I swear, I am not trying to rub it in or brag or exaggerate, but I think I may have (mostly) nailed this one! On the commute home the other night, I realized I needed lunch for the rest of the week and decided I'd make soup. And I figured I'd also just eat that soup for dinner. But when I got home to check the fridge for soup ingredients I found shiitake mushrooms! They had been in there for a while, so it was really time to do something about them. But I didn't want them in soup. I remembered back to when I purchased them, I daydreamed of something more like Chinese/Asian or using them as you would clams in a garlic wine sauce... So, I committed to making the lunch soup (Split Pea Cabbage and Radish Soup- recipe later) and something Chinese/Asian with mushrooms for dinner.
I was performing some updates on the computer so I couldn't google recipes. I had to wing it. Seriously- this is hands down the best "wing it" recipe I've ever made, of course that's my opinion so you be the judge.
I wanted spicy, garlicky and interesting- I chose to try to make a Chinese-style Garlic Sauce. I have no idea what's in a traditional garlic sauce. But I was up for a challenge to see if I could replicate it based on taste-bud-memory alone.
I had half of a spaghetti squash leftover from dinner a few nights ago. Instead of boiling lo mein or soba noodles, or cooking rice, I decided this saucy dish would smother the squash well, plus it's already cooked which was a bonus at that already late hour.
This recipe is really about the sauce- the vegetables or what you mix with it could be anything you have on hand.
Ingredients
Sauce1 1/2 T Soy Sauce
1 T Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1 T Rice Vinegar
1/2 tsp red chili sauce (shriracha chili paste)
1 tsp minced garlic
~1 T corn starch
Vegetables
3/4 C Shiitake mushrooms sliced into strips
3/4 C onions, sliced in half rings
1/4 C Collards, short but wide strips
1 tsp oil
Squash
2 C spaghetti squash
Make it:
Reheat and hold the spaghetti squash. (Or boil whatever noodle or rice you're going to use.)
Mix, except the corn starch, the sauce ingredients in a small dish. Heat the oil in a skillet or Wok. Add the onions and stir for 2-3 minutes, add the mushrooms and stir again for a 2 minutes. Add the garlic sauce mix and stir well. Add the greens, use caution to try not to mash all the greens together. Add the corn starch to thicken the sauce around the vegetables. Make it thick but not too thick. It should smother well, versus just plop out of the pan.
Smother the spaghetti squash and enjoy. So good!
A few thoughts...
If I had bok choy or something more "Chinese dish-like" I would have used that instead of Collards; however the greens were just delightful in the dish and didn't make me long for anything more authentic. And if I had more Bragg's, I would double the Bragg's and reduce the soy sauce to limit some sodium. There's not an unusually large amount of sodium, but it was a bit salty...
Here's some sodium information I found in an article by the Mayo Clinic--
Sodium: How to tame your salt habit now
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting sodium to less than 2,300 mg a day — or 1,500 mg if you're age 51 or older, or if you are black, or if you have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease. The average American gets about 3,400 mg of sodium a day — much more than recommended. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sodium/NU00284
Ok, so maybe it is a little heavy on the sodium... cut it with the Bragg's or even water (meaning use less soy sauce). Then, sit back and enjoy this huge plate of food, for only 200 calories!! There's certainly room for more with that level of calories, but seriously not much room in the belly after you gorge on this. Maybe a spring or egg roll? Maybe.
Nutritional Info:
Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 200.0
Total Fat: 1.3 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 1,989.2 mg
Total Carbs: 48.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 8.7 g
Protein: 8.0 g
