What To Cook For Chinese New Year: Lucky Life Stir Fry

So, I’m on a diet and Chinese food is out of the question for CNY. Ugh.

Anyway, I figured out a dish that I can cook for the fam that’s easy and healthy. I love stir fry anything! The secret to keeping it healthy and low-calorie is by using only veggies as ingredients, a dash of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (a Certified NON-GMO liquid protein concentrate derived from soybeans) and some X.O. sauce (vegetarians can use chili sauce) to pack a punch. Sesame oil would be perfect but I’m just really trying not to add unnecessary calories to my meals. Haaaay!!! Diet, take all my fats!

I’m sharing with you my version of Lucky Life Stir Fry sans the sauce. It’s the easiest stir fry you’ll ever cook:

Lucky Life Stir Fry

Ingredients:

1 cup bean sprouts
1 head of cauliflower florettes
1 small cabbage, chopped
1 carrot, cut matchsticks
2 cups brown button mushrooms, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 cup green beans, cut diagonally
2 stalks of leeks or scallions, chopped
1 onion, sliced
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos or any low-sodium soy sauce
X.O. sauce or chili paste/sauce
salt & pepper to taste

Grabe sa dami ng gulay!!! This serves 6-8 hungry people.

Easy peasy:

Step 1: Prep all the vegetables—washed, dried and chopped. Once you begin stir-frying, it goes very quickly.

Note: The secret to good stir frying is not to put too much in the wok at the one time, if you do, the vegetables will sweat instead of frying. Heat the wok/large pan over high heat and as the it starts to smoke, add the oil.

Step 2: Measure the X.O. sauce. I used 3 tsp for this recipe since I used  a lot of vegetables. 1 to 2 tsp is ideal.

Step 3: Heat a wok or large frying pan over high heat on the hottest burner you have for about 90 seconds. Add the vegetable oil and let it heat up until shimmery. Toss a sliver of onion into the oil when you think it’s hot. If the oil is hot enough, the onion will sizzle.

Tip: Another secret to a good stir fry is to make sure that all the veggies are cooked evenly. When stir frying, start with the vegetable that requires more cooking time. Below is a guide on the sequence of vegetables I cooked.

(Clockwise:) I started sauteing the onions, carrots and cauliflower florettes. After a minute or so, I added the red and green peppers. Next is the mushrooms and then the green beans.

Step 4: Add the cabbage and leeks. Toss and stir.

Step 5: Add the bean sprouts last and time to season the vegetables with salt, pepper…

And the Bragg Liquid Aminos

Step 6: Add 2 tbsp of the X.O. sauce and stir.

Step 7: Plate the Lucky Stir Fry and feel free to add more X.O. sauce. Garnish with fresh basil.

This is considered an auspicious dish as it’s colorful which symbolizes the luck and prosperity in Chinese New Year plus, it’s good for your body too! You’re welcome!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!