Thai Tamari Vegetable Stir-fry

Spring is in the air. I can feel it even though it probably is still a few weeks off. The sun has been shining for a few days straight and the snow is starting to make it's way to the sewer. So, you can imagine the hysteria in Grand Rapids. People are out running again and walking for fun. There has been "leg" sightings. People, it is like 47 degrees! I know we are a bit crazy after cabin fever. So, I don't blame you, it's understandable. I am looking forward to the coming season, and keeping it real today with a hearty veggie stir-fry with lots of flavor and love.

To start out a good gluten-free stir-fry you will of course need your most beloved ingredient. Brown rice. First though, I would suggest you soak the dry grains to release the phytic acid and allow the grains to break down and be easier to digest, not to mention allowing you to absorbs the great nutrients found in brown rice. So to soak, put 1-2 cups of rice (I used short grain brown this time around), put the dry rice in a large glass bowl or a 4 cup pyrex measuring container. Soak for 4-8 hours, or overnight. Then drain, rinse and rinse again until the water is clear. Then dump the soaked grains in the pot with the correct amount of water (2 cups water for 1 cup rice). The cooking time seems to go faster for soaked brown rice because it already has broken down a bit. So cooking time is more around 20 minutes. I make a big pot of rice sometimes at the beginning of the week, and then I am able to add the rice to stir-fry's, porridge, salads, and wherever.
So, I soaked, rinse, cooked and stored my brown rice, and than when I wanted to whip up this stir fry last minute with some left over veggies, and a little bit of seasoning, it is no big task at all. So here we go...

Thai Tamari Vegetable Stir-Fry

2 cups finely chopped green cabbage

1 cup thinly sliced carrots

1 cup or so of chopped and lightly steamed broccoli

4 cloves of thinly minced garlic

2 TB of sesame oil (olive oil could work too)

2 TB of sesame seeds

1/2 cup of low sodium wheat free tamari sauce

2 ts. of red pepper paste

optional ingredients:

a few dashes of Thai fish sauce

a farm fresh egg

In a large sauce pan or wok, start sauteing the garlic cloves in the oil for a few minutes. Add the tamari sauce and the red pepper paste to create a sauce and then quickly add all of the veggies to saute in the sauce for a few minutes. Lastly add the pre-cooked brown rice and really mix everything together well. You can leave it and really let it fry and brown and soak the flavors. Then stir and after a few minutes you will see that it is ready to serve. And optionally ingredient is a farm fresh egg. You can have a more "traditional" fried rice with the egg added, but if you are trying to keep this recipe vegan, just omit it. The egg adds some protein and added flavor, but it is just as good without. If you add an egg, clear a space in the pan/wok to crack the egg next to the stir fry. Let the egg cook and then whip it up to let the yoke break down. Then after it is mostly cooked you can stir it into the rest of the rice mixture and then let it continue to cook in the stir fry for another few minutes. Make sure all of the egg is cooked before you remove from the heat and serve! Then, serve it up on a nice platter and enjoy!