Thai basil is key, though fresh picked salsa pepper & blackened dry chili add the depth needed, ginger some breadth, to make this dry-fried dish so tasty. Added zucchini gives the plate moisture. I couldn’t take my face out of the bowl!

Collected ingredients:

• a dried chili, blackened in fry oil
• scallions (whites first, add greens later)
• ginger
• salsa pepper (medium heat)
• tempeh, deep-fried to bring out nutty flavor
• cooked garbanzos (adds a little fullness to each bite)
• shitake mushrooms
• zucchini
• thai basil and scallion greens
• salt to taste

It’s fried in the “right” order, above: infuse the oil with seared flavors, add main protein to coat and season, then mushrooms and softer veggies to retain their “spring” and freshness. Make it sizzle, but not darken, and sift some salt from your fingers until it’s just right!

In the foreground, freshly cut mango. Literally a “side-dish”: steamed beet greens with a drop of sesame oil. And in the background, celery/cuke/carrot/beet/lemon ready for the juicer. Yum!

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