Saturday, May 28, 2011

Spiced Stir-Fried Sprouts

Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs) is hosting this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging and this week I continue my brassica adventure with Brussels Sprouts.

brussels sprouts© by Haalo



Like most of the brassica family, Brussels sprouts don't have the best of reputations - just the mere mention of their name will see a lot of people scrunch up there faces. This lack of love I do believe is based solely on poor cooking or more to the point, overcooking which releases those sulphurous aromas. The solution to this is simple - they need to be cooked quickly - an extra benefit is that this will also help to keeping all those valuable nutrients in the vegetable. I was quite amazed to read that brussels sprouts have more vitamin C than oranges.

The dish I've made keeps to the cook it quickly mantra - a stir-fry. I've first infused oil with fresh ginger, garlic and red chilli and then used this oil to cook the brussels sprouts. It's then finished off with bean sprouts and a little soy.

stir-fried sprouts© by Haalo


Spiced Stir-Fried Sprouts

300 grams Brussels Sprouts, quartered (or halved if small)
small knob, fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
1 garlic clove, peeled and julienned
1 fresh red chilli, julienned
bean sprouts
soy sauce



When preparing the brussels sprouts, cut them so they roughly the same size. If you have large sprouts, quarter then, small sprouts, halve them.

Put a good dollop of oil in a wok over a low heat - tip in the prepared ginger, garlic and chilli. Sauté slowly so that the aromatics are released into the oil - you want the spices to soften but not colour. When they are just on the verge of colouring, remove the spices from the oil and set to one side - we'll be adding them back to the dish at the end.

Turn the heat up and then add in the brussel sprouts - toss them through the flavoured oil. When they start to colour, drizzle in a little water, to help them soften in the steam. This shouldn't take more than 5 minutes - they will be tender but with a little bite left in them. Add back the reserved spices, a drizzle of soy sauce and the bean sprouts. Toss this through and cook for another minute.

Scoop out into a bowl and serve at once.

It has such a vibrant colour and such a fresh taste with the zing of ginger and warmth from chili - you can seriously eat it as it is or serve it as an accompaniment to grilled or roasted meats.

8 comments

  1. Oooh, that does look so good! I don't know if I've had brussels sprouts with soy sauce but it appeals to me very much.

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  2. Just like the recipe states,half or quarter the sprouts depending on the size.Melt a decent size knob of salted butter in a frying pan curved side down put the lid on for a few minutes to steam and soften the sprouts,then take the lid off and turn sprouts to flat side down in the pan at the same time throw in some cubed portobello mushrooms and cook with the lid off.By this time the flat side of sprouts will be a perfect browny colour and would have taken on the nuttiness taste from the butter.Either eat like this or put in a couple of spoon fuels of sweet chilling sauce which will caramelize on the sprouts.

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  3. YAY! sprouts ROCK!
    T x

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  4. I love the ginger-sprouts combo! Thank you for the hosting opportunity, I always enjoy it.

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  5. What beautiful pictures! I love brussels sprouts. I just got the husband to like them this past year. (Like you suggest, it mainly came down to finding a good recipe that didn't overcook them.) This sounds absolutely delicious. Can't wait to give it a try.

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  6. This looks delicious! I've been wondering how to best make use of the abundance of brussels that Autumn has brought us!

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  7. I love Brussel Sprouts and enjoy every part of its goodness!

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  8. I was cooking stir-fried carrots and parsnips the other night and needed something green to throw in there. This would have been perfect if I had had them in the house. I agree, brussel sprouts are really underrated if they're cooked correctly.

    Take care,
    --Chelsey

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