Something from Nothing

There wasn’t that much in the fridge, but I was able to wrestle something delicious out of what I found.

What I was working with:

• Napa cabbage
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Red onion
• Scallions
• Celery
• Thai pepper
• Tempeh
• A Sustainable Pantry (always)

What I did:

I sauteed the onion, garlic, ginger and red pepper in olive oil until the onion became translucent. Then I added the celery, cabbage and cubed tempeh and continued to cook. I decided to use some rice noodles, you don’t have to boil them so they’re a great choice for a fast dinner.  This is how I prepare rice noodles:

I put up water to boil in a kettle, put the rice noodles in a large bowl, and when the water boils, I pour the water over the noodles and cover with a big plate. In about 5 minutes the noodles are cooked. I find that these thin noodles have a tendency to overcook and become gummy, and this is one way to avoid this.

While the noodles were cooking, I made a simple sauce with about 3 T black bean paste, 1 T each soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil, and about 1/2 cup water. I mixed it all together and then added it to the “stir fry”. After about a minute, I added chopped scallions and served up the vegetables on top of the noodles, all sprinkled with black sesame seeds.

It might not look like much, but instead of these veggies ending up in the trash (which the celery was verging on), we were able to make a great, healthy, delicious meal.   There was even enough left over to pack up for tomorrow’s lunch.  Done.

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