Recipe video above. Any vegetables are totally scoffable when they're smothered in a tasty Chinese gravy! Use any veg you want - just add them according to the cook time (hard veg in first, leafy veg in last). For a quick hit of protein, toss in some cubes of firm tofu. For a chicken version, use this Chicken Stir Fry. Recipe works with Charlie - see Note 4.
Carrot: cut in half lengthwise then diagonally sliced 2mm / 1/10" thick
Buk Choy (Note 1): Trim base off, then cut leaves off the stem. Cut the stem lengthwise into 1cm / 2/5" wide pieces. Keep leaves separate from stems, they will be cooked at different times.
Sauce (Charlie - Note 4):
Place cornflour and soy sauce in a bowl and mix until cornflour is dissolved, then mix in remaining Sauce ingredients.
Cooking:
Heat oil in a wok or large heavy based skillet over high heat.
Add garlic and ginger, stir for 10 seconds. Add onion, stir for 30 seconds.
Add carrot, capsicum and stems of buk choy - stir for 1 minute.
Add mushrooms, then stir for 2 to 3 minutes until the vegetables are almost cooked.
Add Sauce and toss for 1 minute until Sauce thickens and becomes glossy, coating all the vegetables. Don't overcook so they become floppy and limp - they should be just cooked, "crisp tender".
Remove from stove and serve over rice (low carb option: cauliflower rice). Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds if using. A big dollop of chilli sauce wouldn't go astray either!
Notes
1. Buk Choy is an Asian vegetable, as pictured. Stems take longer to cook than the leaves, so best to cut leaves off and add towards the end of the cook time. Stems vary vastly in width (outer layers thick, inner layers small) so cut them into even size so they cook at the same time. Do the same for all similar shaped Asian Greens.There's no need to be 100% exact here - if some leaves end up in the stem batch, it's totally fine! You just want MOST added later in the cook time.2. Soy sauce - use light or all purpose soy sauce here. Do not use Dark Soy Sauce - the flavour is too intense and will overpower the sauce. The bottle will be labelled "dark soy sauce".Gluten free - use tarmari.3. Chinese Cooking Wine ("Shaoxing wine") is the secret ingredient that really makes a restaurant standard Chinese sauce. You get complexity and depth in the sauce with just a bit of the cooking wine.SUBSTITUTES:
Mirin - best, the Japanese equivalent of Chinese cooking wine;
Dry sherry - next best, any cheap and cheerful dry sherry
Japanese cooking sake
Non alcoholic - substitute the water in the recipe with LOW SODIUM chicken stock/broth
4. CHARLIE is my All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce. If you haven't met him yet and you love stir fries, you are going to be best friends very soon. Find the recipe for him here, along with how to use him.To use Charlie for this recipe, replace the Sauce with 4 tablespoons of Charlie + 3/4 tsp cornflour / cornstarch + 3/4 cup water, then use per recipe.5. Nutrition excludes rice.