Nutty Citrus Stir-Fry

1. Heat oil in large saucepan or wok (I use about a 14-16” frying pan); sauté onions, mushrooms, garlic, and ginger over medium heat, for 5 minutes. Add cabbage and kale, and sprinkle with cumin. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, combine sauce ingredients, mixing well to blend using a whisk or fork. Add sauce to veggies after about 15 minutes total cooking time. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium/ low; simmer uncovered about 2-3 more minutes to thicken sauce slightly, or a little longer if desired, until veggies are cooked to desired tenderness.
3. Adjust spices; I often add more cumin and/ or red pepper, but I’m a spice fiend. When you’re happy with the stir-fry, use a spatula or large wooden spoon to move all the veggies to the edges of the pan, leaving a circle in the middle that’s empty except for sauce.
4. Add warm rice to the middle of the pan; cover and cook another minute or two if needed, to make sure rice is warm. Sprinkle with preferred toppings, and serve.
I make variations of this dish quite a lot, because these are ingredients I almost always have on hand. The sauce is good with other stir-fry veggies too, so feel free to modify... but this is probably my favorite ingredient combination so far. Easyvore-husband typically has seconds or thirds, and even picky-eater son is occasionally observed to enjoy it (but only, of course, when he doesn’t realize I’m watching!).
Prep tips:•To mince ginger, I peel it and use a cheese grater to shred it; then I go back over the shredded ginger and mince it with a knife, just to make sure there are no large pieces left. This seems much faster to me than mincing it the way that I would do garlic.•I almost never cook with white rice, but white basmati or jasmine or TexMati rice all have a nice texture with this dish, and sure look pretty with the bright whiteness against the dark veggies. If presentation/ appearance is a factor (i.e. if you’re hoping to get a carnivorous friend or picky-eater kid to try an unfamiliar dish!), that might be something to consider.•Chopping veggies/ mincing ginger and garlic take about half the time in this recipe. To cut prep time, a food processor can be used, and it comes together really quickly—my food processor is a POS, only really has 1 setting: finely dice; I like chunkier veggies here— but if you have a better one, that’ll be much faster. I also like to make a few cups of rice on the weekend, and keep in the fridge for quick additions to stir-fries/ soups/ etc. during the week, which also makes it faster.
Source of recipe: I came up with this recipe over time (since I can't afford to eat at fine Asian restaurants as often as I'd like to!).