Stir-Fried Vegetables with Chickpeas and Peanuts, Summer Edition

Eat the rainbow with this super-healthy, super-fast dinner. The summer version uses summer squash and peppers of all colors, plus cabbage, onions, and garlic. Add chickpeas and peanuts for satisfying protein and crunch, then serve over brown rice, quinoa, or noodles. Use a thrifty trick to get peanut oil without investing in a whole bottle of it, too (see tips below).

Active time: 20 minutes, starting with cooked chickpeas. Total time: 20 minutes. Serves four. Vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free (unless served on noodles with gluten).

Recipe ingredients

2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons tahini
1 tablespoon minced ginger
4 green onions
2 bell peppers
2 zucchini or summer squash
2 cups shredded green or purple cabbage
2 tablespoons peanut or corn oil
1/2 teaspoon chipotle
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, lightly salted or without salt

Recipe Method

1. Mince garlic and set aside. Mix soy sauce, vinegar, and tahini in a medium bowl, then stir in chickpeas to coat.
   
   
   
   
2. Prepare vegetables, keeping them separate so you can add to pan at different times. Cut bell peppers into strips about 2 inches by 1/4 inch. Cut squash in half lengthwise and then into 1/4-inch wide half moons. Cut green onions into 1/4 inch rounds.
3. Heat oil in wok or large skillet over medium-high heat or 350°F. Add garlic, ginger, and chipotle and cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add peppers and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in green onions and squash and cook for another minute.
   
   
   
   
4. Stir in cabbage and chickpea mixture and reduce heat to medium-low heat or 250°F. Cover and cook until chickpeas are warm and vegetables are crisp-tender, when steam starts to come out from under the cover or for about 3 minutes.
   
   
   
   
5. To serve, stir in peanuts and serve over hot rice, quinoa, or noodles. Best served immediately, but keeps for four days refrigerated.

Tips and Notes

• Next time you open a jar of organic peanut butter, pour off some of the oil on top to use in a stir fry. Bottles of organic peanut oil may be expensive or simply hard to find. Because oil goes rancid quickly, it might go bad before you use a whole bottle. Bonus: you now have low-cal peanut butter.
• This recipe calls for tahini instead of sesame oil because tahini is a staple in the Wildly Affordable Organic kitchen. Tahini is just ground sesame seeds. You could call it sesame butter.
• Choose vegetables of different colors for the most attractive and nutritious dish. For example, if you have heaps of zucchini, pick red or yellow peppers. If you have only green bell peppers and zucchini, use purple cabbage. Use other vegetables depending on the season and what looks best at the market.