{"id":14927,"date":"2021-08-24T13:48:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T17:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=14927"},"modified":"2021-08-25T13:58:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T17:58:59","slug":"vegetarian-alert-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=14927","title":{"rendered":"Vegetarian Alert, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)<\/em>
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I wrote a post not long ago about some remarkable vegetarian \u201cmeat\u201d<\/a> and another about some incredible spicy peanuts<\/a> that I found during a Chinese supermarket expedition and how I could easily see how they might figure into a stir fry.<\/p>\n

I am thrilled to report that this experiment turned out so well \u2013 supremely simple and decidedly delicious \u2013 that I uncharacteristically wrote down what went into it. So here\u2019s a somewhat compressed version of what I did:<\/p>\n

Prep\/mise en place: I boiled, drained well, and set aside some basic fresh Chinese noodles from my local supermarket (amazingly enough). Diced some onion and fresh red bell pepper. Cleaned and sliced fresh cremini mushrooms. Set aside a handful of those amazing peanuts along with their one-two punch of m\u00e1l\u00e0 peppercorns and dried red chili peppers. Using two forks, I shredded the \u201cmeat\u201d as if it were meat:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the sauce: I usually keep a shortcut combination of ingredients ready to go in the fridge (yes, that’s cheating) for when I’m in a hurry, but if you have a favorite, go for it. This is what went into mine: soy sauce, Zhenjiang vinegar, Shaoxing cooking wine, microplaned fresh garlic, microplaned fresh gingerroot, sugar (trust me), MSG (yes, really), a little Yibin Yacai (minced preserved mustard greens, optional), and a hit of sesame oil.<\/p>\n

Abbreviated procedure: Get your wok as hot as you possibly can (pro tip: I avoid using a wok ring \u2013 gets the wok closer to the flame). Add some peanut oil and heat to the smoking point. Stir-fry the onions and peppers to cook through, add the mushrooms and stir-fry to cook through, add the \u201cmeat\u201d and continue to stir-fry, add the noodles and stir-fry, add the sauce (you don\u2019t need much) and stir-fry, add the peanuts and mix in. (Proper technique would have you do this in batches, but I was all about improper in my rush to the finish line.)<\/p>\n

I happened to have Thai basil on hand so that\u2019s what I used for garnish along with some scallions, but it\u2019s certainly not authentic. Of course, there\u2019s nothing <\/em>about this dish that\u2019s authentic, but it was so tasty that I wanted to share it with you, at least virtually.<\/p>\n

(BTW, you don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy it! \ud83d\ude09)
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As promised. Read on…. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-14927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-cookin","tag-chinese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14927"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14989,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14927\/revisions\/14989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}