Did you know, that ancient Chinese Religions (Taoism and Buddhism) promoted meat-free diets? And monks were often vegans (source). Maybe this is the reason why Chinese cuisine has so many meat alternatives to offer, like seitan, tofu… And there are various Chinese dishes with vegetables and seaweed, that are traditionally made vegan.
I like Chinese style of cooking also because it takes less effort and time. They cook on the high heat and very fast – so vegetables are cooked from the outside, but not from the inside (I believe it also helps to save more vitamins). This particular recipe I manage to cook in 10 min (if all veggies are prepared in advance). So just to the moment, when the rice gets cooked, I am done with the veggies!
Ingredients:
Coconut or olive oil (1 tbsp)
String beans (~200g)
Eggplant (1 small pc.)
Chili
Ginger (0,5 cm.)
Onion (1 pc.)
Garlic (3 cloves)
Coriander (1 tsp)
Bell pepper (0,5 pc.)
Carrot (0,5 pc.)
Zucchini (0,5 pc.)
Broccoli (~100g)
Water (1cup) + Corn starch (2 tbsp) + Soy sauce(1 tbsp)
Spring onion (2 pc.)
How to cook Chinese Style Vegetables
The recipe is very easy, I even don’t know what else to say 😀
If you will prepare all ingredients in advance, you just need to add them to the pan one after another in the order I mentioned them above. As I said before, you actually don’t need to cook vegetables till they ready, they have to stay a bit raw. However, two ingredients in this list are not good to consume raw: string beans and eggplant. That’s why they go to the pan first.
There is one tip that I find useful, by frying eggplants. You probably know, that they soak up all the oil in one second. So what I do to use less oil – I put my eggplants with skin side down. They don’t soak a lot of oil through the skin, and they also don’t stick to the pan this way. After they will go half-way of their cooking process, I flip them over, and press them a bit with the spoon, so they will give out a bit more of their own juice. This way I manage to get nice, cooked eggplants, without adding extra oil.
Important! Just before adding the mixture of corn starch with water and soy sauce, mix the liquid once again, incorporating corn starch into the water. Otherwise starch will stick to the bottom of the glass.
It is better to serve the dish immediately. After you turn off the heat, veggies continue to cook. Don’t miss the moment when this beautiful veggies be overcooked! That will be not anymore Chinese style veggies!
I serve this dish with rice, sprinkle a bit of sesame seeds on top and add more soy sauce (to taste).
Hope you will try and enjoy this recipe! And by the way – you can use any vegetables you like here.
