St. Paddy's Day Stir-Fry

Because better late than never, right?


I was really looking forward to spending a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend, whipping up an old "Irish" recipe, maybe coming up with a new one, baking bread, and making some kind of festive dessert.  But, life happened.  I actually ate Indian food yesterday during my early St. Pat's celebration.  Fitting, eh?

So here's the recipe I wanted to make.  Not that any of you will be reading this with enough time to make it for your own St. Patrick's day feast, since the day is almost over.  But, if you, like me, will be planning a St. Pat's make-up holiday for next weekend (since this weekend was practically stolen from me), then here's a great dish to incorporate!

Jennie (the Officer) actually went to Ireland with her fiance for a week last summer, so I have it on good her authority that the components of this stir-fry are authentic Irish ingredients.  Sausage, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beer.  Yep, sounds Irish to me!  The bad news: Guinness is not vegan.  Let me clarify- there are no animal products in the beer, but some animal by-products are used in the manufacturing process.  I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what that means.  I did use Guinness for this recipe, but if you want a good alternative, check out barnivore for a comprehensive list of vegan beers.  I'm going to weed through the list before making this next weekend, and I'll add an update to this post when I decide which beer to use instead.

Guinness or no Guinness, this Irish gal is a huge fan of this Irish-Asian fusion meal, and is definitely looking forward to tearing it up next weekend.  Serve it with rice, or noodles, or more potatoes! 

Ingredients:
 Sauce:
2 cups Guinness (or other, vegan beer)
6 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp ground fennel
2 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Stir-fry:
1 tsp olive oil
4 vegan beer brats (I used Tofurkey brand), sliced
Large onion, cut in half and sliced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
Large green pepper, sliced
2 cups yellow flesh potatoes, cubed
2 cups green cabbage, shredded
1 cup shredded carrots
Salt and pepper, to taste


Directions:
 In a medium-sized bowl, add all sauce ingredients.  Whisk to mix well.

In a large wok, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add sausages and cook until browned.  Remove sausages from pan and cover to keep warm.  Return pan to stove and add onion and garlic, cooking for about 5 min.  Add pepper and potatoes and cook for about 5 min.  Add cabbage, carrots, and beer sauce.  Turn heat to high to allow sauce to bubble.  Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes, or until potatoes soften. Add sausages and salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for about 5 more minutes.  Serve hot over rice or soda bread.