Spicy Cabbage and Noodle Stir Fry

Yes, it’s time for cookies. But until I can carve out some time (and get some decent photographs), I’ll have to talk about other things I’m eating. There have been some more really good muffins that I’ll post later, and I hope to dive into the butter-and-sugar food group for some more treats before January brings austerity calorie legislation, but a particular stir fry supper is worth spending some time on right now.

Of course, stir fry is just about right for busy nights, and there have been a few of those around here lately, but the real reason I like to make one this time of year is to star in a dinner-and-a movie night with A Christmas Story. You can eat anything you want – candy, cookies, turkey or ham or prime rib dinners – with any other Christmas movie, but you’ve got to have Chinese food with A Christmas Story!

 

This satisfying vegetable-based dish is quick and easy, especially if you have a food processor to shred the vegetables. I like to use the slicing blade on my Cuisinart to shred cabbage and the shredding blade for the carrots. I kept this pretty simple and used what I happened to have on hand. You could use or add other vegetables, such as bok choi or daikon radishes or scallions, but I really recommend starting with a good quantity of cabbage.

The sauce for this stir fry is spicy, and I love it that way. I used Sriracha for the bulk of the zing, with some Thai sweet chile sauce (which I adore). All those need to carry them in sauce form is some soy sauce (I used tamari) and an acid (I loved lime juice here). The combination of this spicy sauce with cabbage cooked over high heat and noodles is almost addictive, leading you to munch more and more and more, leaving no room for cookies, cocoa, or eggnog. Proceed with caution.

I added some beaten eggs to this dish for some protein. You could add some cooked chicken, beef, shrimp, pork or if you want it vegan, use tofu, seitan or finely chopped peanuts or cashews. I suppose you could even serve the cooked vegetables over rice instead of tossed with noodles. I really loved the way this whole dish came together, though. I liked this so much, in fact, that I may be watching A Christmas Story several times this year, just to have more excuses to make it!

Spicy Cabbage and Noodle Stir Fry

I cooked the scrambled eggs in the same wok as everything else here, but you could cook the eggs in another pan and add them to the pan just before the sauce.

¼ cup soy sauce or tamari

juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon Sriracha or other hot chile sauce

2 tablespoon Thai sweet chile sauce

2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ medium green cabbage, shredded

2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded

2 celery stalk, thinly sliced

3 large eggs, beaten

8 ounces cooked fettuccine noodles or wide rice noodles

1. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, lime juice, Sriracha, and sweet chile sauce. Stir to combine. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil over high heat in a wok or large skillet. When very hot, add the onion. Cook, stirring constantly until softened and beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook and stir 30 seconds.

3. Add the cabbage, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring often, until the cabbage is wilted and tender-crisp.

4. Push the vegetables to one side of the wok, leaving a space to cook the eggs directly on the pan surface. Add the eggs. Cook eggs, stirring frequently, until soft curds form (like scrambled eggs). Mix the cooked eggs in with the vegetables.

5. Add the noodles and mix in with the vegetables (a pair of tongs works well for this). Pour in the soy sauce mixture and stir to coat. Remove from the heat and serve.

Makes about 4 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Root Vegetable and Cabbage Stir Fry with Ginger and Lemon, Pork and Tangerine Stir Fry

One year ago: Mint Chocolate Cookies and Rum Raisin Oatmeal Cookies