Asian-themed cooking without the fuss

Tonight I made my version of stir-fry for dinner. I have been thinking of trying to get into some asian-themed cooking and stir fry is something that I used to cook a lot in college so I decided to start there. In college, I would make some white sticky rice, a 20-minute time investment, which was huge for me then. And dumb some frozen stir-fry vegetables from a bag into a fry pan, heat them up, dump a little stir-fry or soy sauce on top of the veggies and rice, and dive in.

For my grown up but not-quite grown up take on this dish, I opted for fresh veggies and asian noodles instead of rice. I also decided to throw in a lot more veggies than the broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot frozen mixes I used to buy. At the grocery store I picked up some fresh broccoli, one red, one yellow, and one orange bell pepper, a bag of shredded carrots, and a bag of bean sprouts. I cooked all the vegetables, the asian noodles (I bought the clear glass-like noodles) and then tossed everything together. I also cut up chicken breast into small pieces sauteed them on the stove. I didn't use any seasonings beyond salt and pepper on either the vegetables or the chicken.

I still am not ready to dive into making asian sauces on my own. Seasonings in asian recipes cause for pastes and oils that I don't regularly stock in my (or I expect most Twenty-Somethings) beginner-cooking kitchens. I used a Kikkoman stir fry sauce that I bought in the asian section of the supermarket. I think that if you find a sauce that you love, it is a perfect way to dress stir fry and not have to keep loads of rarely used seasonings. This was my first time purchasing this brand and it wasn't my favorite. I am going to keep looking to find my perfect sauce.

Finally, I ate this meal with chopsticks :) For Christmas, my roommate gave me a new set of chopsticks that I was really excited to use. I still have a long way to go to master them, but I consider it a success that I was able to eat noodles with chopsticks. RICE would be another story. I will save that challenge for another day :)