I've been under the weather for the past few days. During the worst of my illness, my stomach became quite delicate and I was eating rather bland foods. Now that I am finally on the mend, I find myself craving vegetables. I love vegetables. If I were single and had to write a singles ad, I would mention my love of vegetables and say that anyone interested in dating me must eat their veggies!
Anyway, my quick-fix solution for vegetable cravings is usually in the form of a stir-fry. My stir fries come in many shapes and forms, but this is what I put into mine this time:
- mooli/daikon radish
- carrot ribbons
- green bell pepper
- red cabbage
- onion
- toasted sesame oil (just a dab'll do ya)
- soy sauce
- Chinese 5-spice powder
- chili powder
So, Mooli/Daikon Radish: when eaten raw, it tastes like a regular old radish. Very nice shredded in salads or sliced into sticks for a veggie platter. But I read in The Complete Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking: The Practical Cook's Guide to Every Type of Vegetable, with Over 300 Delicious Recipes* (which is just about the longest title ever, other than that one Fiona Apple album) that it's nice in stir fries, too, so I thought I'd give it a go. It IS nice in stir fries and, when cooked, has the consistency and texture of an al-dente carrot, but a sort of turnip/potato crossed with the smell of a Chinese grocery store kind of flavour. It's good! Next time I get a mooli, though, I'm making kimchi with it!
I made a separate stir-fry for my husband because I prefer my veggies more on the al-dente side and he doesn't like Chinese 5-Spice (I know, right?). So this is what he got:
* The Complete Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking... isn't vegan, but is almost entirely vegetarian (it has a small "Practically Vegetarian" section at the end) and is an excellent and very thorough resource for different veggies (even some of the weird ones) and legumes and -- I really like this in cookbooks -- has a photograph of every single recipe. I really, really like that in cookbooks. Classic Vegetarian Recipes is one of my favourite cookbooks and it has a photo of every recipe, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment