I highly recommend use of a mandolin. Love that thing!

3.  In a very hot wok with about a tbsp of grapeseed oil and roughly 1/2 c of water, stir fry the veggies for about 3 minutes until they just started to soften but are still crisp.

4.  Remove the veggies from the pan, set aside the veggies, and put a bit more grapeseed oil in the wok. Add the rest of the ingredients and sautée for about 3 minutes.

5.  Add the veggies back in and mix it all up.

I also used a little bit of roux made from 1 tbsp whole wheat flour and 2 tbsp water to thicken the sause. In the meantime, MacGyver made his amazing sticky sushi rice with wakame (seaweed). I don’t know the recipe for this, but it’s delicious

Let me know if you try this one. It was really good! Oh, and I substituted hoisin sauce for the black bean sauce because I couldn’t find any.

The post Hot and Sour Vegetables Stir Fry appeared first on Urban Earthworm.