Posts tagged SPICY

Saw this (From  in the freezer at one of my natural food stores and thought I should try it.  Made it for dinner last night and it was a HIT! 

It’s so easy to make and it was really good!  The texture of the “chick’n” was really amazing! It really had a good chew to it!  The best part is, you make it yours by adding in whatever veggies you want.  I used what I had on hand and it was great!

1 yellow squash, medium diced

4 scallions, cut 1/2 in long on the bias

2 celery stalks, chopped

1/2 cup carrot chips (the carrots cut into medallions with a crinkle cut like a chip)

1/4 cup mushrooms chopped

Stir fry the veggies for only a minute or two (they will keep cooking when they are in the sauce with the “chicken” you don’t want them too soggy).  Set aside.  Follow the directions on the box as to how you want to cook your kung pao.  Add in the veggies and make sure to coat them with the sauce.  Serve on top of rice

Side Note:  The box suggests adding peanuts to the mix.  I didn’t have any peanuts but I did have about 10 raw cashews.. I chopped em up and toasted them in a dry pan for a few min (till they are fragrant).  Stirred them into the stir-fry and yumm! I wish I’d had more cashews… but like I said… I used what I had!

I definitely recommend this if you’ve recently become vegan and miss eating kung pao chicken from your local Chinese Take out Place! 

Happy and Healthy Eating!

(PS.  This weekend, some changes coming to the menu calendar… Homemade veggie sushi, and some other Asian yummies!)

I wish I could go to a Thai restaurant and order Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles).  Unfortunately the sauce has a combination of oyster and fish sauces.  A far cry from vegan friendly…

Quick side story: If you live in, near, around or visit Seattle, WA look up a Thai restaurant called Araya’s Place.  It’s a completely vegan Thai restaurant!!! They have “Drunken Mushrooms”, which is like drunken noodles but with a vegan mushroom “oyster” sauce.  If you go get it… LET ME KNOW! I’m willing to travel cross-country to eat it! (my bank account might not be yet… but I’ll get there)

Okay well here’s a great drunken noodles recipe that I encourage you to try.  It’s supposed to be quite spicy… but adjust it to your taste.

Sauce:

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar

1 tablespoon mirin

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon Maggi or Golden Mountain sauce

1 teaspoon sambal (Thai chili-garlic paste) or hot red pepper flakes

Juice of half a lime

Mix all of the ingredients and set aside.

Pad Kee Mao

7 ounces (about half a package) wide rice noodles

3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Thai chilies, seeded and thinly sliced

1 medium white onion, chopped

1 head broccoli, trimmed into florets (don’t use the stem)

2 cups thickly sliced Napa cabbage

1/2 to 1 ounce fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

1/2 to 1 ounce fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Half a lime, cut into wedges, for serving.

 For the noodles: Soak noodles in cold water for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until tender but still firm, about 8 minutes. Drain most of water from pot, adding just enough cool water so that noodles stay warm but do not continue to cook.

  Place a large wok or skillet over high heat. When pan is hot, add oil. Add garlic, chilies and onion, and sauté to let flavors infuse oil, about 1 minute. Add broccoli and cabbage, and stir-fry until cabbage starts to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.

 Add basil, cilantro and scallion tops. Drain noodles and add to pan. Add sauce, and toss until mixed and well-heated, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve hot, with lime wedges for squeezing over noodles.

A few side notes:

1. The pad kee mao at my local Thai restaurant has cherry/grape tomatoes, bell pepper, carrots, and mushrooms. You can definitely play with whatever veggies you like.  (I like zucchini, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, baby corn, bell pepper… but I try to limit myself to 3-4 veggies at a time or there is too many veggies!)

2. If you can’t find Thai chilies (aka bird’s eye chilies)… you can sub in (depending on your spice level) serranos, for less heat, or a habanero/scotch bonnet for lots more heat.  The Scoville scale rates Thai Chilies at 50,000-100,000 Scoville heat units,  Serranos at 10,000-23,000, and habanero/scotch bonnets at 100,000-350,000.  BE VERY CAREFUL!!!! or see below

3.  You could play with the spice on your own by using cayenne pepper, sriracha sauce, sambal (Thai chili-garlic paste), or red pepper flakes.

 That’s all I’ve got for you for now!

Happy and Healthy (and SPICY!) Eating!!