Udon Noodle Stir Fry with Spinach and Broccoli

Last week I was having coffee with a dear friend of mine, we were reminiscing about the old days when we were working our way to a vegan diet. We realised that having each other, being able to share recipes, ask questions and just having that support system made our journey so much easier and enjoyable.

I remember we used to call each other all the time to ask the same question, "What are you eating today?". Back then the answer was the same most of the time, "stir fry"; we would make stir fry maybe 5 times a week for both lunch and dinner! 

It just seemed the best way to be vegan, and as much as I love cooking and getting creative in the kitchen, I hadn't explored all the possibilities out there so I would end up going back to the same recipes, using the ingredients over and over again.

We were getting a bit (or a lot) bored but I didn't want to give up on stir fries, for one they were the most practical way to feed myself and stay healthy, and I love the idea of having a whole meal in a bowl. So, to keep up with our stir fry affair, we had to get a bit out of our comfort zones, if you can say that, and go experiment some more.

I think we tried every sauce, every noodle, every spice available at our market. The outcome wasn't always something I'd share with others but at least we learned a lot about the different possibilities, flavours and ingredients available. 

I guess this is why I like to share with you as many stir fry recipes as I can, so you can see how versatile they are, and how switching an ingredient here and there will give you a completely different meal. 

This particular stir fry recipe is from those early days, udon noodles with spinach and stir fry. Simple, but the sauce will give it an amazing flavour, we are using soy sauce, rice vinegar, tapioca starch to thicken it a bit and aji-mirin rice seasoning, which you could say it's a cooking essential for Asian cuisine made primarily from sake. 

I always like to have different colours on my plate so I threw in shiitake mushrooms which are highly nutritious, with high content of B vitamins, phosphorus and manganese, they carry loads of fiber and some powerful antioxidants.

Red bell peppers, a low carb vegetable packed with vitamins and plenty of antioxidants that can be a great option to boost your immune system, facilitate cell repair, produce collagen, and help iron and folate absorption. 

Lastly we have our greens, broccoli and spinach. Greens in general are essential in any meal, they are natural multivitamins, packed with antioxidants and fiber keeping you healthy and nourished on many levels. 

To add flavour we are frying everything with garlic and ginger, and mixing in udon noodles. To finish it off, a squeeze of lime and some topics this stir fry will be something you haven't experienced before!