Don't Be Afraid to Substitute

I have been trying to sharpen my skills with Asian types of cooking.  I made a few dishes over the years, but I never could get the flavor profile to my satisfaction, even when following a recipe. 

In trying to find new plant based recipes, I have found that a lot of ethnic type dishes either are plant based or can easily be translated into plant based dishes. 



The more I play with the ingredients and new recipes, the happier I am with the results.  We made a dish this weekend called Spicy Ramen Noodle Bowl.  I must say that I was very pleased with the resulting dish.  I did not have a few of the ingredients listed in the recipe, and I was able to successfully substitute other ingredients and still come out with a very good dish.  In the past, it was difficult for me to make substitutions, but I am now getting enough experience with the ingredients that it is possible for me to successfully substitute ingredients to some degree. 

I was running short on sweet chili sauce, (a new ingredient to us until a few months ago).  Now we
love this ingredient and even use it sometimes for a condiment for eggrolls.  I couldn't find it in the grocery store I went to this weekend.  I mixed some leftover sweet and sour sauce with a Thai chili sauce, along with the other sauce ingredients in the recipe, and it was really good.  This would not make a good condiment, but it was fine in this recipe.  Since the sweet and sour sauce was already thick, there was no need for the cornstarch in this recipe. 

The store was out of bean sprouts, so I added broccoli to the recipe.  I couldn't find fresh basil, so I used parsley.  These two ingredient changes did not result in the exact same dish, but it was just as good. 

It is nice to know that just because I can't find a particular recipe item or don't want to run to the grocery store for that one ingredient I don't have, I can sometimes find a suitable substitute. 

Please note that the ramen noodles in the recipe are not the ramen noodle soup packages so many people ate in college.  I found these in Whole Foods.  I have tried many different kinds of Asian noodles during my experiments, and these are by far my favorite.  They are still not like the Italian pasta I love.  These noodles are a bit more fragile, and the instructions are to boil them for only four minutes.  I think they would probably fall apart if they were cooked like Italian pasta. 

SPICY RAMEN NOODLE BOWL

 For the sauce:

1/2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2-3 Tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
Sweet chili sauce, 2 Tbsp
1 Tbsp cornstarch

 olive oil or coconut oil for sauteing

2-3 cups of bok choy, sugar snap peas, or combination
2 red bell peppers, chopped
4 scallions, sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 inch knob of ginger, peeled and minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ cup vegetable broth
2 cups bean sprouts
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
4 bundles from a package of ramen noodles

Mix sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large pan, start heating water for cooking the noodles.  Add a bit of salt. 

 Heat a large, heavy skillet to very hot and add 2 tsp oil.  When oil is hot, add the bok choy, sugar snap peas, bell peppers, and scallions.  Cook until barely crisp/tender.  Push those veges to the sides of the pan.  Add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes to the middle of the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add ¼ cup vegetable broth to the pan.  Add the sauce ingredients to the pan, cook and stir until slightly thickened.  Add bean sprouts to pan and stir all together.   Take off heat.  Add basil to the pan. 

Cook ramen noodles and add to the skillet. 

NOTE:  Toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on top of each serving would be very good.