Community Gardens and Stir-Frying

This weekend was the 20th anniversary of the East Dallas Community Garden. They had a little party, so we rode our bikes over to watch the dancing and pick up some veg. The community gardens in our neighborhood are primarily tended by Cambodian and Laotian refugees, so they often have Southeast Asian produce that we can't get at the grocery store. We bought a bag of Thai eggplants and huge bunches of green onions, water spinach, garlic chives and basil--all for $6. They also had a huge spread of food made by the gardeners and volunteers, but we decided to come home and cook because it was getting hot and we didn't want to hold up the line trying to figure out which of the dishes were vegan. Besides, we had tons of great produce to use and thought it would be a perfect time for stir-fry. We have stir-fry at least 4 times a week; we actually really need a wok because our biggest saucepan is the wrong shape and doesn't hold enough. There was a big bunch of broccoli in the fridge, so we tossed that in with onions, cabbage and some of each of veggies that we bought at the garden. Two things: (1) water spinach is tasty, (2) garlic chives and basil make a stir-fry. Really, it was the best one that we've ever made.

Stir-Fry Sauce
2 T. water
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. vegan oyster sauce
1 T. rice vinegar
1/2 T. agave
1/2 T. sambal oelek
1/2 T. cornstarch

Whisk it all together and add it about 2 minutes before you turn off the heat.
This is enough for a TON of vegetables, so you might want to half it.


parking our bikes


sunflowers by the entrance gate


rows and rows of greens


lots of handmade frames and trellising


lush greenery