Broccoli stir fry with rice noodles

While going through nutrition school we study 100 dietary theories and what happens with most students is we try many of the diets to see how well they work, or to test a theory in order to help our clients.  This is how this recipe came about.

I was testing a diabetic diet, eating no animal products, and no fat. I was also mostly gluten free so I needed lots of vegies and gluten free meals.  I made this meal without the oil, I just sauteed it in water. And I found rice noodles that I could use in place of the more traditional wheat noodle.

I find if I have a little starchy carb in the meal I am much more satisfied. If I try to eliminate all starchy carbs from my diet I'm hungry again in an hour and then I am looking for a snack. It's better for my body to just eat the carb and be done with it.

This dish is filling, full of vegies, and has a tiny bit of heat with the sambal. Of course if you prefer no heat at all just eliminate the sambal.

Ingredients:
6 dried chinese black or shiitake mushrooms
2 tbsp tamari
1 tsp sambal
7 ounces rice noodles
1 tbsp coconut oil
4 tsp minced garlic
4 tsp minced ginger
1 onion, chopped
4 large bok choy stems and leaves, sliced into 1 inch strips
2 carrots, sliced thinly
1 small head broccoli, cut into 2 inch peieces
Salt 
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp chopped cilantro for garnish

Put dried mushrooms into a small bowl and cover with warm water. Allow to soak for 20 minutes until soft.  Remove from the bowl and chop mushrooms into small pieces. Strain the water through a fine seize and put into a medium size bowl.  Add the tamari and sambal to make a sauce.

In a small bowl add the cornstarch to 3 tablespoons of water and stir to disolve.

In a large pot boil some water and cook the rice noodles according to package directions. Mine took 4 to 5 minutes but check the package for guidance.

In a wok or large saute pan heat the coconut oil, add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.  Add the onion, carrots, broccoli, bok choy, mushrooms and salt to taste. Stir fry about 4 to 5 minutes or just until the vegetable get slightly soft.  Add the sauce, cornstarch water and noodles and toss well to heat through and coat all the vegies and noodles.

Remove from heat and plate.  Top with chopped cilantro.  

If you have no issues with fat and want a little more flavor you can also garnish with a drizzle of sesame oil.

The package of rice noodles I purchased contained 14 ounces in total and I used half the package for this recipe and it made two large servings.

You can also use baby bok choy instead of the traditional large size.