Szechuan-style Stir-Fry over Rice

This recipe is a fun and allergy-friendly dish that uses large amounts of delicious vegetables.  You can add in a handful of cooked chicken or shrimp, if desired.  The light sauce has a bit of a kick, thanks to the addition of Sriracha sauce.  We found it was a great way to use the piles of delicious fresh bok choy and kohlrabi from our vegetable CSA.  If you don't have kohlrabi, you can easily substitute in other crispy vegetables, like snap peas or sweet peppers.  Even vegetables like zucchini or delicata squash would work.  Enjoy!

Szechuan-style Stir-Fry over Rice made with bok choy and kohlrabi! Yum! 

Szechuan-style Stir-Fry over Rice
Serves 4

Cook 1 1/2 cups of your favorite rice.  Start this first, and then prepare all your vegetables and sauce.  If using a white basmati or white jasmine, these typically cook in 15-20 minutes, so everything will end up being ready about the same time, allowing 5-10 minutes for the rice to rest after cooking.  Give yourself some time if using brown or wild rices, as they take closer to 40-50 minutes to cook.

Mix sauce together in a small bowl:
1 tsp Sriracha chili sauce (this controls the level of spice in your dish - use less if you want it more mild)
2 tsp rice vinegar
3 tsp Bragg soy seasoning (GF soy sauce)
2 tsp grated ginger (frozen cubes work great)
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sugar or agave or honey
1/4 cup water

Over medium-high heat cook 1 minute:
2 Tbsp avocado oil (or another oil good for high-heat cooking)
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped celery

Add and cook 2-3 minutes:
3-4 cups sliced bok choy (it shrinks a lot during cooking)
1/2 - 1 kohlrabi, peeled, thinly sliced, then sliced in 1/2" pieces
1 minced hot pepper (optional, only add if you like it hot)

Add and cook 1-2 minutes, until just thickening:
Sauce, from above
1/2 cup cooked chicken or shrimp (optional)

Serve hot over rice.  Enjoy! 

Kohlrabi - the odd looking deliciously crunchy vegetable

Kohlrabi are one of my new favorite vegetables.  They look crazy, with leaves sticking out of stems located all around the bulb of the vegetable.  You can pull off the leaves, peel the skin off the main part of the kohlrabi and slice, chop, or grate the kohlrabi.  It can be eaten raw - it has a crunch like an apple but isn't sweet - or cooked. It's great in a stir-fry.  There is some great information about kohlrabi linked from the Heartbeet Organics webpage.  (They grow the best vegetables!)

Delicious snack made with fresh kohlrabi, homemade hot pepper jelly and hummus on a rice cracker. Yum! 

Snack-time Kohlrabi Bites:

Peel and thinly slice the kohlrabi.

Unpeeled kohlrabi - the leaves have been chopped off, but this is what it looks like before peeling (I usually just use a knife to peel away the outer edges).  Tasty snack-time kohlrabi bites are seen behind the kohlrabi. 

Layer rice crackers with the following:
hummus 
homemade hot pepper jelly*
1 slice of kohlrabi

Enjoy!

Fresh snack-bites with homemade hot pepper jelly.

* For homemade hot pepper jelly, my friend Julie and I use fresh hot peppers and red bell peppers to get the naturally "red" jelly.  We just use the simple recipe from food.com. We never strain it and it has specks of seeds and pepper throughout.  It's delicious!