If you’re in the mood for a soul-warming bowl of goodness, you have to try this vegetarian gyoza soup! A steaming bowl of this brothy Asian-inspired soup is super comforting, with little vegetarian dumplings, slurpy noodles, and a seriously tasty broth.

This tasty Japanese-inspired soup uses a rich broth to tie together all the various vegetables, noodles, and gyoza into one comforting bowl of soup. The broth is the perfect balance of salty, spicy, and sweet, and gives the perfect umami-rich noodle slurp!

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. You’ll also need a few cupboard staples, like oil. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• vegetarian gyoza – I used frozen gyoza filled with tofu and vegetables. Aim for around 5 per person.
• noodles – I used dried egg noodles, but a vegan noodle like rice noodles would also be great!
• edamame – again, I used frozen.
• red pepper
• mushrooms
• spring onion
• garlic
• ginger
• red chilli – I prefer to use a mild chilli, as you can always add more heat later, but if you make it too spicy you’ve ruined the whole thing!
• soy sauce
• vegetable stock cube – or liquid stock, or jelly stock. I use a low salt version, which works perfectly, as the soy sauce is already very salty.
• sweet chilli sauce
• sesame seeds (just for garnish – skip them if you like!)

Becca’s Top Tip

When it comes to garlic and ginger, I almost always used the pureed versions that come in a jar or a tube. It saves so much time on peeling and chopping, and also means there’s no waste – the tube can keep in the fridge for a fairly long time, so it will still be there when you next need it.

Instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Cook the ‘aromatics’ – garlic, ginger, onion and chilli – until they’re soft and fragrant.

Step 2: Add your choice of vegetables and noodles, along with all the tasty ingredients that will comprise the soup broth.

Step 3: Add the vegetable gyoza to the soup, and let them simmer until they’re piping hot.

Step 4: Serve hot!

Becca’s Top Tip

If you’d like to, keep a few ingredients back for garnishing the soup – I used some sesame seeds and a few extra bits of spring onion. Some garnish not only makes your gyoza soup look really beautiful, it also brings an extra bit of fresh flavour, and a different texture.

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Vegetable Gyoza Soup

A rich, brothy gyoza soup with fresh vegetables, slurpy noodles and vegetarian Japanese dumplings. A soul-warming bowl of goodness!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 2 people

Calories 431kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 mild red chilli, finely chopped
• 3 Tablespoons soy sauce (I used dark)
• 2 Tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
• 1 vegetable stock cube, crumbled (I used low salt)
• 500 ml (~ 2 cups) water
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
• A few small mushrooms, sliced
• 100 g (~ 2/3 cup) edamame (I used frozen)
• 60 g (~ 2 oz) dried noodles (I used fine egg noodles)
• ~ 10 vegetable gyoza (I used frozen)

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan (or a medium-sized saucepan), and add the minced garlic, ginger paste, chopped spring onions, and chopped chilli. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, until fragrant.
• Add all of the remaining ingredients except for the gyoza, and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 more minutes, or until the noodles are about halfway cooked.
• Finally, add the frozen gyoza to the soup, gently coating them in the hot liquid. Allow the mixture to simmer for a few more minutes, until the gyoza are piping hot in the middle – if your gyoza were frozen, they will take a few minutes longer than fresh. Serve hot.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 431kcal | Carbohydrates: 70.6g | Protein: 15.1g | Fat: 15.4g | Saturated Fat: 2.3g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 1900mg | Potassium: 566mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 20.1g | Calcium: 159mg | Iron: 5mg

Other Soup Recipes

Vegetarian Soup Recipes

Vegetarian Lasagne Soup

Creamy Vegan Corn Chowder (with Coconut Milk)

Seriously Easy Red Lentil Soup

Creamy Potato and Spring Onion Soup

The post Vegetarian Gyoza Soup appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

This easy chickpea stir fry is basically the ideal dinner:

• seriously easy (it’s kinda in the name)
• full of protein, vegetables, and heaps of flavour
• on the table in 20 minutes

What more could you want?!

I love making stir fry, because it’s such a quick and easy dinner, and it’s also a great way to get tons of portions of veg into the day, without it feeling remotely like a chore. Stir fries make vegetables irresistible!

When you add some chickpeas, a simple stir fry immediately becomes more filling, with more protein (over 20g per serving!), and more flavour too. I added noodles to my chickpea stir fry, but rice would be great too, if you prefer!

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. You’ll also need some cooking oil from your cupboard. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

• chickpeas. Tinned chickpeas are super convenient, but you can soak and cook your own dried chickpeas instead if you have the time and energy!
• mixed vegetables. I used baby corn, mange tout, tenderstem broccoli, mushrooms, and yellow pepper. It really doesn’t matter what veg you use, just anything that can be stir fried nicely. You can even use a shop-bought stir fry mix – no shame here.
• fresh noodles – the ones that can be added straight to the wok with no pre-cooking. I used egg noodles, but you can use a vegan noodle (like rice noodles) if you’d like to.
• garlic
• chilli. I used a fairly mild chilli – you can always add more, but if you add something too strong, you might spoil the dish! Take the seeds out if you don’t want it too spicy.
• honey (or agave, for a vegan stir fry)
• soy sauce (I used dark soy sauce)
• cilantro, to garnish. I like to sprinkle a few sesame seeds on top too!

Becca’s Top Tip

If you’d like to, use a shop-bought stir fry mix, which contains a variety of pre-chopped stir fry vegetables. It’s often cheaper than buying the vegetables individually, and saves lots of time too!

Equipment

A wok is ideal for making stir fry, if you have one.

Its wide top and deep sides allow you plenty of room for tossing and stirring the vegetables without causing any splashes or spills.

There are all sorts of woks on the market, but I like to use a large (30cm / 12 inch) wok with a non-stick coating, like these ones on Amazon US / Amazon UK, which both have really impressive reviews.

Instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Begin by stir frying the chickpeas with some chilli and garlic.

Step 2: Add your choice of vegetables and cook for a few minutes until they’re just tender.

Step 3: Add the sauce ingredients and let them bubble for a minute or two.

Step 4: Finally add the noodles, and mix well.

Step 5: Serve hot with some garnish.

Becca’s Top Tip

A few sesame seeds and some cilantro sprinkled on top as garnish looks really pretty, and also bring an extra little pop of fresh flavour to the dish. You could also use some chopped cashew nuts or some sliced spring onions.

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Easy Chickpea Stir Fry

This protein-packed chickpea stir fry is a quick and easy vegetarian dinner that's full of flavour! On the table in just 20 minutes.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 2 people

Calories 510kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon oil
• 1 mild red chilli, finely chopped (see notes below)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 400 g tin chickpeas, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
• 3 Tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon honey (or agave)
• 450 g (~ 1 lb) mixed stir fry vegetables (I used baby corn, mange tout, yellow pepper, mushrooms and tenderstem broccoli)
• 300 g fresh noodles (I used egg noodles)
• 1/2 Tablespoon sesame seeds
• Few sprigs fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a wok or large, deep frying pan. Add the finely chopped chilli and garlic, along with the drained chickpeas. Cook over a medium-high heat for a few minutes, until fragrant.
• Add all of the vegetables and stir-fry for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until the vegetables are just tender.
• Move the vegetables to the side of the pan to create a space in the centre. Add the soy sauce and honey to the space, and allow the sauce to begin bubbling and sizzling. Cook for a minute or so, then add the noodles and mix everything together.
• Cook over a medium-high heat for a few more minutes, until the noodles are hot and the vegetables are cooked to your liking.

Notes

I would recommend using a mild chilli. You can always add more if needed, but if you add a chilli that ends up being too hot, you may spoil the dish. If you’d prefer a mild heat, remove the seeds.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 510kcal | Carbohydrates: 80.3g | Protein: 20.5g | Fat: 13.4g | Saturated Fat: 1.9g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 150mg | Potassium: 821mg | Fiber: 11.7g | Sugar: 15.3g | Calcium: 123mg | Iron: 6mg

The post Easy Chickpea Stir Fry appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

You know what makes me feel like a superhero? Getting dinner on the table in 15 minutes… especially when it contains plenty of fresh veg! And that’s just the case with this quick and easy red Thai curry noodle soup. It’s a super quick curry recipe that needs just 4 main ingredients! Toss everything together in a pan to create a dinner that’s full of flavour and full of goodness.

Red Thai curry noodle soup

Red Thai curry is one of my all-time favourite Asian dishes.

It’s got a nice amount of spice but it isn’t overwhelming, and isn’t overly heavy unlike some other types of curry. It’s more of a sweet and fragrant spice, rather than anything too rich.

Thai curry sauce is usually fairly thin, which is why it’s so easy to adapt any Thai curry to serve it as a soup!

What are the 4 ingredients in this noodle soup?

Okay, so I’ve taken a few liberties with counting the ingredients in this recipe, but here’s what you’ll need to make this insanely tasty soup:

• fresh vegetables (I used a shop-bought mixture of stir fry veggies, so I could literally just empty the bag straight into the wok – no peeling or chopping required)
• Thai curry paste (I always keep a jar in the cupboard as it’s just the thing for a quick, tasty dinner!)
• canned coconut milk
• noodles (I used fresh egg noodles that don’t require any pre-cooking)

If you’ve got these 4 things, you can have this Thai curry noodle soup on the table within about 15 minutes. So, so easy!

Quick and easy dinner

If you’re one of those people who cooks everything from scratch, I know that my short cuts might make you raise an eyebrow at this recipe. I enjoy making things from scratch (e.g. my homemade enchilada sauce), but I’d be lying if I said I don’t sometimes prefer the easier option.

And to be honest, there are all sorts of benefits to using shop-bought ingredient short cuts:

• it cuts down on prep time dramatically
• it also helps to keep costs down (it’s much cheaper to buy a £2 jar of curry paste than to buy the ingredients individually!)
• it makes the end result more reliably delicious (why faff around with unfamiliar ingredients when someone who actually knows what they’re doing has already done it?)
• it makes me more likely to cook a veg-packed dinner, since I know it can be done quickly and easily

Is this an authentic Thai recipe?

No, it’s not. I am not Thai, and I make no claims that this recipe is remotely traditional.

But sometimes food doesn’t need to be an authentic glimpse into another culture – sometimes it can just be something you enjoy eating. And I very much enjoy eating food that tastes incredible, is full of fresh veggies, and only takes 15 minutes to prepare.

How to make red Thai curry noodle soup

Step 1: Stir fry some mixed vegetables

The bag of stir fry vegetables that I bought contained a mixture of cabbage, yellow pepper, red onion, and carrots – but any similar stir fry selection will do just fine.

Of course, if you’d prefer to choose your vegetables individually, you can absolutely do this, but it will obviously take quite a bit longer to prepare them all one by one.

Sometimes I use a combination of the two methods – I’ll start with a bag of mixed vegetables to speed things along, but also add anything extra that I particularly want to include, like a handful of mushrooms or some baby corn.

Stir fry the vegetables for just a few minutes to get them going – you still want them to retain some crunch.

Step 2: Add the red Thai curry paste

Add a few big dollops of Thai curry paste to the pan. It’s up to you how much you add – if you want a milder, creamier noodle soup, just use one or two tablespoons. Or, if you really want your soup to pack a punch, use three or four.

Some shop-bought curry pastes aren’t vegetarian, as they contain fish sauce, so make sure you choose appropriately.

In the UK at least, I find that the supermarket own brands are usually vegetarian, whereas more expensive brands aren’t. I imagine this is because when they’re trying to keep costs down, fish sauce is the first ingredient to go!

Step 3: Add fresh noodles and coconut milk

You can use any kind of noodle you like – I used egg noodles, but of course you can choose a vegan noodle if needed. I prefer to use the ones that can be thrown straight into the wok, rather than dried noodles, which will need pre-boiling.

Gently stir everything together until the coconut milk melts down, and combines with the curry paste to give a rich and creamy curry sauce. It’s absolutely incredible.

You can add a splash of water if you like, if you want to make your soup more… well, soupy. Otherwise, you’re all done!

What vegetables can you use in Thai noodle soup?

Honestly, there are so many vegetables that would work well in this sort of noodle soup that it might actually be quicker to list the veggies that wouldn’t work so well. But here are some of my favourite vegetables to use:

• cabbage
• onion (red or white)
• carrot
• mange tout
• baby corn
• peppers (red, yellow or green)
• mushrooms
• pak choi
• broccoli
• courgette (zucchini)

Choose as many different colours and textures as you can! I love the pre-prepared vegetable mixes, as you can get a lot of variety with very little effort.

I like stir fries to retain a bit of crunch, so I try not to choose veggies that get too soft and soggy. They just need a few minutes in the pan to soften a little, while still having a great texture.

How else could you adapt the recipe?

The brilliant thing about using such simple ingredients is that it’s so easy to swap things in and out of the recipe.

If you don’t fancy noodles, throw in some leftover rice (or a sachet of pre-cooked rice) instead.

Add a tin of chickpeas or some fried tofu for extra protein.

Skip the additional water for a thicker, less soupy curry.

There are all sorts of ways you can make this tasty soup your own, and it will always be quick to make, and absolutely delicious.

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Quick Red Thai Curry Noodle Soup

Get dinner on the table in just 15 minutes with this quick and easy red Thai curry noodle soup! You'll need just 4 ingredients for this seriously flavourful dinner.

Course Main meals

Cuisine Asian, Thai

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 3 people

Calories 441kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 300 g (~ 2/3 lb) mixed stir-fry vegetables (I used a shop-bought mix of cabbage, carrot, pepper and red onion, but you can use whatever combination you like)
• 2 – 3 Tbsp red Thai curry paste (make sure it’s vegetarian)
• 400 ml (~ 1 1/2 cups) canned coconut milk
• 300 g (~ 2/3 lb) fresh noodles (I used egg noodles)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 250 ml (~ 1 cup) water or vegetable stock (optional)
• Fresh coriander (cilantro), to garnish (optional)

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a large pan (a wok is ideal), and add the mixed vegetables. Cook over a medium heat, stirring regularly, for 4-5 minutes, until just beginning to soften.
• Add the curry paste (the quantity can be adjusted depending on how spicy you’d like it), the coconut milk, and the fresh noodles. Season with plenty of black pepper, and stir gently until the ingredients come together to make a smooth sauce. Simmer for 5 more minutes, or until the sauce is piping hot, and the noodles and vegetables are cooked to your liking.
• To make the dish more soupy, and to stretch it to feed more people, you can add some extra water or vegetable stock – or, serve it as is. You can serve topped with fresh coriander (cilantro), if you like.

Notes

You can select your vegetables separately if you prefer, rather than using a mix, but this will obviously add to the prep time.

Green Thai curry paste would also work well.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 441kcal | Carbohydrates: 36.1g | Protein: 7.6g | Fat: 29.8g | Saturated Fat: 18.8g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 184mg | Potassium: 255mg | Fiber: 3.3g | Sugar: 5.1g | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Quick Red Thai Curry Noodle Soup appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

It’s time for another 15 minute recipe! Because I just don’t have the brain power these days to spend any longer in the kitchen. These peanut and sesame noodles are coated in a luscious peanut and sesame sauce that you’ll want to eat by the spoonful.

Asian-style noodles

These peanut noodles aren’t inspired by any one country in particular – I suppose they’re just a mixture of all of my favourite flavours from Asian cuisine.

The end result is a simple noodle dish that could be served alongside any other Asian-inspired dish, or even just on their own.

Probably not authentically anything… but delicious all the same, and oh-so-easy to make.

How to make simple peanut noodles

Step 1: Boil some noodles and veg

First, get your noodles on to boil. I chose some simple dried egg noodles, which cook in about 5 minutes.

I always like to add some extra veggies when I’m boiling noodles or pasta, as it’s so easy to do, and extra veg are always beneficial. This time I added some chopped green beans, as that’s what I had in the fridge. To be honest, any green veg would work well here – see below for some more ideas.

Step 2: Blitz up the sauce

Next, the sauce… ohhhh, the sauce.

This incredible, silky peanut sauce can be whizzed up in a food processor in about 2 minutes, so do it while the noodles are cooking. I used my mini food processor (almost identical to this one on Amazon UK* – here’s a similar one on Amazon US*). It’s perfect for making small batches of sauces (as well as dressings, dips, etc.), and it’s easier to use and clean than my larger food processor.

The sauce is made from all sorts of tasty things, which all happen to live in my kitchen cupboards permanently. As long as you have a fairly well-stocked pantry, you’ll probably already have everything you need to make this peanut sauce:

• peanut butter
• sesame seeds
• soy sauce
• sriracha (or similar hot sauce)
• honey
• garlic

When these simple ingredients are blitzed up together, they make the most irresistibly exquisite sauce. It’s salty, it’s sweet, it’s spicy – it’s got a bit of everything.

Step 3: Combine!

When the noodles are cooked, drain them, and add the peanut and sesame sauce. I find a pair of kitchen tongs is best for tossing the noodles through the sauce.

Step 4: Garnish with plenty of toppings

Garnish may sound like an optional extra, but it’s a pretty important part of this recipe.

Without the garnish, you have an admittedly delicious, but pretty simple bowl of peanut noodles.

With the garnish, you have a completely irresistible bowl of noodles, with all sorts of different textures and flavours.

How to garnish peanut noodles

I always think it’s a good idea to highlight individual ingredients from a recipe in the garnish. So I topped my bowl of noodles with extra chopped peanuts and sesame seeds, to give a beautiful crunch.

Fresh veggies are also always welcome – some chopped spring onions not only an extra pop of vibrant green to the plate, but also a fresh flavour that lifts the dish and stops it from being too stodgy. Some fresh coriander (cilantro) would have the same freshening effect.

How can I adapt this recipe?

If you’d like to make this recipe your own, feel free to mix things up a bit:

• Swap the green beans for a different green vegetable, such as edamame (I love the frozen ones), broccoli, pak choi, peas, or anything else remotely similar.
• Add lots of extra stir fried vegetables for a more substantial dish (more like a peanut-flavoured chow mein).
• If you’re missing one ingredient from the sauce, experiment with a substitution, e.g. cashew butter instead of peanut butter, or a small piece of onion instead of the garlic.
• For a vegan version, swap the egg noodles for rice noodles, or even just rice.

How to serve peanut noodles

I served my peanut and sesame noodles on their own for lunch.

Each bowlful contains a very impressive 20g of protein (read more about vegetarians and protein here!), as well as fresh veg and carbs – so there’s no real pressure to add anything else on the side.

However, if you do fancy serving something alongside your peanut noodles, to add a bit of interest, there are all sorts of things that would work well:

• extra stir fried vegetables
• spring rolls
• vegetarian egg fu yung
• vegetarian Asian-style dumplings
• tofu (perhaps teriyaki tofu or lemon and black pepper tofu)

However you serve your peanut and sesame noodles, just heap them up high, add plenty of toppings, and enjoy!

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Peanut and Sesame Noodles

These simple peanut and sesame noodles are the perfect Asian-style side dish or main meal, with an irresistibly silky peanut sauce.

Course Main meals, Side Dish

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 2 people

Calories 556kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 175 g (~ 6 oz) green beans, sliced
• 225 g (~ 8 oz) dried egg noodles (or vegan noodles, if needed)
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (I used dark)
• 1/2 tbsp sriracha (or similar hot sauce)
• 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp water
• To garnish (choose at least 2): Sliced spring onions, sesame seeds, chopped peanuts, fresh coriander (cilantro), etc.

Instructions

• First, cook the green beans and dried noodles in a pan of boiling water. The noodles I used cook in about 4-5 minutes, so I boiled the green beans for a couple of minutes before adding the noodles. The beans should end up soft enough to eat, but still with a bit of bite.
• While the noodles are cooking, add the next 7 ingredients (peanut butter through water) to a food processor (I used a mini one), and blitz for around 60 seconds, until smooth. It should all come together into a smooth, runny sauce – add more water if needed.
• When the noodles are ready, drain the water, and add the sauce. Cook for a couple of minutes over a medium heat to warm the sauce.
• Serve the peanut noodles topped with your choice of garnish.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 556kcal | Carbohydrates: 94.7g | Protein: 19.9g | Fat: 12.4g | Saturated Fat: 2.8g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 704mg | Potassium: 376mg | Fiber: 6.2g | Sugar: 8.7g | Calcium: 125mg | Iron: 7mg

These peanut noodles would be perfect served alongside some vegetarian egg fu yung:

The post 15 Minute Peanut and Sesame Noodles appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

If you think you’re a tofu hater… think again. This sticky teriyaki tofu will convert you, I promise! It’s beautifully firm and chewy, in an insanely good homemade teriyaki sauce, made with just a few simple ingredients. It’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s unbelievably sticky – irresistible.

What is teriyaki sauce?

The word ‘teriyaki‘ actually refers to a Japanese cooking technique, but in Western countries it’s also used to describe the sauce itself. It’s a thick, sticky sauce made with three main ingredients:

• soy sauce
• sugar
• mirin (Japanese rice wine)

Mirin isn’t an ingredient I ever have in my kitchen, and I don’t like buying ingredients just for one recipe, as they’ll probably go off before I’m able to use them up – so I used white wine vinegar instead (rice vinegar works well too!).

The three ingredients combine to give the perfect balance of salty and sweet – it’s a really incredible flavour.

How to use teriyaki sauce

I love teriyaki sauce on just about everything – teriyaki mushrooms are incredible, but it also goes well on all sorts of other things.

Use it in a stir fry, drizzle it over rice or noodles, use it to dip spring rolls… it’s so tasty that you’ll be wanting to use it all over the place.

This time, I made this simple teriyaki tofu – little chewy pieces of tofu in that beautiful sticky sauce. So easy but so, so good.

How to cook tofu

To begin with, cook the tofu in a frying pan until it’s super crispy. I’ve already written about how to cook tofu in detail (click that link if you’ve not yet read it!), so I won’t say too much here, but the main idea is: You want to cook the tofu until it’s a little bit too dry and crispy.

It actually won’t look all that appetising at this point – it’ll be dry and not too appealing. But once you add the sauce, it all rehydrates like magic! That’s the secret to cooking perfectly firm, chewy tofu with no squishiness or sogginess in sight.

When the tofu is crispy, just add the sauce ingredients to the same pan.

Simple teriyaki sauce

I love how the teriyaki sauce can be cooked right in the same pan as the tofu – this is a really straightforward recipe that only needs one pan (or more if you’re cooking extra side dishes). Chuck it all in, and let it simmer for a few minutes.

The sugar in the sauce melts down, and makes the sauce nice and sticky. Combined with the soy sauce, it almost makes a salty caramel – which is an awful lot more tasty than it sounds, I promise.

I also added garlic and ginger to add even more wonderful flavour.

How to serve teriyaki tofu

This recipe is only for the sticky teriyaki tofu itself, which you can then serve however you like. Honestly, it was a struggle to avoid eating it straight from the pan, let alone making side dishes, but it was worth it in the end.

A few ideas:

• mix it through stir fried vegetables
• spoon it on top of veggie chow mein
• serve it with rice (egg fried rice is my favourite!)
• add some veggie side dishes like pak choi or broccoli (I used Tenderstem)

Then just attempt to eat it with chopsticks… or give up after 2 minutes and eat your sticky teriyaki tofu with a fork like I did.

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Sticky teriyaki tofu

This sticky teriyaki tofu is my favourite tofu recipe ever – so easy to make, but such an incredible flavour! This dish will convert any tofu hater.

Course Main meals

Cuisine Asian, Japanese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 2 people

Calories 340kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 400 g (~ 14 oz) extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into bitesize pieces
• 1 tsp minced garlic (I used garlic paste)
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger (I used ginger paste)
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp mirin or white wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp Chinese five spice

Instructions

• Heat a dash of oil in a large frying pan, and add the pieces of tofu. Cook over a medium heat for around 10 minutes, turning the tofu over ever few minutes, until it’s crispy all over. You actually want to cook it until it’s a bit too dry, as it will rehydrate once the sauce is added.
• When the tofu is very dry and crispy, add the minced garlic and ginger. Cook for 1 more minute, then add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer, and cook for a few more minutes until the sauce has become thick and sticky. If you want a slightly saucier dish, you can add a dash more water (or a little more of any of the sauce ingredients).
• Best served straight away.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 340kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 23.9g | Fat: 21.7g | Saturated Fat: 3.4g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 1819mg | Potassium: 311mg | Fiber: 1.9g | Sugar: 5.9g | Calcium: 185mg | Iron: 1mg

Want another easy recipe that will convert tofu haters? These cheesy tofu meatballs are incredible!

The post Sticky Teriyaki Tofu appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

Veggie chow mein is one of my go-to Chinese dishes to make – it’s super quick, it’s super easy, and it’s always delicious. You can’t beat this big bowlful of noodles with veggies, smoked tofu and salty sauce.

I usually get my chow mein from a Chinese take away, but you end up with a much cheaper dinner if you make it yourself!

What is chow mein?

Chow mein is a simple Chinese dish made with thick noodles, stir-fried with veggies.

There are no set rules about how to make chow mein. You can use whatever vegetables you like. You can add tofu for protein. You can scramble in an egg. You can top it with fresh coriander, chopped cashew nuts, sesame seeds…

Chow mein may be a Chinese dish, but different countries have developed their own versions, so really you can make it however you like. As usual, I’m much more concerned with making a tasty dinner for my family than with making an authentically Chinese dish.

Here’s my version!

Stir-fried vegetables

To start, make your stir-fried vegetables. Use the biggest wok you have, it will make things much easier once you start to add the other components of your veggie chow mein!

Make sure you add plenty of garlic, a little ginger, and some red chilli – start to build the flavour straight away.

Cook the veg until they’re fairly tender, but still have a bit of bite to them. We don’t want soggy veg.

What vegetables should I use in chow mein?

There are all sorts of vegetables that work really well in veggie chow mein. Ideally, you want to choose at least 3-4 different veg, so your meal has plenty of different flavours and textures.

I actually used a shop-bought mix of stir-fry vegetables, as it ends up being much cheaper than buying each vegetable individually, and creates a lot less waste. I augmented the mix with a couple of other vegetables that I wanted to include.

My veggie chow mein had:

• bean sprouts
• cabbage
• carrot
• onion
• mushrooms
• mange tout

Other vegetables that would work really well in your chow mein:

• broccoli
• baby corn
• edamame
• spring onions
• green beans

Fresh egg noodles

Next, add your noodles!

Chow mein typically uses thick egg noodles. I like to use fresh noodles, which can be added straight to the pan with no pre-cooking.

Of course, you can use dried noodles instead if that’s what you have – just boil them until they’re soft before adding them to the pan.

And if you want to make a vegan or gluten-free chow mein, there’s no reason you couldn’t use rice noodles instead.

Crispy smoked tofu

I wanted to add a bit of extra protein to my veggie chow mein, so I also added some tofu, which I fried on its own in a pan first, to get it nice and crispy.

This time I used smoked tofu, which is really tasty, and has a lovely smoky flavour – but normal tofu will work well too!

Just mix everything together in your enormous wok, add a very generous splash of soy sauce, and serve!

How to serve chow mein

You can serve chow mein as a side dish or a main dish, whatever works best for you.

Personally, I think it works fine as a full meal in its own right – it already contains veg, carbs and protein, so you don’t really need to add anything else. I just added some steamed broccoli and a veggie spring roll on the side, just because I’ll happily take any excuse to add pastry to my meal.

If you’d prefer to serve your chow mein as a side dish, it would go beautifully with a Chinese-style curry like my chip shop Chinese curry! Though you probably don’t need to double up on the tofu and all those veg, so in this case I’d skip the tofu in the chow mein, and go easy on the veg too.

However you choose to serve your veggie chow mein, it makes a really tasty Chinese meal that can be stirred up in only about 15 minutes!

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Veggie chow mein

Veggie chow mein is a quick and easy Chinese noodle dish that can be fried up in just 15 minutes, and is a great fridge clearer!

Course Main meals

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 3 people

Calories 402kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil, divided
• 350 g (~ 12 1/2 oz) mixed stir fry vegetables (~ 5 cups when chopped) – see blog post for vegetable ideas
• 1/2 mild red chilli, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp puréed ginger
• 160 g (~ 5 1/2 oz) extra firm tofu (I used smoked tofu), pressed and cut into bitesize pieces
• 410 g (~ 14 1/2 oz) fresh egg noodles
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp Chinese five spice
• Black pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, to serve (optional)

Instructions

• Heat a dash of oil in a large wok, and add the vegetables. Stir-fry the veg for a couple of minutes, then add the chilli, garlic and ginger, and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the vegetables are fairly tender but still with a bit of bite.
• While the vegetables are cooking, heat the remaining oil in a separate frying pan, and add the pieces of tofu. Cook for 5-10 minutes over a fairly high heat, until slightly crispy.
• Add the fresh noodles to the cooked vegetables, along with the crispy tofu, soy sauce, five spice, and a pinch of black pepper. Mix thoroughly, and cook over a medium heat for another 5 minutes or so, until the noodles are soft and everything is piping hot. If the chow mein starts to look a bit dry, add a splash of water.
• Serve hot, sprinkled with sesame seeds if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 41.1g | Protein: 20.5g | Fat: 18.1g | Saturated Fat: 2.8g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 1248mg | Potassium: 543mg | Fiber: 4.2g | Sugar: 4.2g | Calcium: 128mg | Iron: 3mg

Veggie chow mein is also amazing served with a bit of egg fu yung on the side – another of my all-time favourite Chinese dishes!

The post Veggie Chow Mein appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

If you’re reading this, you either know exactly what I mean by ‘chip shop Chinese curry’, or if you’re not a fellow Brit, you may have no clue. Hopefully by the end of this post, you’ll understand what I’m talking about!

What is a chip shop Chinese curry?

The UK is famed for its amazing chip shops, but we also have plenty of the lesser-known Chinese chippy – basically a place that sells both Chinese food and the usual chip shop fare.

Don’t ask me why – I imagine it just makes more economic sense for some Chinese take aways to make sure they sell chips too (it’s all we Brits need to convince us that somewhere’s worth visiting…). Whatever the reason, it’s led to some pretty awesome mash-ups – like this chip shop Chinese curry!

Chip shop curry sauce

This kind of Chinese curry is generally made with the curry sauce that we Brits like to eat on our chips – it’s basically a thick sauce that’s simply flavoured with curry powder.

I’ve blogged my own chip shop curry sauce recipe before – it goes beautifully on thick, British-style chips. But it can also be used to make a proper curry, with plenty of vegetables and tofu.

Again, I imagine it’s mainly an economic decision for Chinese chippies to use this curry sauce to make an actual curry, rather than only using it for chips (if you’ve got it, you may as well use it, right?), but hey – it works for me. The end result is a rich and tasty curry with loads of veggies and a truly irresistible sauce.

Plus, it’s actually pretty healthy, with all those fresh veggies, and low calorie too!

Is a chip shop Chinese curry actually Chinese?

In short – no.

Please do correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sure this kind of Chinese curry isn’t actually remotely Chinese – nor is it at all Indian.

As far as I know, it’s purely a British thing.

(and people think we Brits have terrible food…?!)

This Chinese curry may not be an authentic Chinese recipe by any means, and you won’t need tons of carefully blended spices to make it… but that’s part of its charm. It’s quick and easy to make, and will truly make you feel like you’ve made a trip to your favourite chip shop.

Vegetable and tofu curry

Of course, no curry is complete without heaps of veggies, so that’s where this recipe begins, along with some crispy tofu.

I used a pack of mixed stir fry vegetables, but added a few extra veggies too – mushrooms, onion and peas.

I often take this approach with curries and stir fries – there are certain vegetables that I feel have to be included in a given dish, but using the bag of mixed veg as well helps to bulk things out, and gives you all those tasty extras like the beansprouts and bamboo pieces which would be expensive to buy individually.

Best of both worlds!

Homemade curry sauce

Next, add a good spoonful of curry powder and some flour. This forms the basis of the curry sauce – you just need to add a bit of veggie stock to make it nice and saucy.

My homemade chip shop curry sauce is actually a bit more complicated than this – still pretty straightforward, but it does have a couple more ingredients. But since with this recipe, you’re already going to the effort of cooking the vegetables and tofu, I wanted the sauce itself to be really quick and easy.

And let’s be honest – we’re not going for haute cuisine here. Even with just a few ingredients, this chip shop Chinese curry is seriously tempting – the sauce is thick and bursting with flavour, and it goes beautifully with chips and rice.

Chips and rice?!

Yep – in a proper Chinese chippy, you often get the choice to have your curry served with rice, chips, or a bit of both – the good old ‘half and half’.

Obviously this is the only sensible choice.

The rice soaks up the curry sauce, and really, what good is a curry without rice?

And the chips… well, you never need a reason to have chips with your meal.

How could I adapt this chip shop Chinese curry?

Feel free to use whatever vegetables you fancy in your curry.

For some reason, mushrooms, peas and onions seem vital in my head – they make it seem like a truly authentic chip shop Chinese curry. But maybe that’s just what my local Chinese chippy uses!

Really, you can use whatever vegetables you like – peppers, broccoli, mange tout, cauliflower, courgette… it’s a curry, it will work with anything.

You could also swap the tofu for a tin of chickpeas if you’re not a tofu fan.

Whatever you put in your chip shop Chinese curry, that thick, tasty curry sauce is truly irresistible!

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Easy chip shop Chinese curry

An easy and low calorie vegetarian Chinese curry, just like my favourite Chinese chip shop makes! The perfect fakeaway.

Course Main meals

Cuisine Chinese, Indian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 3 people

Calories 228kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 200 g (~ 7 oz) firm tofu, drained
• 1 medium onion, cut into wedges
• 4 medium mushrooms, sliced
• 200 g (~ 2 cups) mixed stir fry vegetables
• 80 g (~ 1/4 cup) frozen peas
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp medium curry powder
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 500 ml (~ 2 cups) vegetable stock
• Fresh coriander (cilantro), to serve (optional)

Instructions

• Cut the tofu into pieces, and press it for a few minutes inside a clean tea towel or between some kitchen paper.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok, and add the pieces of tofu. Cook over a medium-high heat for a few minutes each side, until nicely browned. Add all the vegetables (onion to peas), and cook for a further 5 minutes, until partially cooked. Add the garlic, and cook for 2 more minutes.
• Add the curry powder and flour, mix well to coat, and then add the vegetable stock. Allow to simmer gently until cooked to your liking – the sauce will thicken up as it simmers, so just leave it as long as you like (maybe another 5 minutes). Serve topped with some fresh coriander if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 19.9g | Protein: 12.3g | Fat: 12.1g | Saturated Fat: 2.5g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 532mg | Potassium: 202mg | Fiber: 5.9g | Sugar: 4.6g | Calcium: 130mg | Iron: 3.6mg

Love healthy homemade versions of your favourite take aways? My veggie egg fu yung is another of my favourite Chinese dishes.

The post Easy Chip Shop Chinese Curry appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

I adore Thai red curry. It’s spicy, but not in a ‘blow your head off’ kind of way, just in a ‘ooh my tongue is tingling and I like it’ kind of way. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and spicy – a really tasty curry which can be made with just a few simple ingredients. This aubergine and sweet potato Thai red curry is chock-full of veggies – plenty of different tastes and textures to make for a really tasty dinner!

How to make a simple Thai red curry

You can make a Thai red curry sauce with just two ingredients – Thai red curry paste, and coconut milk. Just cook whatever veggies and protein you like, add the curry paste, then simmer in the coconut milk.

In the past I’ve added extra ingredients to my Thai red curries – lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, even a spoonful of sugar – but to be honest it always felt like I was adding things just for the sake of it, and the end result was no better. Turns out, I really do just prefer things simple – and since someone has already gone to all the effort of creating a curry paste that tastes amazing, who am I to argue? So two ingredients it is.

Roasted vegetable curry

It’s hard to make a bad Thai red curry, especially when you’re using a shop-bought curry paste. But a really easy way to really take your curry up a notch is to roast the vegetables first. Roasted veggies are the best.

I didn’t roast all of the vegetables for this Thai red curry – only the aubergine and sweet potato, which are the veggies that improve most with roasting. Sweet potato can be a bit ‘meh’ when you just boil it, but when it’s roasted, its sweetness is intensified, and it gets nice and crispy around the edges. And roasted aubergine (eggplant) is truly melt-in-your-mouth.

Then just pop them in a big pan or wok with the other veggies, add the Thai red curry paste and coconut milk, and you’ve got yourself a curry!

Is Thai red curry paste vegetarian?

The short answer: Sometimes.

The longer answer: A lot of curry pastes are made with fish sauce, or other non-veggie ingredients – but there are lots of vegetarian versions out there too. I find that the cheaper supermarket own brands are usually vegetarian (I guess it’s cheaper for them to make it veggie!), whereas the more expensive brands often aren’t. Just make sure you check the ingredients before you buy!

How should I serve Thai red curry?

I often serve Indian-style curries without rice (I’m more of a naan bread girl), but when it comes to Thai curries, I think fluffy white rice is a must! The curry sauce is quite thin, and it’s just beautiful when it soaks right into the rice. Add a good handful of chopped coriander (cilantro) on top, and it’s good to go.

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Aubergine and sweet potato Thai red curry

A sweet and spicy Thai red curry that couldn’t be easier to make! Switch up the veg if needed to use whatever you have on hand.

Course Main meal

Cuisine Asian, Thai

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 3 servings

Calories 329kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 aubergine (eggplant)
• 2 tbsp oil, divided
• 1 onion, diced
• 5 medium mushrooms, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 handful green beans, trimmed and cut in half
• 2 tbsp vegetarian Thai red curry paste
• 200 ml (~ 3/4 cup) coconut milk – I used light
• 150 ml (~ 1/2 cup) vegetable stock
• 5 stalks Tenderstem broccoli
• 120 g cooked chickpeas (1/2 a standard tin, or ~ 3/4 cup)
• To serve: white rice, fresh coriander (cilantro) (optional)

Instructions

• Peel the sweet potato, and cut into chunks. Also dice the aubergine (eggplant). Toss the two vegetables in a dash of oil, and spread them out on a baking tray. Roast at 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F) for around 40 minutes, or until soft in the middle and crispy round the edges.
• Meanwhile, heat a dash more oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the onion and mushrooms, and cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, until slightly soft. Add the garlic and green beans, and cook for a few more minutes.
• Add the Thai red curry paste, and mix to coat.
• Pour in the coconut milk and vegetable stock, and add the Tenderstem broccoli and chickpeas, along with the roasted sweet potato and aubergine. Bring to a gentle simmer, and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked to your liking.
• Serve the Thai red curry with white rice, topped with fresh coriander (cilantro) if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 329kcal | Carbohydrates: 39.7g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 16.3g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 404mg | Potassium: 1006mg | Fiber: 11.4g | Sugar: 12.2g | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 4.5mg

Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/3 of the recipe, not including rice.

The post Aubergine and Sweet Potato Red Thai Curry appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

Lemon is one of those ingredients that I don’t use often enough. I generally think of it as a sweet ingredient (and I rarely make sweets), but it’s actually awesome in savoury dishes too. This spicy lemon and black pepper tofu is a simple dish with a tangy lemon marinade and plenty of kick!

Lemon and black pepper marinade

The basis of the tofu marinade is lemon juice and plenty of black pepper, along with garlic and chopped chillies. The black pepper and chilli combine to give a gorgeous warm heat that makes your tongue tingle just the right amount.

Just pop your pressed tofu into the marinade for a little while – however long you can be bothered to wait (I only left mine for about 10 minutes). You could actually skip the marinating step altogether if you’re feeling especially lazy, and just use the lemon mixture as a sauce instead – marinating it does help the flavours to get right inside the tofu, but it’s tasty enough that it works even just as sauce.

Once you’re done marinating (I mean, the tofu, not actually you), it’s time to get cooking!

Crispy tofu

Back in May I showed you my method for how to cook tofu that doesn’t suck. The post went through my method for cooking crispy tofu for saucy dishes. I said you don’t really need to bother marinating your tofu, and you should cook the tofu until it’s ultra crispy before adding any sauce.

…well, you can kind of ignore that post for now, because this lemon and black pepper tofu isn’t a super saucy dish – it’s light, and the lemony marinade packs such a flavour punch that you don’t need much of it. You don’t want the tofu to be too crispy, otherwise the dish can start to feel dry – you want it to be soft enough that it stays moist and a little bit squidgy (not the most attractive descriptors in the English language… but trust me, it works really well).

Using cornflour in a sauce

Just fry up the marinated tofu until it’s fairly crispy on both sides, then add the rest of that gorgeous lemony sauce. I thickened up the original marinade with some cornflour – just add it to a small bowl, and mix well to get rid of any lumps. It helps to create a gooey coating that sticks to the tofu and creates a more luxurious feeling dish.

You end up with crispy tofu in a thick and sticky sauce, chock-full of that tangy lemon flavour and warm black pepper.

Adding honey

Don’t forget to add a drizzle of honey (or agave nectar, if you’re vegan) just before serving. It tones down the acidity of the lemon, so it’s not too overpowering. The touch of sweetness balances out the lemon juice just enough that it’s still nice and tangy, but it won’t make you look like you’ve eaten a wasp when it touches your tongue. It also makes your tofu extra sticky!

It’s the perfect sweet-savoury dish.

Extra veg

I kept my dish super simple, as the incredible lemon and black pepper tofu deserves to be the star. But I’m all for eating extra veggies at any opportunity! So feel free to add extra vegetables to the dish if you feel like it – maybe some onion, peppers, aubergine… whatever you have in the fridge. You might want to double up on the lemon sauce to coat the extra vegetables.

Then just serve some spring rolls on the side, and your tofu feast is good to go!

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Spicy lemon and black pepper tofu

A simple tofu dish that packs a real flavour punch – a tangy lemon sauce with a warm heat from the black pepper. Such a lovely combination!

Course Main meals

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Pressing time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 1 portion

Calories 316kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 200 g (~ 7 oz) firm tofu
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp chopped red chilli (fresh or jarred)
• Black pepper
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp cornflour
• 75 ml (~ 1/4 cup) vegetable stock
• 1 tsp runny honey or agave nectar
• Fresh coriander (cilantro), to garnish (optional)

Instructions

• Cut the tofu into 1cm slices, and press to remove any excess liquid – you can either use a tofu press if you have one, or just lay the tofu in a single layer between two tea towels, and top with a heavy object for 5-10 minutes.
• Add the lemon juice, garlic, red chilli, and a very generous pinch of black pepper to a dish, and mix to combine. Add the slices of pressed tofu, and spoon some of the marinade over the top. Leave for at least 5-10 minutes.
• When you’re ready to cook, heat a dash of oil in a frying pan, and add the marinated tofu. If possible, try to make sure there are no pieces of garlic left on the tofu, as it may burn in the pan. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes each side, until crispy.
• Pour the excess tofu marinade into a small bowl, and add the cornflour. Mix thoroughly until smooth (obviously lumps of garlic and chilli will remain!).
• Pour the lemon sauce over the tofu, along with the vegetable stock. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring carefully (tofu can be a little delicate), until the sauce is thick and sticky. Add the honey or agave, and cook for 1 more minute. Serve warm, topped with fresh coriander (cilantro) if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 316kcal | Carbohydrates: 14.3g | Protein: 17.6g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 4.5g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 217mg | Potassium: 392mg | Fiber: 2.5g | Sugar: 8.8g | Calcium: 320mg | Iron: 3.4mg

Need some extra help with cooking tofu? This post contains everything you need to know – how to cook tofu that doesn’t suck!

The post Spicy Lemon and Black Pepper Tofu appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.

Before we start, let’s just address the huge elephant in the room: this vegetarian egg fu yung isn’t exactly beautiful. I’d actually go so far as to say it’s a little bit ugly (there’s only so much I can do with a pretty plate and a few sesame seeds).

But, just as I don’t judge people on their appearance, I don’t judge ugly food either. In fact, ugly food often ends up being the most delicious – brown stews, brown casseroles, brown soups… and brown egg fu yung. It’s all welcome here, as long as it tastes amazing – and this vegetarian egg fu yung definitely tastes amazing!

What is egg fu yung?

Egg fu yung (or egg foo young, or basically any other spelling variation you can think of) is a Chinese egg dish made with all sorts of ingredients – it sometimes has meat or seafood, but this vegetarian egg fu yung is just packed with veggies (the eggs give it plenty of protein anyway!). It can come in a few different forms – sometimes it’s more of a structured omelette, and other times it’s more like scrambled egg. My local Chinese take away when I lived up in Liverpool made their egg fu yung like this, and it was the best, so that’s how I’ve made it ever since.

I’m actually a bit hesitant to use the word ‘omelette’ when talking about egg fu yung, because that makes it sound a bit boring really, and egg fu yung is so much more than just a Chinese omelette. It has so much flavour, even with just a few simple ingredients, and it’s one of my favourite Chinese dishes, without a doubt.

How do I make vegetarian egg fu yung?

Egg fu yung is so easy to make – just fry up your veggies, then add a few eggs and a dash of soy sauce. It sounds simple, and it is, but the effect is honestly so, so tasty.

When I first started making egg fu yung, I made it much more complicated than it needed to be – it involved a mixing bowl (?), and wiping the pan out with kitchen roll before adding more oil (??). But I’ve evidently become more lazy in my old age, because I’ve cut out every unnecessary step, and it’s now no more complex than making a simple stir fry.

What veggies can I put in my vegetarian egg fu yung?

Anything you like! I like to use red and green peppers, because I feel it needs the pop of colour to mitigate the ugliness a little. I also used mushrooms, onions, and beansprouts – lots of different textures and flavours. The beansprouts in particular are really lovely, and add to the Chinese vibe, so I’d recommend those! But you can use whatever you fancy really. Egg fu yung is a great fridge clearer – I’d happily use just about any vegetable that needs eating up.

Serve your vegetarian egg fu yung with some rice, a few spring rolls, and some sweet and sour sauce for dipping, and you’ve got an amazing vegetarian Chinese feast!

Other Homemade Chinese Take Aways

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Vegetarian egg fu yung

A classic Chinese egg dish with plenty of veggies – so simple, but so much flavour! And healthy too!

Course Main meal

Cuisine Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 3 people

Calories 264kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 bell peppers, sliced or diced (I used red and green)
• 1 onion, sliced or diced
• ~ 6 medium mushrooms, sliced or diced
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 100 g (~ 1 cup) beansprouts
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 eggs
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Black pepper
• To serve (optional): fresh coriander (cilantro), sesame seeds

Instructions

• Heat a dash of oil in a large frying pan or wok, and add all the vegetables. Stir fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes or so, until fairly soft but still with a bit of bite.
• Remove the pan from the heat, and add the eggs, soy sauce, and plenty of black pepper. Mix thoroughly until the vegetables are well coated in the egg.
• Cook over a medium-low heat without stirring for a couple of minutes, then gently begin to turn over large spoonfuls. Ideally you don’t want to end up with scrambled eggs (though it’s okay if parts end up like that!) – try to keep the egg mixture in larger chunks that you can turn over with a spoon. Continue until the egg is fully cooked.
• Serve the egg fu yung topped with fresh coriander and sesame seeds if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion | Calories: 264kcal | Carbohydrates: 13.1g | Protein: 14.7g | Fat: 18.2g | Saturated Fat: 3.9g | Cholesterol: 327mg | Sodium: 513mg | Potassium: 511mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7.1g | Calcium: 60mg | Iron: 3.6mg

The post Vegetarian Egg Fu Yung appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.