Three ingredients give a stir-fry a distinctly Chinese flavor: garlic, scallions, and ginger. I put this trio on a variety of quick and casual dinners, and it always produces a great flavor! This recipe combines those three ingredients with soy sauce, a sweetener, and hot chili flakes to create a sticky Chinese glaze.
Gather your ingredients.
As for which vegetables to pan fry, this recipes is very flexible. Use whatever you have on hand–it’s a great way to use up leftover vegetables in your fridge! I’m using an annaheim pepper, a red bell pepper, and chinese eggplant.
Cook a side of rice to serve alongside the stir fry. Cover a dry volume of rice with twice the amount of liquid (so 1 cup of dry rice would need two cups of water). Cover and raise this pot to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid.
Chop your chosen vegetables into bite-sized pieces that can easily be picked up with chopsticks.
Mince the ginger and dice the scallions. Begin sautéing the scallions,ginger, garlic, and chilli flakes in sesame oil. Note that sesame oil has a lower smoke point than most cooking oils, meaning it will burn at a lwer teperature. I don’t usually sauté with it. However, it gives such a complementary flavor to chinese spices, I will use it here.
Whisk together 1/4 cup of the agave syrup with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablsepoon of sesame oil.
Add the chopped vegetables to the hot pan and drizzle on the whisked mixture. Raise to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the vegetables reach their desired tenderness. During this stage, stir occasionally, and cover the dish.
If the vegetables aren’t releasing much moisture, add a cup of vegetable broth to partially submerge the vegetables and cook them more evenly.
Uncover the dish and increase to medium heat to boil away most of the moisture. Stir frequently. Once the sauce thickens to a sticky consistency, your dish is ready to be plated.
The eggplant, an excellent sponge for flavor, has turned a golden brown color.
Plate the stir fry with an equal volume of rice. Garnish with sesame seeds and fresh cilantro. Enjoy!
