anatomy of a stir fry

Stir fries are perfect one dish meals. They are an easy, healthy, and are the perfect solution when you're having a "what the hell can I make for dinner?" crisis.

First, it helps to have homemade sprouts. I sprouted these organic mung beans in a mason jar. It took about 3 days for them to grow inch-long "tails."


Fancy sprouters retail for $30, but as you can see, my mason jar and a piece of cheesecloth works just as well. One third cup of dried beans yields about one cup of sprouts.


I like to start by browning some drained, pressed tofu triangles in my wok. I used some black bean sauce to give them a brown, sweet finish.


Many Indians beleive that the consciousness of the chef affects the quality of the meal. Your state of mind while cooking is like a measure of spices that is added to the dish. Some people hate to cook, but for me, there's something meditative and centering about chopping vegetables after a stressful day at the office. First, I worked on the onions, garlic, ginger, and yellow squash.


Then came the baby boy choy and a green-red pepper.

...and last, I sliced mushrooms and rinsed off some snow pea pods.


I stir-fried it all together [crispy veggies first, softer veggies last], along with some more black bean paste, soy sauce and canola oil. I added the snow peas at the very end. We ate this stir fry over brown rice with a healthy sprinkling of red pepper flakes,