Off-the-cuff stir-frys
Often when I’m looking for something to cook and don’t feel like running to the supermarket to pick up the necessary ingredients, Huyen or I will slap together a stir-fry with whatever veggies are in the fridge and serve it over rice or noodles. It’s a simple “go to” meal that offers up some taste and stays healthy. Last night’s “go to” stir-fry, though, was quite good. Better than usual, actually.
In extra virgin olive oil, we stir fried onions, garlic, cabbage, green beans, and broccoli. We then added some seitan in a can (woa, that rhymes!) and Ramen noodles. The juice from the seitan blended nicely with the other ingredients while the seitan itself provided a nice “meatiness” to the dish. For seasonings, we added a standard store-bought seasoning blend, a dash of pepper and sea salt, and (I think) a sprinkling of dried thyme. It came out tasting extremely good with a variety of flavors and textures. About the only thing I’d do differently would have been to add the noodles later so that they were a little more crispy.
It just goes to show that sometimes the best dinners come from “making do” with what you have on hand.
Did you boil the Ramens? Or just crumble them and toss ‘em in for crunchiness?
I love eating raw Ramens. I just thought of how great they’d be on top of a really nice salad.
I just tossed them into the stir-fry… they actually softened up a little too much that way, so adding them later would have probably worked even better.
These kinds of, as you say, “go to” meals are always my favorite. They’re always quick and easy and give me a chance to experiment with curries and other spices. I’ve always liked one bowl/dish meals over the main dish with side dishes way to make a meal. There’s usually less cleanup, too!
I agree. Unless it’s a weekend, I’ll almost never worry about preparing side dishes. A lot of times, I’ll take a side dish, increase the serving, and make that the main dish.
Side dishes? What are those?? :-)
What type of Ramen is vegetarian? I have read the ingredients on all of them (or so it seems) and have found some type of animal product. Please enlighten me, I miss simple noodles like Ramen. :-)