Beheaded what?????

Mikae is not, I repeat, not a vegan. In fact, she just stopped kicking and screaming about eating vegan meals 6 days a week. In the past, I made Chinese won ton for her on a regular basis. Unfortunately, won ton is made up of shrimp, ground pork, and sesame oil-a real heartstopper. In my misguided attempts to appease her, I made vegan "won ton" out of organic pumpkin. It was repugnant to her  and she made me promise never to make vegan won tons again. Lesson learned: vegan versions of well-loved dishes will never live up to the original so don't even try.

But one can still borrow key ingredients from favorite recipes and experiment. That's exactly what I did with Mikae's favorite Chinese stir-fry chicken dish which she dubbed, "Beheaded Chicken".  I incorporated parts of the "Beheaded Chicken" marinade as a sauce into a vegan rice noodle dish that I have named, "Beheaded what?????".  To my relief, Mikae likes it.

Beheaded what????? contains Chinese mushrooms and preserved mustard greens, however, you can put whatever vegetables you like into it. The rice noodles that I used in the photos are dried white rice noodles but I just learned that dried brown rice noodles are also available.

Ingredients
8 oz  rice noodles (3/8ths inch wide)
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 c chopped carrots
1 c chopped broccoli or green beans
5 mushrooms (I used dried Chinese mushrooms which I rehydrated)
3 stalks green onions
1 c chopped preserved mustard greens (these are preserved in salt so soak in boiling water and rinse to remove excess salt)

Marinade/sauce ingredients
1 t sugar
2 t corn starch
1 T soy sauce (or Braggs Amino)
2 T red wine
Note: if you are not using the preserved mustard greens, you can add 1 t salt but that is optional

Instructions
1) Rehydrate dried mushrooms.
2) Soak/rinse preserved mustard greens.
3) Place noodles in hot water and gently separate the noodles by hand. Cover and soak for 30 minutes.

4) Rinse noodles in cold water to remove dust.
5) Place noodles in boiling water for 4 minutes. Test noodle-should be al dente as it will cook more in the wok.
6) Drain noodles and place in cold water to prevent noodles from over cooking. Set aside.
7) Chop or slice rehydrated mushrooms, green onions, carrots, broccoli, and preserved mustard greens into 1/8th inch chunks.

8) Make marinade/sauce. Set aside.
9) In hot wok,  stir "fry", garlic, carrots, broccoli and green onion using small amounts of vegetable broth or water. Cover for 2-3 minutes until vegetables are soft.

10) Add marinade/sauce to vegetables and mix. Turn down heat.
11) Drain noodles and slowly add to vegetables. Noodles are delicate so gently toss with vegetables.

Enjoy!