Stir Fried Vegetables with Garlic Ginger And Lime

Well here goes with my first recipe.  It makes for a fairly safe stir fry as you can test the flavour of the sauce before adding it to vegetables.  Knowing the combination we prefer I tend now to add teh sauce ingredients individual when I add the rest of the vegetables which is quicker as it saves preparing the sauce.  Our collection of oils, spices and sauces sit right next to the stove.

1 carrot, thinly sliced

2-3 heads of pak choi or other cabbage cut into pieces

6 or 7 mushrooms, sliced

5 spring onions, chopped into 1” lengths

A good handful of broccoli florets

A thumbsized piece of galangal or ginger sliced thinly, or grated

Small handful of chopped cashews or peanuts

For The Sauce

½ cup chicken stock

4 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp lime juice

6 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 red chilli, finely chopped

First prepare the sauce by placing all the ingredients in a saucepan and bringing to the boil and simmer for about 1 minute.  Taste the sauce and adjust to your taste.  There should be a balance of salty (provided by the fish sauce), spicy (provided by the garlic and chilli), sour (provided by the lime) and sweet (provided by the sugar).  The proportions are those we use. Place the sauce to one side.

Now place a little oil into a wok over a high heat and add the carrots, galangal/ginger and mushrooms and stir fry until the carrots start to soften (about 2 or 3 minutes should suffice).  When the wok becomes dry add water a tablespoon at a time rather than more oil.

Now add the other vegetables and about ¼ of the stir fry sauce and continue to stir fry for about 2 minutes.

Then add the nuts and the rest of the sauce.  Mix thoroughly and allow all the ingredients to become heated through.

Do a final taste test and adjust if necessary.

Serve