Stir-fried mixed vegetables soba

Let me begin by thanking my friends who have been giving me encouraging feedback about my food blog.  I feel very heartened that my efforts have not been misplaced.  It is satisfying to know that your recipes are appreciated by other people.  I shall continue working on my food blog to share with you what I know. 

The dish that I would like to share with you today is an inspiration from those typical fried noodles served by many zi char stalls.  For those who do not know, the words zi char translate into 'cook and stir-fry'.  Pardon my less than elegant translation for my Mandarin isn't good.  And this dish is dedicated to my boyfriend who is currently on an exchange programme in Manchester.  He loves to eat such noodles from zi char stalls, which are unfortunately, oily and lacking in vegetables.  And I am darn sure that food additives, especially MSG, were liberally used to enhance the noodles' taste.  Very unhealthy, but the guy is too used to such food.  So I am going to demonstrate how one can adapt dishes to individual health preferences.


Ingredients

• Garlic cloves (finely chopped)
• Small red onion (finely chopped)
• Ginger (finely chopped)
• Half a green zucchini (thin slices)
• Half a large red bell pepper (thin strips)
• 4 Swiss brown mushrooms (cubed)
• Dark green vegetable of your preference (e.g. kai lan, cai xin)
• Japanese soba noodles
• Handful of dark sesame seeds
• Cooking oil (I used organic butter.  Not vegan at all but it is another good alternative to other forms of supposedly healthier vegetable oils.  Will explain myself in another entry on cooking oils in future.)
• 4 tbsp organic mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
• 1 tsp organic nama shoyu (Japanese soya sauce)
• 1 tbsp Grade B maple syrup (or other kinds of natural sweetener you want)
• Water

Cook your soba noodles according to instructions and set them aside.  Mix mirin, nama shoyu and maple syrup to form your flavour mixture.  As in any stir-fry recipe, heat your oil in the wok before throwing in finely chopped garlic, onion and ginger to cook for a very short while.  Then add your zucchini, bell pepper and mushrooms to stir-fry.  Pour in your flavour mixture and small amount of water.  Simmer the mixed vegetables for a while before you throw in soba noodles and later, your dark green vegetables.  The reason behind adding the dark greens at the last stage is because you want to prevent overcooking them.  Once your dark greens are cooked (which takes a very short time, trust me), serve up your noodles.  Sprinkle black sesame seeds over them for garnish. 

The mirin and nama shoyu created a very Asian flavour that I had been craving for.  The slightly acidic sweetness in mirin was subtle but highlighted the natural taste of the mixed vegetables in the noodles.  The good thing about Asian stir-fry vegetable dishes is that you can use different types of vegetables in different combinations.  What I have is merely an example.  You can substitute broccoli for kai lan.  Or use purple cabbage for an interesting splash of colour.  Or include thin slices of carrot for additional crunch in your noodles.  I am sure you get what I mean, right?