Stir fry is another effortless Chinese dish you can make at home, even if you are not a kitchen master. It comes from whatever vegetables, meat or seafood you use, as long as you add the right spices.
I often make stir-fry using different vegetables and always get compliments for its taste and quick preparation. Stir-fry is a go-to meal for emergencies or when I’m in a hurry and don’t have much time to cook. It’s also perfect for unexpected, hungry guests.
What do you need to make this dish
To cook this easy stir fry from scratch, you need the staple ingredients and some vegetables. But this recipe is so versatile that you can mix and match any vegetable you like or have at home. So here is the list of the vegetables you can use:
- White cabbage
- Red cabbage
- Savoy cabbage
- Kale
- Swiss chard
- Chinese cabbage
- Courgette
- Beansprouts
- Sweet potatoes
- Broccolini
- Bok Choy
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
- Bell pepper
- Magnetout or snow peas
- Baby corn
- Edamame
- Green beans
- Spring onion
- Chive
and many more…
Red cabbage stir-fry
In fact, this red cabbage stir-fry came out by accident. I was already frying the chicken when I realized that I no longer had any mixed stir-fry vegetables in the freezer. All I had was red cabbage, some peppers, and courgette. So I had to improvise, and the result was better than expected.
But the red cabbage stir-fry turned out to be a vibrant and flavourful dish that combines red cabbage’s slightly sweet taste with a variety of vegetables and seasoning. The cabbage retains a slight crunch, which adds a nice texture to the dish, while the flavours meld together to create a harmonious balance of savoury and slightly sweet notes.
Staple ingredients:
- Sesame oil
- Chinese five spice
- Tamari soy sauce
- Oyster or Fish sauce or both
- Vegetable stock
- Fresh ginger (or powdered)
- Garlic cloves
- Erythritol or honey (optional)
- Chillies fresh or dry for extra spiciness (optional)
NOTE:
You can either make this meal completely vegetarian or add chicken, beef or prawns if you like meat.
If you use raw prawns, add them just 5 minutes before the end of cooking, but pre-cooked prawns need just 2-3 minutes at high heat.
How to cook stir-fry with red cabbage
1/ Firstly, cut the chicken thighs (or chicken breast) across the grain into stripes.
2/Then slice red cabbage, bell pepper, mushrooms, and onion as in the picture below.
3/ Peel and grate the ginger. Chop the garlic. Spiralise or slice courgette.
NOTE:
While ginger can be a little bit tricky to grate, use always the fresh one rather than powder as it gives great flavour to your stir-fry.
Even if you don’t have a spiraliser for the courgette, you can grate or slice it with a vegetable peeler instead of making zoodles.
As for garlic, I would rather grate it than mince it.
4/ Heat the sesame oil in the pan. Add the sliced chicken and five Chinese spices. Stir-fry on high heat for 2-3 minutes, until the meat is no longer pink and all the juices have vaporized.
5/ Add ginger and garlic. Keep stirring on the high heat for another 1 minute.
6/ Then add the chopped cabbage, courgette, onion, and bell pepper and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes. In case the mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan, add some vegetable stockpot.
7/ While still on the high heat, add mushrooms, tamari soy sauce, oyster and fish sauce, and stir-fry for 2-3min. Add more vegetable stockpot and erythritol (or honey) if needed.
8/ In this step, you could add EASY HIGH-FIBRE PASTA (NOODLES), especially if you don’t have enough vegetables. This pasta is easy to make and adds protein to your meal without many calories. It’s ready in just 10 minutes.
9/ Finally, to serve this stir-fry, divide it between two plates and sprinkle with chopped spring onion or chive, if desired.
If you liked this Easy stir-fry with red cabbage recipe, check out the other low-carb twists on classic recipes.
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EASY STIR-FRY WITH RED CABBAGE
Cooking Tools
- Wok or large frying pan
- Knife
- Wood spoon
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Sesame oil
- 300 g Sliced chicken thighs
- 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice
- 1/2 medium Red cabbage
- 2 Yellow or orange bell pepper
- 1 medium Onion
- 300 g Mushrooms
- 1 medium Courgette - spiralized or sliced
- 1-2 tbsp Tamari soy sauce - (low carb soy sauce)
- 1 tsp Ginger - fresh
- 2 Garlic cloves
- some Chillies fresh or dry - if you like your dish hot
- 1 tsp Oyster sauce - or Fish sauce
- 1/4 cup Vegetable stock - (use as needed)
- 1 tsp Erythritol - or honey (optional)
- 1 tbsp Spring onion - or chives (optional)
- EASY HIGH-FIBRE PASTA (NOODLES) - optional, not included in nutrition calculate
Instructions
- Cut the chicken across the grain into stripes.
- Slice all the vegetables.
- Spiralize or cut into shin tripes courgette.1 medium Courgette
- Heat the oil in the pan.2 tbsp Sesame oil
- Add chicken and Chinese 5 spices and stir fry for 2-3 min.300 g Sliced chicken thighs, 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice
- Add sliced vegetables, ginger and garlic. Keep stirring on the high heat for 5 minutes. Add a bit of vegetable stock if it's sticking to the bottom.1/2 medium Red cabbage, 2 Yellow or orange bell pepper, 1 medium Onion, 1 tsp Ginger, 2 Garlic cloves, 1 medium Courgette
- Add chilies if usingsome Chillies fresh or dry
- Add mushrooms and tamari soy sauce, oyster and fish sauce, stir fry for 2-3min. Add more vegetable stockpot and erythritol if needed.1-2 tbsp Tamari soy sauce, 1 tsp Oyster sauce, 1 tsp Erythritol, 1/4 cup Vegetable stock
- Add high-fibre pasta noodles if you use. (see the article) otherwise omit this step.
- Divide stir-fry between the plates and sprinkle with seeds or peanuts1 tbsp Spring onion