One of my favorite easy dinners involves a bag of frozen vegetables, sauce, and a grain. For the most part, I always have the stuff on hand to make these type of dinners, and they come together in the time it takes the Instant Pot to make rice. That's where this frozen stir fry vegetables with peanut sauce comes into play.
I only tasted peanut sauce fairly recently in my life, but it blew me away. The ingredients together sound strange: peanut butter, soy sauce, a little heat from red pepper flakes or sambal olek? That is a far cry from the usual taste partners Americans associate with peanut butter, which is jelly and bread. But this savory combination just works. I made this about five times before I decided to write down the recipe to share with everyone. It's perfect because again, it's easy and it's made with pantry and freezer ingredients. This is the kind of recipe you plan for on those busy weeks, on the weeks when you have a lot going on and a little time to take care of your life. You know, the weeks that seem to happen every single week over and over. Nothing ever seems to slow down until we force it to do so.
Let's get down to it, and let's have a super delicious, healthy dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. Go ahead and get your rice started in the Instant Pot, your rice cooker, or on the stove if you have the attention span to make rice that way (I definitely don't!). How do you cook your rice? I used to have a rice cooker, but once I got used to the Instant Pot, I gave it away to have one less appliance taking up space in the kitchen. Once you have the rice going, it's time to move on to the rest of the recipe, and you'll probably even be done with the vegetables and sauce before the rice. Keep a lid on hand in case you need to keep the veggies warm in their pan.
Frozen Stir Fry Vegetables with Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 16 oz bag frozen stir fry vegetables
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 tbsp water
- chopped scallions and roasted peanuts as garnish optional
- 1 cup rice
- 1 cup water
Peanut Sauce
- ½ cup smooth peanut butter
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp sambal olek (garlic chili sauce) or less, to taste
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 4 tbsp water
Instructions
- Begin rice in a rice cooker or according to your preferences.
- Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a jar with a tight sealing lid. Shake well until ingredients are combined. Or, use a spoon or whisk to vigorously combine ingredients in a large bowl. Thin with extra water if desired. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a wok over medium high heat.
- Add the vegetables and stir occasionally. Let the vegetables sit against the heat of the pan for a few minutes at a time for some nice char.
- Continue stir frying for about 8 minutes or until the vegetables are heated through.
- Add the peanut sauce and stir to coat. Remove from heat.
- Serve over rice and garnish with chopped scallions or roasted peanuts as desired.
Let's talk about these photos for a minute. They look kind of blah and too warm toned, right? These were the last ones I took before I realized I needed to switch to white light bulbs, not warm toned ones! I can't believe it took me that long to figure it out, but non-natural light photography is something I am learning more and more about with each new photo session I do. I'll have to make a blog post soon on my current photography set up and what I do when I am shooting with natural light by a window versus having to use non-natural light sources like a light box and reflectors. It's a fascinating process, that's for sure, and it makes me wish I had much, much more time to devote to the art of it.
Even though the coloring feels off to me in these photos, I still want to grab that fork and take a big bite out of those warm, sauced vegetables that have just enough heat to be flavorful, but not the kind of heat that sets your mouth on fire and has you slurping down gulps of water for a bit of relief. It's all I can do now not to run and grab a jar of peanut butter just to get a memory of the taste. MMM.
If you're looking for other recipes that are made from a bag of frozen vegetables, try my green curry simmer sauce recipe, okra and tomatoes with riced cauliflower, and vegetables with Chinese brown sauce.
