A little soul, a lot of veg
THIS dish is based on a Japanese soul food classic called buta shogayaki, or pork stirfried with ginger. But that dish is already about 50 per cent vegetables, maybe more, in the form of cabbage and bean sprouts. So I wondered, would it work without any pork at all? And it damn well does. The veg
have a glorious crunch, and it’s no less satisfying sans meat.
Stir-fried cabbage and bean sprouts with ginger sauce Ingredients
60g fresh root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced against the grain
6 tbsp soy sauce
6 tbsp mirin
4 tbsp sake
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 onion, finely sliced
1 hispi (pointed) cabbage, halved and cored, cut into strips about 1cm wide
300g bean sprouts
2 spring onions, finely sliced, to garnish Toasted white sesame seeds, to garnish Cooked rice, to serve
Method
1. Puree the ginger, soy sauce, mirin, sake, ketchup, sesame oil and cornflour in a blender or food processor.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or deep-frying pan over a high heat and add the onion and cabbage. Stir-fry for 4–5 minutes, then add the bean sprouts and the ginger sauce. Keep stir-frying until the sprouts have softened slightly and the sauce has coated everything nicely, 3–4 minutes.
3. Garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds, and serve with rice.
This is an edited extract from Vegan Japaneasy by Tim Anderson, published by Hardie Grant Books, $39.99 and is available where all good books are sold.