Salty and sweet with plenty of umami, this side dish cooks in eight minutes or less.

Cuisine: Asian

Cook’s notes

When there’s not enough leftover main dish to satisfy everyone, serving tasty vegetables on the side is always a bright idea. Here is a side dish that can go with a seafood, poultry or meat main dish. The sauce of this stir fry is very similar to the salty-sweet tare used to cook yakitori.

Tip for prepping asparagus: The spears need to be trimmed so that the fibrous woody portions are can be separated and discarded (well, unless you have baby asparagus).

If you’re not sure where the good part ends and the tough part begins, just bend the asparagus. It will naturally break in the exact spot where the tender and tough parts meet. Discard the tough woody ends. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin of the edible portion of the asparagus then slice thinly on the bias.

Using fresh shiitake cuts down the prep time tremendously. If using dried, see how to rehydrate dried mushrooms.

You might also want to check out my guide to stir frying.

Shiitake and asparagus stir fry

Prep: 10

Cook: 8

Total: 18

Servings: 2 people

Print recipe Subscribe

Ingredients

12 to 15 asparagus spears trimmed, peeled and cut into quarter-inch slices
salt
sesame seed oil
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 red bell pepper deseeded and cut into sticks
6 to 8 shiitake fresh or rehydrated, sliced

Sauce

1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons mirin
¼ teaspoon sesame seed oil

Instructions

In a wok or shallow pan, boil about two cups of water with two generous pinches of salt and a drizzle of sesame seed oil.
Drop the asparagus slices into the boiling water and cook for two minutes. Scoop out and spread on a plate.
Discard the water, wipe the pan clean and heat the cooking oil.
Saute the garlic for a minute.
Add the shiitake caps, bell pepper sticks and a pinch of salt. Cook, tossing, for a minute to a minute and a half.
Turn up the heat to HIGH and pour in the mixed sauce. Stir fry for a minute until the shiitake and bell peppers have soaked up most of the sauce.
Add the asparagus and continue stir frying until there is only about a tablespoon of sauce left.
Taste. Adjust the seasonings, if needed.
Optionally, garnish with toasted sesame seeds before serving.