Name: Sweet and Sour Miso Veggie Stir Fry
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 2 Tbsp Miso; 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil; 4 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar; 4 Tbsp Maple Syrup; 2 Pinches Garlic Powder; 1/3 Cup Leeks, Thinly Sliced; 1 1/2 Cup Crimini Mushrooms, Thinly Sliced; 1 Cup Carrots, Chopped; 1 3/4 Cup Broccoli, Roughly Chopped; 1/2 Cup Radishes, Thinly Sliced; 1 Cup Spinach, Tightly Packed; 1 398 ml Can Garbanzo Beans; 2 Pinches Himalayan Pink Salt, Or to Taste; 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil, to Grease the Pan; 1 Noodle Cake Black Rice Ramen

Hiya Lovelies:

Recently I had a revelation of sorts. I need to slow down when I’m cooking and start paying attention. Not because I’m on crazy hyperspeed, but because I’m always winging it… which makes it near impossible to share my dishes! This awesome, Sweet and Sour Miso Veggie Stir Fry is the first product of my new vow to cook more mindfully. Aren’t you proud?

I mean, seriously… there’s a severe lack of main dishes in the Health-Esteem recipe house! And you can give thanks to mindless improvisation. Which is totally fun, and I plan to continue to do… just not 100% of the time (since I love to share with you!)

So I finally slowed things down, grabbed my measuring cups and took notes! Booyah!

Get your cutting board ready and prepare for a delicious, filling, and delightfully sweet and sour stir fry. I know you’ll love it!

Miso Makes this Stir Fry Extra Special.

Miso is one of many amazing fermented, gut healthy foods out there. Think of it as a way to care for your crazy fantastic gut bacteria. Trust me when I say that you should definitely make a point to feed your microbiome; without your help, it’s easy for the bacteria in your digestive tract to suffer (I’ve got a whole post on that right here).

It might sound strange to make a point to feed your gut microbiome. But it’s really freaking important.

The bacteria making up your incredible microbiome outnumbers your human cells 10 to 1. Bacteria may even play a larger role in your wellbeing than your own genes. How cool is that? You have approximately 20 000 human genes in that awesome body of yours, but you also have 2-20 million microbial genes!

Bacteria help us to digest our food, play a role in our immune function, help to stave off disease and may even affect our behaviour. It’s important that we work to protect and feed our microbiome daily.

The great news is that there are tons of options!

Some of my favourites include coconut milk kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha and, of course, miso.

Quality matters. Think of fermented foods like you’d think of a good wine. You need the right combinations of ingredients and enough time to allow them to mature, until they are fermented to perfection.

When it comes to miso, Tradition Miso is a personal favourite because they truly take the time to make it absolutely perfect.

Even better, if you’re avoiding or limiting soy Tradition Miso offers a magnificent soy free Organic Chickpea Miso that I adore!

If the idea of fermented foods seems strange to you, you aren’t alone…

But remember – you probably eat more fermented foods than you think.

Love chocolate? Cacao beans need to be fermented before chocolate can ever be created. Are you a fan of yogurt? Yep, that’s a fermented food too. Pickles? Fermented baby! It’s far less foreign than you think! And it’s in your best interest to add as many fermented foods as possible to your healthy diet.

I remember the first time I discovered miso. Fermented foods were completely new to me. And I had no idea what to expect. What I ended up with was this strange, thick paste and zero clue on what to do with it.

The easiest and most obvious option was the plop a couple of spoonfuls of that sucker into a good broth. And you know what, that totally worked out great! Unfortunately, for the most part, that’s really all I’ve done with miso. But how freaking boring is that?! (No offense miso soup, I love you!)

Thankfully, I finally I decided to get a little creative and turn my veggie stir fry into a sweet and sour, delicious, gut healthy meal.

It was love at first taste! I honestly had trouble not drinking the sauce as is… but I had stir fry waiting for some miso love, so I was a good chef and abstained. You should be very proud of me!

My favourite part about this stir fry? You can easily make it your own.

I adore this dish served over King Soba Organic Black Rice Ramen, not only because it’s freaking delicious and really compliments the flavour, but because it also adds so much gorgeous colour. Not to mention, black rice was once reserved for Chinese emperors… so it may make me feel a little regal haha.

But this dish stands well alone and can also be paired with rice or whichever type of noodles you’d prefer.

While you can absolutely follow everything I did to a T, (and end up with a deliciously awesome meal), you can also get a little creative if you’d like. A good stir fry is flexible. Feel free to add or remove certain veggies and change it up. You’re still going to end up with something super yummy! Don’t be afraid to experiment.