Rice Noodles with Vegetables and Adzuki Beans

Thanks to my recent purchase of coconut aminos, I'm having lots and lots of fun with Asian inspired cooking.  Tonight, I decided to do a vegan stir-fry with adzuki beans and lots of fresh vegetables, including red onion, shitake mushrooms, yellow bell pepper, baby carrots, garlic, bok choy and fresh cilantro.

The adzuki bean is small in size and reddish/purplish in color.  According to wikipedia, they have been used in Asian cooking for centuries, with fossilized beans found in ruins dated to 4,000 BC!  The beans are a good source of protein, iron, magnesium, potassium and folic acid. While they're often used in sweet preparations, I enjoy them in savory dishes like tonight's concoction.


I finely diced 1/4 of a large red onion and half a yellow pepper.  I then thinly sliced a large handful of shitake mushroom caps (I find the stems to be too tough), as well as eight baby carrots (if you're using a whole carrot, 1-2 peeled should be sufficient). 

Once this selection of the veg was cooking, I heated a 3/4 full kettle of water on the stove and began sauteing the onions, mushrooms and peppers in oil, seasoning with black pepper.  When the kettle was hot, I put the rice noodles in a metal mixing bowl, poured over the hot water, and let the noodles soak for 10 minutes.

As the noodles soaked, I added the carrots and 3/4 of the can of adzuki beans.  I then minced three cloves of garlic in my chopper, sliced the bok choy and chopped the cilantro.  I then added these last three ingredients, and, when the garlic was fragrant, added some coconut aminos and sesame oil.

When the 10 minutes of soaking was up, I drained the noodles and stir-fried them with the vegetable bean mixture for two minutes, allowing them to absorb the flavors of the sauce and finish cooking. I then put the noodles in a bowl and garnished them with sesame seeds.

The result was very flavorful and filling.  If I made it again and wanted to add a spicy element, I would add a bit of Sriracha or some red pepper flakes. 

Spicy Rainbow Stir-Fry

One of the biggest things I missed when I started dealing with my soy allergy was Asian inspired cooking.  I thought I had come to accept that I wouldn't be able to enjoy these types of dishes again.

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.