RECIPE: Bell Peppers and Mushrooms Stir-Fried With Chiles (Vegan)

[Guest guest]

Yesterday's mid-day meal ;-)

 

BELL PEPPERS AND MUSHROOMS STIR-FRIED WITH CHILES (VEGAN)

 

This recipe serves two, but can easily be increased for more or halved for a

single serving.

It would normally be part of a meal, with other dishes to be shared among the

diners. As it

is, it makes a fine lunch.

 

Ingredients:

 

2 or three dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for half hour to

soften,

reserving soaking liquid

 

Cooked rice to serve..

 

1 or 2 tsp canola oil

1/2 medium onion, sliced in approx. 1 inch by 2 inch pieces

1 green chile and 1 red chile, finely chopped

1-1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger root, chopped into small matchsticks

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 ribs celery, sliceonce lenghtways then into bite-sized pieces

6 or so white button or mushrooms of your choise, sliced or quartered

1 small red and 1 small green bell pepper (capsicum), in bit-sized strips

1 heaping tsp Chinese chili-bean sauce (comes in a jar at your Asian grocery)

1 or 2 Tbsp soy sauce (I use organic light tamari now)

1 tsp cornstarch dissolved/mixed in half a cup of water, more or less, to a

`milky' liquid

salt to taste

handful unsalted peanuts

2 0r 3 chopped green onions (scallions)

 

Method:

 

While the mushrooms are soaking and the rice is cooking, slice the other

vegetables and

leave them in heaps on your chopping board (or in separate dishes if you like

the

washing-up afterwards).

 

Heat a large skillet (or wok, of course) over medium-high heat and then add oil,

swirling

to lightly coat the pan. Add the onions and cook for a couple of minutes, then

add the

chile, and ginger root and mix throughly with the onion for another minute, add

garlic (be

careful not to burn), stirring all the time. Add the celery and the sliced green

and red bell

peppers, toss in the pan to coat with the other flavours, and reduce heat to

medium and

cook for a couple of minutes - you want them to retain their crispness. Set

aside.

 

Squeeze the water out of the shitake mushroom, retaining this liquid, remove the

stems

and discard (or save for stock), and slice the caps into fine strips and add to

the

vegetables in the skillet. Mix the chili-bean sauce/paste in a small bowl with

some of the

soaking liquid from the mushrooms to make a light sauce and stir in the soy

sauce.

 

Return the skillet to the hotplate, raise heat to medium-high and quickly stir

in the chili-

bean and soy sauce mix. Add a little of the cornstarch mixture, stirring

quickly, to thicken

the sauce just enough that it lightly coats the vegetables. If more liquid is

needed, use the

remaining mushroom soaking liquid.

 

Turn out onto a platter, garnish with the peanuts and green onions, and serve

with hot

steamed rice.

 

Best, Pat