Vegan week day 4: Soba stir fry with hoisin vegetables

Breakfast: Papaya smoothie with almond milk

Lunch: Soba stir fry with hoisin vegetables

Dinner: Quinoa salad with lime dressing

I've been in love with papayas ever since I worked on a farm in Malaysia and they were basically begging you to eat the things as they grew absolutely everywhere, and you couldn't kill the plants! Papaya has long been used in India and elsewhere as folk medicine, and half a papaya, half a frozen banana and a cup of almond milk makes a perfect breakfast smoothie for a summer day.

When cooking yesterday, I discovered yet more vegan things that I assumed weren't vegan, like hoisin sauce! It's actually a sweet potato and soy blend, and goes fantastically with these soba noodles.

You'll need
(Feeds 2)

2 portions soba noodles
1/2 cauliflower, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
200g mushrooms, chopped
1 small handful asparagus, chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 small handful coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
splash of soy sauce
vegetable oil

Method:

Heat a little oil in a wok, then add the onion and garlic and fry til the onion is starting to brown
Add the cauliflower and carrots and fry for 5 mins
When there is no oil left, add a little soy sauce
In a seperate pan, boil the soba noodles for 5 minutes
Add the mushrooms and asparagus to the wok and keep stirring
Drain the soba noodles, rinse for a couple of seconds in cold water, allow to drain, then add to the wok
Add the hoisin sauce and stir thoroughly to mix
Take off the heat and add the coriander
Serve!

I love soba noodles and hoisin sauce, so for me, this is a treat of a meal!

Soba noodles are made from buckwheat, and they contain antioxidants as well as all eight essential amino acids. What makes these eight 'essential' is that our bodies can't make them from anything else, and with twelve other kinds of amino acid, the body needs these in order for the cells to properly make proteins. Fact of the day!

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