Sauteed Zucchini with Tomatoes (西葫芦炒番茄)

One of the reasons we moved down to Texas from Virginia was because we wanted to grow a year round organic vegetable garden. Texas definitely has the right temperature without the high cost of living. Although the soil in Texas is far from ideal, it’s nothing that cannot be solved with raised garden beds. As soon as we settled in our new home, we got busy with procuring lumber, garden soil, and compost. Unfortunately lumber was at an all time high, so we decided to only build two raised beds for now and wait to build more when lumber price comes down a bit.

That said, once we (mostly my husband) finished building our raised beds, we planted several seedlings and seeds in mid March. This included different types of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchinis, and herbs. Most of our plants have flourished over the past two months, albeit with quite a lot of work from us. We now have a much deeper appreciation for farmers, especially organic ones. I will have a detailed post about our experience with our veggie garden in the near future. The ones that stand out the most are our 4 zucchini plants (two different types, see above). We seeded them on March 20th, and we started harvesting last week. So far, our 4 zucchini plants have been giving us 2-3 zucchinis almost every day.

With an abundant supply of fresh organic zucchinis every day, I have been busy making dishes using zucchini. I posted a zucchini salad recipe last summer Easy Raw Zucchini Salad, which I have already made a few times. With my own organic zucchinis, I don’t even peel off the skin anymore since there are no pesticides involved.

So today’s recipe is a simple and quick sauteed zucchini recipe with only zucchinis and tomatoes as the main ingredients. It goes well with both mild and full-body flavored dishes, or on top of rice or noodles. I like my zucchini a bit crunchy when sauteed, so I usually cut them into cubes. But you can cut them into thin, round, or semi-circle slices. Adding tomatoes before or after is also a personal preference. Adding tomatoes before the zucchini results in the tomatoes becoming mostly dissolved into a liquidy sauce, while adding the tomatoes after the zucchini preserves the shape and texture of the tomatoes better. You can try both and see which one you like better.

Gluten Free, VEGAN

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Total Time:  15 minutes

Servings: 2-4 people

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchinis
• 2 medium tomatoes¹
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• pinch of ground white pepper (optional)

Preparation:

1. Wash the zucchinis thoroughly then cut them into cubes.

2. Peel the skin from the tomatoes and cut them into cubes. To remove the skin, follow the instructions in step 2 from my previous recipe Tomato Fish Fillet Tofu Stew.

3. Peel and mince the garlic cloves.

4. Heat a skillet under medium-high heat. When the skillet is getting warm, add the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, followed immediately by the minced garlic. Stir the garlic a few times. After garlic releases some of its fragrant flavor (about 15 seconds), add the zucchini cubes and the 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt to the skillet, stirring occasionally.

5. When the zucchinis are at least halfway cooked (about 2-3 minutes), add the tomato cubes and the 1/4 teaspoon of sugar, gently stirring to combine. After sauteing about another minute, add the pinch of ground white pepper and turn off the heat. Enjoy!

Bon Appétit

Notes:

1. As I mentioned in the introduction, adding the tomatoes before or after the zucchini is a personal choice. If you don’t care much about the tomato’s texture, try adding it before zucchini.