Teriyaki Stir Fry

Well it looks like summer has finally decided to stick around. Warm, sunny days make me think about quick, easy food that doesn't tie me to the kitchen any longer than about five minutes. Those of you who have read my blogs for some time know how much I detest being in the kitchen, let alone having to cook.

That's why I have a summer arsenal of recipes that are strictly for days too warm to be comfortable and for me, that's anything over 78 degrees. What can I say? I hate to sweat.

Last post I shared a favorite summer recipe and now I'm going to do it again.

This is a simple meal and there are probably a hundred versions of it all  over the world. This is my vegan version and even if I say so myself, it's doggone good. That's what I think and so did the couple I served it to a few nights ago. We licked the wok clean. Next time I'll make more.

TERIYAKI STIR FRY

4 quarts of boiling water

2-3 Tbs. olive oil

1/3 cup of teriyaki sauce

4 cups assorted vegetables, cut into 2" pieces
Fresh ginger root, about 1/2 tsp. grated
A couple splashes of soy sauce

1/2 package udon or chinese noodles

Put the water on to boil as if you were going to cook pasta. When it reaches a rolling boil, add the noodles, but keep your eye on them. They cook in 5 minutes. 

For this recipe, you can use any vegetables you like.
I had on hand green beans, celery, red pepper, snow peas, zucchini, onions, bean sprouts and mushrooms. 

Add the oil to your wok or any large skillet. I like my wok because it does such a good job of stir frying. If you don't have a wok, use the biggest pan you have so the vegetables will fry and not steam because they are all on top one another. Add the vegetables in order of which take the longest to cook. For me, the green beans and celery went in first, followed by everything else. 

I cooked the vegetables until they were almost done, but still a bit crunchy. If you like them another way, cook them shorter or longer. 

When the stir fried vegetables are how you like them, dump the drained noodles into the wok. Then add the teriyaki sauce, the splashes of soy sauce, and the grated ginger. Let everything in the wok cook together for about 2 minutes, stirring it up from the bottom so everything is coated in the sauce.

Eat till it's all gone and try not to moan over how good it tastes.



A note concerning fresh ginger: We all know it goes bad fast so here is my way of keeping it until it's all used up. Bring the
knob home, put it in a zip lock bag, unpeeled, and toss it in the freezer in a place where you'll easily find it. Then when a recipe calls for fresh ginger, don't bother with defrosting. Just get out your microplane and grate what is basically "ginger snow" into your recipe. Put the frozen knob back in the freezer. You'll never have to throw away another piece of ginger.

Another side note: Since I eat vegan all the time, I am not paranoid of getting protein in every meal. If desired, you can always stir in tofu or tempeh or seitan. 

Serves 3-4