Vegetable Stir Fry Surprise (paleo, GF)
My sister insisted that I add the word “surprise” to the title of this recipe. Why? Well, this Vegetable Stir Fry Surprise tastes like it has soy sauce and/or some sort of Asian bottled sauce in it. BUT it doesn’t!
The delicious and simple sauce in this recipe is light, healthy, non-processed and all natural. The taste is “surprising” because it has a delicious spicy Asian flair to it without any soy sauce at all. Yum!
I decided to make this Vegetable Stir Fry Surprise the other day because I was in the mood for vegetables. Well actually, I was just sick of unhealthy carbs and the only thing I could fathom eating was vegetables.
I had been visiting my family in Florida for a week and we had a few too many baked goods. My sister exclaimed that she couldn’t handle another carb for the rest of the day one morning, so I started thinking about what healthy dish I could make for lunch.
I was inspired by the Asian flavor of one of my favorite chicken dishes, 20 minute Caramelized Orange Chicken, and decided to tweak the sauce in that recipe to make a stir fry FULL of vegetables.
It turned out wonderful! My brother, sister, and I gobbled up almost all of it before I even had a chance to take pictures of it.
This recipe can be eaten as a meal for 4 people or a side dish for 6 people. It also would taste really great with some chicken.
In my sister’s words.. this stir fry is great because… “Surprise!! There’s no soy sauce!” haha
Vegetable Stir Fry Surprise (paleo, GF)
Ingredients
- 3 cups of broccoli florets
- 8 ounces of sliced baby bella mushrooms
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1 Tbs + 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 1/2 cups of chopped pencil onions, (also called green onions),make sure to chop the green parts of the onions too... this was 6 pencil onions for me
- 1 1/4 cups diced red pepper, (this was one red pepper for me)
- 1 1/4 cups shredded carrots
- 2 Tbs honey
- 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, (this was the juice of 2 oranges for me)
- salt to taste, (I used about 1/4 tsp)
- pepper to taste
- A pinch or two of crushed red paper flakes, , depending on how hot you want the dish
- 6 ounces canned water chestnuts
- 2 cups of diced yellow squash, ( this was 3 small squash for me)
- 2 cups of shredded cabbage
Instructions
- In a large pot, boil some water. Put the broccoli florets inside and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and set the broccoli aside.
- In a small pan, cook the mushrooms over medium-high heat with a little bit of olive oil until the mushrooms are golden on each side. Set the mushrooms aside.
- In a large sauce pan, heat 1 Tbs of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic and chopped pencil onions to the pan and mix them into the olive oil with a rubber spatula. Cook for 2 minutes, while mixing the garlic and onion often. If the garlic starts to burn, lower the heat. (It depends on your stove).
- Lower the heat to medium, add the diced red pepper and the shredded carrots to the sauce pan and mix well. Let the mixture cook for 3 minutes.
- Then add the orange juice, honey, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to the pan. Mix everything together. Increase the heat to medium high and cook the veggies for 4 minutes.
- Add the water chestnuts to the sauce pan, mix, and let the mixture cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the yellow squash to the sauce pan, mix, and let the mixture cook for 4 minutes.
- Then add the cabbage and the broccoli and mushrooms that were set aside earlier to the pan. Let the mixture cook for 4-6 minutes, while stirring every so often. The liquid should be mostly evaporated by now. If it isn't, cook for longer. Some liquid is normal.
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