Secret Ingredients

Sometimes, especially in March, we tire of the dinners we seem to eat over and over again: stir fries, lentil dahl, pastas with whatever is in the fridge, chicken curries over egg noodles, homemade pizzas, hearty stews, grilled vegetables, rice salads, frittatas. I crave the flavour of spring - something new, something varied and something bursting with freshness. I have found however that during this blah period in winter I'm experimenting more and more with my stalwart dishes by adding a zing of exotica into the mix.

I have a few tricks that I'll unveil with time but for now I'll leave you with a twist to your stir fry. I tend to start my wok with oil, garlic and fresh ginger. Then I add vegetables usually a blend of a few carrots, chopped cauliflower, cut green beans, slivers of broccoli, cubes of tofu, some bean sprouts and thinly sliced green cabbage. Sometimes I add twists of lemon, or grate lemon zest into the mix, add a splash of tamari and some mustard seeds and then toss with chopped cilantro. But lately I've been craving something subtlely sweet and I've found my fix in maple syrup. I make a little cup of maple syrup, fresh lemon juice, a Tbsp of curry powder, some safflower oil, a tsp of dijon mustard, some cumin seeds and then I coat the just cooked vegetables in the sauce before serving.