A Little Hotty Totty (Vegetarian)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	Vegetarian
Date:	17/01/06 (509 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: colourful mix of vegetables - looks and tastes lovely

Disadvantages: preparation

I have to admit first of all that I've nicked this recipe from the Somerfield mag but since it tastes gorgeous I thought I would share it with you all.

I'm not really a big fan of vegetables normally but that's probably because I've always had them as a side dish and not as a stir fry like this which has a bit of a kick to it.

It serves 4 and takes about 20 minutes in the preparation of all the vegetables which can be a bit of a nuisance but as it only takes 8 minutes to cook it's a great dish to throw together at the last minute if you have the ingredients to hand which I admit in our house isn't very likely.

Ingredients

1 large red pepper
2 medium sized carrots
1 bunch spring onions
175g or 6 oz broccoli or cauliflower
100g or 3 1/2 oz baby corn
100g or 3 1/2 oz mange tout
2 cloves garlic
2.5cm or 1" peice of root ginger
1 red chilli
30ml or 2 tbsp soy sauce
15ml or 1 tbsp clear honey
juice of 1 lime
3 x 150g sachets straight to wok medium noodles

Now in the mag it mentions Somerfield products a lot but lo and behold we have found Tesco's do just as nicely when it comes to veg so we used those. The best noodles we have found is the Amoy ones and you can get these in singular packs or 4 packs which work out a bit cheaper.

How to cook it

Preparing the veggies.

Cut the pepper into strips and cut the carrots into sticks after peeling of course. Cut your spring onions into diagonal slices and slice the broccolli or cauliflower into thin slices. The baby corn cobs are my favourite and you halve these lengthways and then halve the mange tout diagonally. This gives you a nice looking variety of colours and shapes which after all help any dish in the presentation stages.

Peel and crush the garlic and peel and finely shred the ginger (when I checked for typos I realised I had typed finger but please don't try that with this delight). When it comes to the chilli its up to you how much of the seeds to add depending on how hot you like your stir fry to be. Remember to always wash your hands immediately after touching the chilli as it can cause a lot of pain if you rub your eyes or for blokes if you go to the toilet - although this can give us girls a bit of a chuckle so if you want to entertain us....

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or a wok if you have one. (We have a wok as my bloke thought it would make a good xmas pressie for me a few years ago just because I said it would be useful to have one. He complained about the ironing board being wobbly so I bought him a new one for Valentine's. He hasn't bought me anything else for the kitchen as a gift since.) The oil needs to be hot but not so hot that it starts to smoke.

Stir in the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for a few seconds before adding the pepper and carrots. Cook for 2 minutes before adding onions, broccoli or cauliflower, baby corn and mange tout. Stir fry this mixture for 2-3 minutes or until it starts to go soft.

Mix together the soy sauce, honey and lime juice and add to the pan and coat the vegetables with it by stirring it in gently. Add the noodles to the pan and mix it until the noodles are done to perfection.

Serve on lovely plates and enjoy.

This meal contains 310kcals and has a 10g fat content.

Of course you can change vegetables as you wish to suit your families tastes but the chilli is needed for the kick of this one. I'm not so keen on mange tout so added some green pepper instead to keep the colour and also added a bit of orange pepper too. I know this is the vegetarian version but this can also be cooked along with chicken too if you want a meatier taste to it.

One tip I would add though is that if you like your noodles a little bit softer then pop them into a pan of boiling water for about 1 minute before adding to your vegetables. I know they are meant to be straight to wok but they can be a bit firm for our liking unless cooked this way.

I hope a few of you try experimenting with some of these vegetables as I would never have believed they could taste so good.

Summary: Hate vegetables - think again with this tasty treat.