Purple Haze Veggie Paradise
Got Veggies? Any Cranberry, Orange, Mango, Lime, Lemon juice in the frig? Salt. Something with kick? Like to play with fire? Grab a beer and well get started. I like to kick this up, since theres no meat involved. But, feel free to back off on any item. Really, this is all about using what you have.
Got Veggies? Any Cranberry, Orange, Mango, Lime, Lemon juice in the frig? Salt. Something with kick? Like to play with fire? Grab a beer and well get started. I like to kick this up, since theres no meat involved. But, feel free to back off on any item. Really, this is all about using what you have.
- 2 medium zucchini sliced into bite size
- 6 medium squash sliced into bite size
- 3 small purple carrots sliced into match sticks (purple not required, but they do exist. swear)
- 1 cup cranberry juice cran+raspberry also a good choice
- 2 whole limes zest & save outer; slice, squeeze & fork pulp while woking
- 1 teaspoon red pepper finely ground
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar tossed in during last 3 minutes
- 1 tablespoon evoo
- 1 small can sliced or diced pineapple tossed in during last 3-5 minutes
- 1 medium onion peeled & sliced into chunks
- 4 cloves garlic (1/4 to 1/2 to tone it down)
- 1 whole bell pepper sliced & diced. purple can be found! red or yellow works too.
- 3 stalks celery sliced thinly, cut in half if large
- 2 medium eggplant sliced into bite size chunks; keep skin on each one if possible
- 2 tablespoon grape seed oil some type of high heat wok oil
- Carbohydrate 32.383507813946 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 5.94665928878719 g
- Fiber 9.04059122370746 g
- Protein 4.93059806250177 g
- Saturated Fat 0.72894220597357 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (504g)
- Sodium 39.3619805559683 mg
- Sugar 23.3429165902385 g
- Trans Fat 0.432041627651081 g
- Calories 180 calories
Step-by-step
- The time involved in this one is all chopping and getting stuff ready. I have a large tray with sides and several small dishes where I prepare various groups of things that tend to go into the wok timing wise.
- Zest lime and save till very last step.
- Wash and chop everything into bit size chunks. Group these items by when they go into the wok.
- Wok at very high temperature, 500 F.
- Add high temp oil (grape seed, etc) if available, otherwise use extra EVOO and work fast. :-)
- Dump in EVOO, and a 1/3 of the chopped onions. Celery. Carrots. Bell Peppers. Toss in Red Pepper and any other 'spice with kick' at this point.
- Toss till slightly softened. Maybe 2-3 minutes. Try not to let the garlic brown too much.
- Toss in Squash, Zucchini. Eggplant. Rest of Onion. Pour in Cranberry sauce.
- Stir. Wok. Toss. Keep it moving. 2-6 minutes, till everything becomes a bit more bubbly and syrupy.
- Toss in the rest. Sugar, Pineapple. Cut Lime in half and use fork to pull out pulp and juice. Wok quickly.
- Serve hot. Sprinkle Lime Zest Lightly over each serving. Enjoy.
Vibrant purple carrots, crisp bell peppers, and tender zucchini emerge from the wok glossy, brightly acidic, and retaining a distinct crunch. Stir-frying large volumes of water-dense vegetables often leads to steaming rather than searing. Excess moisture turns crisp textures soggy within seconds. Maintaining high thermal energy prevents this culinary failure. Heat the wok to five hundred degrees Fahrenheit before introducing any ingredients. Use an oil with a high smoke point, such as grapeseed oil, to withstand extreme heat without breaking down. Extra virgin olive oil burns too easily at this temperature, producing acrid flavors. Stagger the addition of produce based on density. Dense root vegetables and aromatics require initial searing, while soft squashes and eggplant cook much faster. Pouring in acidic fruit juices like cranberry and lime deglazes the surface instantly. This liquid reduction creates a syrupy glaze that coats the ingredients instead of pooling at the bottom of the pan. Brown sugar added during the final three minutes caramelizes against the hot metal. Fresh citrus zest applied immediately prior to serving delivers volatile aromatic compounds that heat destroys if added too early. Adjust the garlic quantity between one-quarter and one-half of a clove if a milder pungency is preferred.
