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Thai-Style Vegetable Stir-Fry with Garlic and Black Pepper

In the Thai kitchen, raak phak chee kratiem prik Thai is an aromatic, flavor-packed paste of garlic, black pepper, and cilantro root. It often is used to season meat and seafood, but in this recipe we combine the ingredients (we substitute cilantro stems for hard-to-find roots) to add punch to a simple vegetable stir-fry.
Napa cabbage and mushrooms provide a meaty flavor, while snow peas offer color, sweetness, and crunch. If you don’t have fish sauce or want to make the dish vegetarian, use an equal amount of low-sodium soy sauce.
Servings: 4
Author: Milk Street

Ingredients

  • 1½ tablespoons fish sauce
  • 2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar
  • kosher salt
  • ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil or other neutral oil
  • 4 medium garlic cloves minced
  • 2 tablespoons minced cilantro stems
  • ¼ cup lightly packed cilantro leaves roughly chopped
  • 14 ounce head napa cabbage halved lengthwise, bottom 1 inch trimmed, cut crosswise into ½-inch-wide pieces (about 7 cups)
  • 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms stemmed and thinly sliced OR cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 4 ounces snow peas trimmed OR 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, stir together the fish sauce, sugar and 1 teaspoon pepper. Whisk until the sugar dissolves, then set aside.
  • In a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high, cook the oil, garlic and cilantro stems, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes.
  • Add the cabbage, mushrooms and peas, then cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to char and soften, 4 to 6 minutes.
  • Working quickly, add the fish sauce mixture.
  • Immediately cover the pan, reduce to medium and cook, occasionally shaking the pan without lifting the lid, for 2 minutes.
  • Uncover, increase to medium-high and cook, stirring often, until the skillet is dry, about 2 minutes.
  • Off heat, taste and season with salt and pepper.
  • Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the cilantro leaves.

Notes

Don’t stir the vegetables too often during the first 4 to 6 minutes of cooking. Infrequent stirring allows the vegetables to get a nice amount of charring to mimic the browning of cooking in a hot wok.