Stir-fry Vegetables (Yasai Itame)
This is a Japanese stir-fry vegetables recipe (Yasai Itame/野菜炒め). My plate has cabbage, pork, carrot, onion, bean sprouts and snow peas. This stir fry is a perfect side dish to go with rice. I enjoyed this plate of Yasai Itame with a glass of refreshing ice cool beer for my home izakaya experience. I skipped the rice since the beer is already a liquid carb, right? :p
See Also:
- Stir-fry Pork & Vegetables Recipe
- 15-minute Seafood Miso Soup Recipe
- Saba Ochazuke Recipe (Mackeral Japanese tea rice)
- More easy Japanese cooking
INGREDIENTS (Japanese Stir-fry Vegetables/Yasai Itame)
MEAT (Shabu Shabu Pork)
I’m using shabu shabu pork, which is thinly sliced pork for Japanese hot pot. I cut the meat to shorter pieces and marinate them with sake, ginger juice & soy sauce for 5 minutes. You can use any type of protein – such as chicken, beef, seafood & tofu.
VEGGIES (Cabbage, Bean Sprouts, Snow Peas, …)
I used cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot, onions and snow peas. The first four ingredients are common in yasai itame and almost a constant. As for the snow peas, they can be substituted with any greens, such as green capsicum or garlic chives. You can use any seasonal vegetables to make this dish.
SIMPLE SAUCE
My sauce is made of dashi or chicken stock (or substitute with water), oyster sauce, soy sauce and white pepper powder. If you are using water, you will likely need a bit of salt to season the dish at the end of cooking.
Sequence of Cooking Stir-Fry Vegetables:
- First, fry marinated pork in minced garlic & ginger. Set aside the pork on a plate.
- Then, add more oil to the pan to cook onions until softened. Add cabbage and prepared sauce.
- Stir fry until the cabbage starts to soften, then add carrot, bean sprouts and snow peas. Mix well, add a splash of water, cover and steam for 3 minutes.
- Finally, return cooked pork back to the pan, drizzle sesame oil and stir fry briskly to combine the flavours.
Stir-fry Vegetables (Yasai Itame) Recipe
Feel free to substitute the vegetables in this dish with seasonal ingredients such as capsicum, baby corn or garlic chives. You can also substitute the pork with beef, chicken, seafood, sausage or tofu. Leftovers can be refrigerated in microwaveable containers for meal prep.
Check out the ingredients photos and more tips on the previous page.
Ingredients:
- 50g shabu shabu sliced pork cut to 2-cm length
- 1 tsp + 1/2 tbsp cooking oil divided
- 2 thinly sliced ginger finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 onion cut to thin wedges
- 300g cabbage leaves cut to 2 cm (2 inch) pieces
- 5 thinly sliced carrot sliced to matchsticks
- 15 snow peas ends snapped & strings pulled
- a handful of bean sprouts
- a splash of water as needed
- 1 tsp sesame oil
(A) Marinade
- 1/2 tsp sake
- 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp ginger juice
- a dash of white pepper powder
(B) Sauce (mix well)
- 2 tbsp chicken stock (or water)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
Directions:
- Marinade pork with (A) for 5 minutes, or longer in the fridge.
- Fry the pork. Heat 1 tsp oil in wok. Add ginger & garlic and fry briefly until fragrant. Add marinaded pork and stir fry until opaque. Set aside on the plate.
- Cook cabbage & veggies. Add remaining oil and onion to the pan. When the onion start to soften, add cabbage and sauce (B). Stir fry until the cabbage starts to soften, then add carrot, snow peas and bean sprouts. Mix well, add a splash of water, cover with lid and steam for 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt only if needed.
- Finish up cooking. Return the cooked pork back to the pan. Drizzle sesame oil and stir fry everything briskly until the flavours are well combined.