Veggies With Spicy Peanut Ginger Sauce

Veggies with Spicy Peanut Ginger Sauce has quickly become one of my favorite recipes. This dish is jam-packed with vegetables and downright addictive!

Last week I was looking at the bushel of carrots I got from the farmer’s market, wondering what I could make with them. I started thinking about what ingredients compliment carrots. Ginger, I thought, would be perfect. My mind went immediately to Thai food, and then to peanut sauce. I created the following dish and it was so good, I made it again tonight so I could include a photo montage!

Sometimes I don’t use exact amounts when cooking, so please feel free to eyeball it, and use whatever amount you’re comfortable with.

First step — drizzle toasted sesame oil into a skillet (use olive oil if you prefer. For this dish, I like the nutty flavor of the toasted sesame oil).

Chop up 1 garlic clove and 1/2 a large onion and sautee for a few minutes on low heat until they start to turn lightly golden.

Chop up a big chunk of ginger (peel skin off too). Here’s the piece of ginger I used:

Turned out to be about 1/2 cup of chopped ginger:

Add the ginger to the pan with the onions and garlic.

Next, add about 1/2 cup of coconut milk to the pan and let simmer.

This is where you add the veggies. Here’s what I added:

Broccoli (chopped)

Scallions (diced)

Shiitake Mushrooms (sliced)

Carrot (sliced)

Kale (chopped into small pieces — add this in a few minutes later than the rest of the veggies)

Cilantro (Don’t add this to the pan. Save for the end!)

**Garlic, Onion and Ginger in picture above have already been added to the sautee pan.

Add broccoli, carrots, scallions, and mushrooms to the pan. This is what your pan should look like now:

I don’t like to add the kale too early because it will cook quickly and become too limp. I like my kale to keep a bit of its edge.

Now its time to spice it up!! Shake some red pepper flakes on your veggies. Add as much as you think you can tolerate.

After the vegetables have lost their rawness and are starting to soften up a little (a few minutes should do this), add your kale:

Next, the fun part — peanut butter! Add about 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter. Use organic, natural peanut butter (the only ingredient on the container should be peanuts).

Mix the peanut butter in so it is lightly coating the vegetables.

Now, shake some soy sauce in, as well as another splash of coconut milk – just enough to give the mixture a little more liquid and take away from the thickness of the peanut butter.

For soy sauce, I use Nama Shoyu, which is organic and unpasteurized. Feel free to use your soy sauce of choice!

Your sauce should look like this now. Let everything simmer for a few minutes.

Chop up your fresh cilantro.

Once everything in the pan is well mixed and has been simmering for a few minutes, pour your veggies and sauce into a bowl over your favorite grain (brown rice, quinoa, millet, whole wheat pasta, etc). I used quinoa, of course!

Sprinkle the cilantro on top. Well, in my case, pile it on! I use a lot. I really can’t get enough of the stuff.