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Stir Fry Vegetables - Japanese Style

Japanese stir fry focuses on the pure natural taste of the vegetables and therefore tend to be seasoned more lightly than stir fry from other parts of the world. Enjoy this colorful mix with hot cooked brown rice and Pelotas Rice Bran Oil for a healthy, fiber-rich meal. If you want to make it strictly vegetarian, you can omit the dashi and use the mushroom soaking water instead.

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Ingredients

• 8 ounces extra firm tofu
• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1/4 cup dashi
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sake
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons Pelotas Rice Bran Oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled, halved, and cut into thin crescents
• 2 medium carrots, trimmed, peeled, and diagonally cut into thin slices
• 1/2 pound string beans, trimmed and diagonally cut in half
• 1 yellow summer squash, trimmed and diagonally halved, each half diagonally thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into thin strips

Directions

1. Rinse the tofu under cold water. Drain and cut into small dice.
2. Place the shiitake mushrooms in a small bowl and add 2 cups of water. Let soak for 20 minutes. Remove 1/4 cup of the mushroom soaking water (or 1/2 cup if making a vegetarian version) and place in a small bowl. Blend in the dashi (omit if making the vegetarian version), 1 tablespoon of the soy, the sake, and the salt. Add several grinds of pepper to this seasoning mixture.
3. Drain the mushrooms, squeeze gently to remove excess water. Cut off the stems. Cut each cap into thin slices.
4. Heat the Pelotas Rice Bran oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the onion and shiitake caps and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the carrots and potato slices and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Stir in half of the seasoning mixture and cook for 4 minutes.
5. Add string beans, yellow summer squash, and remaining seasoning mixture. Continue stir-frying the vegetables for 6 more minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and most (if not all) of the seasoning liquid has evaporated.
6. Add the tofu, red pepper, and the remaining tablespoon of soy.
7. Toss to mix, and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
8. Transfer to a large serving bowl.

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Excerpted from Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat by Naomi Moriyama and William Doyle. Copyright © 2005 by Naomi Moriyama and William Doyle.

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