In the kitchven: curried udon noodle stir-fry
Tonight I decided to step outside my comfort zone of vegan cooking. It was time to try a new recipe and new-to-me foods. My friend Meghan gave me several good vegan resources, including a strong suggestion for curried udon noodle stir fry. The recipe comes from Veganomicon; it’s the vegan cooking Bible.
I have a love-hate relationship with most vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. While they certainly contain recipes relevant for my no-meat diet, I’m usually disappointed with the abundance of recipes that either (1) try too hard to be meat or dairy replacers (throw in the towel, facon!) (2) require ingredients so bizarre and pretentious I would have to do all my food shopping at gourmet markets that I can’t afford and (3) carrots for dessert?! No, thank you.
Not Veganomicon. It’s more than 250 recipes of daily recipes that I can feel comfortable cooking in the kitchen. Most of the ingredients are already in my pantry or refrigerator, or they’re easily accessible at a neighborhood market. The book includes suggestions for cooking for the omnivores in your life (in my case, my entire family), nutrition suggestions to make sure you’re following a balanced diet and recipes that form to other aspects of a healthy diet, be it low-fat or gluten-free. To make things better, the book itself is beautiful, and it really makes me think, “Hey! I can do this!” Check out the author’s site: Post Punk Kitchen.
It turned out great–I really liked cooking with peanut oil, the seitan (“wheat meat”) was a good source of protein and as healthy as it was, it had a comfort food feel to it.
Curried Udon Noodle Stir-Fry
Adapted from Veganomicon
Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes
Curried roux sauce
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons curry powder
½ cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons sugar
Udon noodle stir-fry
8 ounces (1 package) dried udon noodles
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 jalapeno pepper
2 seitan cutlets, panfried & sliced
½ pound sugar snap peas
¼ cup vegetable broth
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
Cook the udon according to the package directions – about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Prepare the curry roux sauce: Combine flour and peanut oil in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it browns to the color of rich caramel and smells toasty, about 10 minutes or less. Stir in curry, and cook for another minute while stirring constantly. Using a whisk, pour in the vegetable broth in a steady stream. Whisk in the sugar and cook until the mixture forms a thick sauce, about 2 minutes. It will have a consistency similar to that of mustard. Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare the stir-fry: Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet or a wok and cook the onion for about 5 -6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent. Add the ginger, red bell pepper, jalapeno and seitan, and stir for another 5 minutes, until the pepper starts to soften. Add the sugar snap peas and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes, until the sugar snap peas are crisp.
Back to the udon noodles: If they’re sticking together, rinse with a little warm water and drain. Add the noodles to the stir-fried vegetables, sprinkle with soy sauce and stir-fry for 2 – 3 minutes. It helps if you can do this with tongs or two spatulas.
Back to the curry roux sauce: Whisk ¼ cup of the broth into the curry roux sauce. Pour the sauce over the udon stir-fry and stir to coat everything completely. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the sauce is simmering and the noodles are warm. Remove from the heat and serve, preferably with chopsticks you have from your favorite Chinese carryout.
life on (very) little 