Easy Festive Side

When we were growing up, we didn’t celebrate Christmas as much as Chinese New Year, so no festive dish sprang to mind.  I thought this #LetsLunch theme was a festive family dish, not side. So, my dish started out as a beef shank stew but I had to quickly rework it. Fortunately, I had stir fried vegetables to add to the stew, so I only had to embellish what I had. It may not be a very typical holiday dish but to me, you can never have enough vegetables.

This post is a tribute to my mom who passed away suddenly 6 months ago. She was my inspiration and reason for my Wok Star project. I think she would be proud of this dish because she hated wasting food. I already had all these multi colored vegetables left over from giving a cooking class so it was natural for me to use what I had.  It only needed a sprinkle of curry powder for a festive touch!  A crunchy side dish that complements just about any mains.

#LetsLunch is a virtual lunch where food bloggers come up with a theme.  I’ve met the neatest food bloggers, if you want to join, post a comment below or on Twitter using #LetsLunch.  Do visit other #LetsLunch posts below for a delicious variety of festive sides.
Ingredients:
orange, yellow, red, green bell peppers
1 zucchini
handful of sugar snap peas
handful of grape tomatoes
2 cloves of crushed garlic
thumb size of crushed fresh ginger
2 tablespoons of oil (canola, safflower or EarthyDelight’s tea seed oil)
Put your oil in a clear squeeze bottle for easy dispensing
Seasonings:
Squirt of San-J tamari
Squirt of sherry
Squirt of lime juice
Dash of MySpiceSage curry powder
Note 1:  Fry your vegetables in 2 batches if there’s a lot of vegetables.  This prevents lowering the heat in your wok which can result in a ‘soupy’ stir fry.  
Note 2:  Don’t use a non-stick pan or wok, you’re not meant to use above medium heat according to manufacturer’s warranty. Your veggies never get that lovely crunchy texture!
Heat a cast iron wok or skillet on high heat.  Squirt 3 rounds of oil down sides of wok, add 1/2 of your garlic and ginger.  I fried my first batch of vegetables (bell peppers and zucchini) and plated them. Then did the second batch with sugar snap peas and grape tomatoes. Recombined both batches in the wok and squirted tamari, sherry, lime juice and sprinkled curry powder while the heat was still going strong! That’s IT! It’s a technique you can use for
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Joe‘s Maine Homestead Holiday Dishes at Joe Yonan
Linda‘s Baked Salad at Free Range Cookies
Linda‘s Trinidadian Baked Pastelles at Spicebox Travels
Lisa‘s Potato Latkes at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lucy‘s “Not My Mama’s” Black-Eyed Peas & Greens at A Cook And Her Books
Maria‘s Grandma Dorothy’s Deviled Eggs at Maria’s Good Things
Patrick‘s Baby Pecan Pies at Patrick G. Lee
Steff‘s Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Crumble at The Kitchen Trials
Victor‘s Roasted Parsnips, Carrots & Delicata Squash Tossed With Sauteed Mustard Greens at The Taste of Oregon