With Don being back at school and President at that, I’m finding myself spending more and more evenings home alone and unwilling to cook for one. I’ll admit, the glass of wine and bowl of ice cream with berries has become the easy dinner indulgence after having spent the entire day in the kitchen. Minimal effort, minimal clean-up- and more importantly easy to eat slumped on the sofa. Recently though, as the weather has cooled and the days have gotten shorter I’ve been craving big bowls of steaming vegetables. Meat, does not seem to exist when Don isn’t around- he would be horrified. So, four days of the week I’m vegetarian and three nights a week I’m not- date nights are stricktly meat nights.
This Thai stir-fry has become one of my stand-by meals. Yes, the list of ingredients may at first seem daunting but you can you can ignore my suggestions and use up any vegetables already in you fridge. I buy big bags of green chilies and kaffir lime leaves at Kalustyans and freeze them so that they are always around. I also pre-chop garlic in bulk using a mini food processor and store it in an airtight container in the fridge- believe it or not there are some days when I really don’t appreciate my hands stinking of garlic. The key to keep this prepped and in the bowl in under fifteen minutes is to prepare everything in advance. Comfort food minus the fat.
Thai vegetable stir-fry
The list of ingredients may seem daunting but it’s completely flexible- I just use what I have in the fridge. To make sure that everything cooks in the same time, chop harder veggies, like carrots smaller than you do your softer veggies, like courgette.
Serves: one
Diet Facts: super super healthy
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 crushed garlic clove
1 small shallot, chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves, chopped
1-2 Thai green chili, chopped
100g/ 1 cup quartered mushrooms
1 carrot, cut into very thin strips (julienned)
1 tomato, chopped
1 small/medium courgette, chopped
1 Tbsp fish sauce
2 handfuls baby spinach
handful of mint, coriander or thai basil, chopped
1 lime, zest and juice (about 1 tbsp)
1/ Heat a non-stick frying pan and either spray with cooking spray or add a drop or too of oil over a medium heat. Add the ginger, garlic, shallot, kaffir lime leaf and chili to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, until all the smells are released.
2/ Turn up the heat to high. Add all of your vegetables, except for the spinach and saute for 2-3 minutes or until everything has slightly wilted. Add the fish sauce and allow allow to bubble, tossing everything in the pan.
3/ Sprinkle over the spinach, fold through until barely wilted then take the pan off the heat and add the mint lime, juice and zest to taste. Eat immediately with a spoon to lap up all the juices at the end. I like this with a bit of feta sprinkled over the top- but if that’s too weird for you then suit youself!
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nice post Helms. I didn’t think to pre-chop my garlic, but will def do in future!
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