This stir fry utilizes ingredients that all cook really quickly- thinly cut vegetables, rice vermicelli noodles and scallops with a pre-made vinaigrette. The most time consuming step here is cutting the vegetables but that can be done the night before or morning of to save time. Vermicelli are really long and thin and they are used in several Asian cuisines. Here in North America we call them by an Italian name but they have many different names throughout Asia and might be called something else at authentic Asian markets. Most of them are made from white rice but brown rice versions are becoming more and more widely available so go for those ones if possible, they have more fiber and other nutrients. One of the great benefits to these noodles is how efficiently they cook, they can be done in the same wok as everything else (they don’t need a pot of boiling water like most noodles). Also, they have a really light flavor that blends well with many different dressings and ingredients. They need to be soaked in a large bowl of water for a couple minutes but after that they only need a few minutes in the wok to cook through and soften.
I used scallops but prawns, chicken or beef all would go well (just cut the meat into bite sized pieces and cook it for longer). Scallops have a soft texture and slightly sweet flavor that is not fishy at all, making them appealing even to those who are not big seafood fans. Nutritionally, they are very high in protein and in a few nutrients that can be hard to get- vitamin B12, iodine, selenium and zinc, plus several other important minerals and the essential omega-3 fatty acids. They are a bi-valve mollusk (like oysters and mussels) and depending on where you live they can be available fresh, but they are in the freezer section of most grocery stores. If you do get frozen ones let them defrost in the fridge for a few hours, they are pretty delicate and overcook easily so it’s best not to defrost them in warm water or with any other short cut methods like that. The way that scallops are harvested can be damaging to the environment and farmed options are not as nutritious or delicious so choose wild ones when possible.
Pre-made vinaigrettes are a great option for when you are tight on time. I generally like to make my own because once you have an arsenal of oils and vinegars it is much cheaper and I find that they taste fresher and have more flavor. However there are some really nice options on the market now, and for this kind of Asian inspired stir fry any kind of sesame and/or ginger dressing works well. Two of my favorites (for flavor, good ingredients and no bad ingredients) are OrganicVille’s Sesame Tamari vinaigrette and San-J’s Tamari Sesame vinaigrette.
- 1 200g (7 oz) bag of brown rice vermicelli
- 1 454 g bag of small raw scallops (40-60 count)
- 3 bell peppers, sliced very thinly
- 1 cup broccoli, sliced very thinly
- ¾ cup sesame vinaigrette, divided
- 2 tablespoons cold-pressed olive oil, divided
- Optional: 2 tablespoons tamari (or regular soy sauce)
- Optional: 1-2 avocadoes, cut into cubes
- Optional topping: 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- Optional topping: 2-4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- Slice up all the vegetables and put them on a large plate. Set up a large bowl of room temperature water close by, and place the scallops in a colander in the sink so they drain of any extra liquid. Set up a large wok on the stove over medium high heat with one tablespoon of the oil and leave for a minute or two until it is hot then add in the vegetables and sautée for 4-5 minutes until they become soft and dump them back onto their plate. Add the second tablespoon of oil into the wok then add in the scallops and sautée for 2-4 minutes. Right when you add the scallops to the wok place the noodles in the bowl of water. The scallops do not take long and be careful not to overcook them or they become rubbery. Once they become opaque on all sides and the surface starts to get tiny little cracks they are done, place them back in the colander in the sink (there will be some extra liquid that is best drained). Rinse out the wok then add in ½ cup of the dressing and the noodles. Sautée them for 2-3 minutes, adding in the water, ¼ cup at a time as the surface of the wok becomes dry. Add in the rest of the dressing, the vegetables and scallops and toss to combine (tongs or two forks work best with long noodles like this) for around a minute or two then remove from heat and add in the sesame seeds. Taste it and if the dressing is pretty light tasting and you want a bit more flavor add in the tamari and serve hot with the fresh cilantro and/or avocado sprinkled on top.
