Vegetable Stir Fry So Hearty You Won’t Miss the Meat
Every week, Yahoo Food spotlights a cookbook that stands out from the rest. This week’s cookbook is Paleo Perfected: A Revolution in Eating Well with 150 Kitchen-Tested Recipes by the editors at America’s Test Kitchen (America’s Test Kitchen). Read more about Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week here.
Photograph by Carl Tremblay
By the editors at America’s Test Kitchen
Spicy Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Shiitakes
Serves 4
Why This Recipe Works: We wanted a vegetarian paleo dinner that was so hearty and flavorful that we wouldn’t even miss the meat. We decided to develop a vegetarian stir-fry that put crisp-tender bok choy in the spotlight. We aimed to bring out both the pleasantly bitter, earthy flavor of the leaves and the subtle sweetness of the stalks using complementary vegetables and a paleo-friendly sauce. First, we halved heads of baby bok choy and cooked them cut side down for several minutes to achieve a flavor-building sear. To avoid overcooking the bok choy, we set it aside while we cooked the rest of the vegetables and the aromatics. Shiitake mushrooms and red bell pepper, cooked until just beginning to brown, complemented the bok choy nicely. For aromatic interest and well-rounded flavor, we added ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and scallion whites to the veggies. Next, we turned our attention to creating a flavorful sauce that would tie all the ingredients together. As we had discovered in previous paleo stir-fry recipes, savory coconut aminos made a good replacement for soy sauce, and a bit of tapioca flour thickened the sauce nicely. We finished off our stir-fry with toasted cashews and fresh sliced scallion greens. This recipe calls for a 12-inch nonstick skillet; however, a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet can be used instead.
Sauce
½ cup coconut aminos
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons tapioca flour
1 ½ teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Stir-fry
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 scallions, white parts minced, green parts sliced thin on bias
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 heads baby bok choy (4 ounces each), halved
12 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and halved if small or quartered if large
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch-wide strips
2 tablespoons chopped toasted cashews
For the sauce:
Whisk all ingredients together in bowl.
For the stir-fry:
Combine 1 teaspoon coconut oil, scallion whites, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in bowl.
Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Place half of bok choy cut side down in skillet in single layer. Cook, without moving, until lightly browned on first side, about 3 minutes. Flip bok choy and continue to cook until lightly browned on second side, about 2 minutes; transfer to large plate. Repeat with 1 tablespoon coconut oil and remaining bok choy; transfer to plate.
Heat remaining 2 teaspoons coconut oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add mushrooms and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until spotty brown, about 5 minutes. Push vegetables to sides of skillet. Add scallion mixture to center and cook, mashing mixture into skillet, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir mixture into vegetables.
Whisk sauce to recombine, then add to skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened, about 1 minute. Return bok choy and any accumulated juices to skillet and cook, turning bok choy as needed, until coated with sauce. Transfer to serving platter and sprinkle with cashews and scallion greens. Serve.
Reprinted with permission from Paleo Perfected: A Revolution in Eating Well with 150 Kitchen-Tested Recipes by the editors at America’s Test Kitchen (America’s Test Kitchen).
More paleo recipes to love:
Chocolate Chip Georgia Pecan Pie from ‘Down South Paleo’
Orange Sriracha Chicken from Nom Nom Paleo
Grilled Mayan Pork Chops from ‘One-Pot Paleo’
