Fortunately, my fellow yogini and food blogger Valerie came to the rescue. Valerie blogs at City Life Eats. She follows a vegan and gluten-free diet. Since she can't have soy sauce either (in her case, wheat is the culprit), she also needed to find an alternative. Her discovery? Coconut aminos.
Coconut aminos are made from the sap of coconuts. According to the product website, coconut aminos are a great source of amino acids, which help with rebuilding muscle tissue, enhancing the nervous, immune and digestive systems. They also taste remarkably like soy sauce.
I decided to do a colorful stir-fry with a variety of veggies, including shitake mushrooms and bok choy (which is a great source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C!). I used the coconut aminos to make the sauce, and served the vegetables over brown rice.
This had all the amazing flavors I've been missing without the unpleasantness of an allergic reaction. Thanks for the great recommendation, Valerie!
Spicy Rainbow Stir-Fry
Serves 3-4
1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced
8 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced
1 large yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup of shredded carrots
1 head of bok choy, green and white parts, sliced
2 tbsp cooking oil of choice (I used olive because that's what we had in the house)
2 tsp sesame seed oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
Sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
2-3 Tbsp of Coconut Aminos (or use soy sauce if you don't have allergy issues)
4 cups of cooked brown rice
Sesame seeds
In a wok or large pan, heat olive oil and sesame seed oil. Toss onions and mushrooms and season with salt and black pepper. Saute until softened, 3-4 minutes. Stir in carrots, peppers and bok choy and cook until heated through, another 3-4 minutes.
Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add coconut aminos, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan as you stir. Season with red pepper flakes (a little goes a long way!)
Serve over brown rice and garnish with sesame seeds.
so glad you enjoyed the coconut aminos. I have to say, even though I can eat soy (and do sometimes eat gluten-free soy-based tamari) I find the flavor of coconut aminos way more complex and interesting.
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