Thai Vegetable Stir Fry

This Thai vegetable stir fry is a fresh, vibrant dish packed with colourful veggies and a rich, creamy sauce made from coconut milk and cashews. With loads of flavour from ginger, garlic, and a hint of lime, this stir fry is delicious and can be served over rice, noodles, or even quinoa.

This super tasty Thai Vegetable Stir Fry is my next twist on Jamie Oliver’s “10 recipes to save your life.” It’s a delicious, easy to make meal that proves vegetables need not be boring or tasteless!

As part of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I was one of 10 people selected world-wide to put my spin on 10 of Jamie’s favourite staple recipes. This is #8, my twist on Jamie’s ‘Veggie Noodle Stir Fry’

Health benefits

The massive variety of seasonal vegetables is enough to make this Stir Fry a very healthy meal loaded with fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The cashew nuts add good fats and protein. The lime juice, zest and also the ginger and garlic support immune function. The tofu is a great protein source for vegetarians.

Coriander (also called cilantro) is a classic example of food as medicine.  It is extremely anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and also an amazing detoxifier and heavy metal chelator. Medicinally, it is used frequently for arthritis, inflammatory digestive disorders and to bind and excrete heavy metals in the blood. Needless to say, it is a very beneficial addition to any diet.

Ingredients

For this gluten-free recipe, you’ll need fresh ginger, garlic cloves, coriander, (cilantro), lime, fish sauce, canned coconut milk, toasted cashews, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, red capsicum, and firm organic tofu (optional). A garnish of coriander leaves and sliced spring onions finishes it off beautifully.

How to make creamy Thai stir-fried vegetables

To make the stir fry sauce, process the ginger, garlic, chilli, coriander, lime zest and juice, fish sauce, coconut milk, and half the cashews in a blender until smooth. Warm the sauce on low heat, then set aside. In a wok, stir-fry the vegetables over a medium high heat starting with shiitake mushrooms, followed by carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas (or sugar snap peas), and capsicum (bell peppers). Mix with the warmed sauce, then serve as is or over rice or noodles, garnished with the remaining cashews, coriander and spring onion (green onions).

If you own a Thermomix, we’ve also included Thermomix instructions for this recipe.

Serving suggestions and how to store

Serve this stir fry over rice, noodles, or zoodles and top with fresh coriander and cashews. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container for easy meal prep. Just reheat on low heat until warmed through.

Vary this Thai vegetable stir fry to suit your needs

For a soy-free version, replace tofu with chicken, or simply omit it. To make it nut-free, swap the cashews for sunflower seeds. Vegetarians or vegans can replace fish sauce with sea salt. You can also skip the garlic and add extra ginger for a garlic-free version. You could also swap the coriander for thai basil if you’re not a fan.

Take a look at the variations (below the main recipe) for suggestions to alter the recipe to suit many specific dietary requirements.

For more delicious, easy to make vegetarian meals, click HERE.

Thai Vegetable Stir-fry

Prep 15 minutes minutes

Cook 15 minutes minutes

Total 30 minutes minutes

Serves: 4

A quick to make, super tasty stir-fry sauce. It has such a beautiful flavour that will make your veggies shine. Gluten, grain and dairy-free. 

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp ginger root -peeled (approx. 5 cm)
• 2 clove/s garlic
• 1 red chilli/s (optional)
• ½ bunch/s fresh coriander leaves -and stems
• 1 lime/s -juice and zest
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 250 ml canned coconut milk (1 cup)
• 150 g raw cashew nuts (1 cup) toasted
• 75 g mushrooms (I used shiitake), sliced (1 cup approx.)
• 2 carrot/s -sliced
• 1 broccoli -broken into florets
• ½ cauliflower -broken into florets
• 10 snow peas (or green beans)
• 1 red capsicum/s -sliced
• 180 g firm organic tofu -cubed (optional)
• ½ bunch/s fresh coriander leaves -to garnish
• 2 spring onion/s -sliced, to garnish

Method

• In a food processor or powerful blender, process the ginger, garlic, chilli and coriander (leaves and stems) to a fine paste. If using a Thermomix 10 seconds, speed 7.
• Add the lime zest, juice, fish sauce, coconut milk and half the cashew nuts. Process until it forms a smooth sauce and put half the sauce in a small pot over a low heat to warm (don't let it boil). Taste and adjust the balance of flavours (it should be pretty good, but best to check). If using a Thermomix 20 seconds, speed 8. Then heat 5 minutes, temp 90, speed 2.
• Now prepare and cook your vegetables.
• Heat a little oil (I use coconut or macadamia nut oil) in a wok or large frypan over a high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for one minute stirring constantly. Add the carrot, broccoli and cauliflower and stir for a minute then add the snow peas, capsicum and tofu.
• Cook, stirring for another minute or so then take off the heat.
• In a big mixing bowl combine the warmed sauce and vegetables (so the vegetables are covered in sauce).

Serve

• Serve as is or over noodles, zoodles, rice or quinoa and garnish with the remaining cashew nuts.

Make-ahead

• Re-heat in a pot over a low heat until just hot.

Store

• The leftover sauce (or finished dish) are perfect to refrigerate or freeze in a jar or airtight container for your next, fast stir fry. You can of course use all of the sauce if you like your stir-fry saucy!

Variations

Soy-free

Feel free to replace the tofu with cooked chicken  (I often use left over roast chook). Replace the tamari with coconut aminos and sea salt.

Nut-free

Replace the cashews with the same amount of sunflower seeds.

Vegetarian and vegan (and seafood-free)

Replace the fish sauce with a teaspoon of sea salt. 

Legume-free

Replace the tofu with chicken or simply omit it.

Garlic-free

Replace the garlic with an extra 2cm piece of ginger. 

Safe, non-stick Wok (minus toxic teflon)

I own the Solidteknics 30cm Dual Handle wok - my most used and favourite piece of cookware. I also use it for cooking pasta dishes, it's the perfect size and shape. Click HERE to shop for their great range of non stick cookware (that lasts a life time - legit!).

 

 

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Course: Main Course

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