SWEET POTATO, BROCCOLI AND SPINACH STIR FRY

I spent the past weekend  in Victoria for a dear cousin's wedding. It was a joyful and happy occasion, filled with family, flowers and food. LOTS of food. It seems to be my family's way to show their love through feeding each other. And getting each other drunk. But that's a different story. Anyways, needless to say, when I returned home on Sunday night I was in need of a serious detox. My body was craving vegetables and was repulsed by the idea of meat, as this was the food group that I consumed the most of during the weekend. I poured through my 'Vege Food' cookbook looking for a low-fat, vegetable filled dish with hardly any oil. The recipe I found originally had water chestnuts in it as well as palm sugar, however I eliminated these as I am not a fan of water chestnuts out of a tin and I needed to detox from sugar after all the wedding cake I had consumed. I replaced these ingredients with broccoli, a super food and a powerful vegetable. I also changed the qualities of the vegetables; these changes are listed below. The result was a colourful, vibrant stir-fry which restored my body.

Ingredients 

• 2 cups doongara rice 
• 600- 800g sweet potato 
• I used 800g as I have an obsession with this vegetable. 
• 1 tablespoon oil 
• I used olive oil, but whatever you have on hand is fine. 
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1-2 teaspoons sambal oelek 
• This is a hot sauce made from mashed fresh red chillies mixed with salt and vinegar or tamarind. It is available from most supermarkets and is around $5-$6. I highly recommend purchasing this as you just stick it in the fridge and use 1-2 teaspoons now and then to add flavour and spice up stir-fries.  Be warned though- it is not for the faint hearted! If you are not used to spicy dishes, use 1/2- 1 teaspoon. I used 1 1/2 teaspoons. 
• 200- 400g English spinach 
• I used around 200g of english spinach as I really wanted the sweet potato flavour to shine through the dish. The recipe does call for 400g english spinach however, so its up to you what vegetable you want to be predominant. 
• 2 -3 tablespoons soy sauce 
• 2 tablespoons vegetable stock 

Cooking 

1. Bring a large saucepan of 4 cups of water and 2 cups rice to the boil. Turn the heat to simmer and cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

2. Meanwhile, cut the sweet potato into 1.5- 2cm pieces and cook in a large saucepan of boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain. 

3. Heat a wok until hot, then add the oil and swirl to coat the sides. Stir-fry the garlic and sambal oelek for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the sweet potato and broccoli and stir-fry over medium-high heat for 4 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the spinach, soy sauce and stock and toss until the spinach has just wilted. Serve on a bed of warm rice. 

Serves 4

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