Hands down the best stir fry we’ve ever cooked! And it’s all plant-based! Our Vegan Pineapple Stir Fry featuring curried coconut sauce and sesame covered noodles is a sticky, messy, and extremely satisfying dish to eat, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or a sworn meat-eater!
We always get very excited about making this noodles dish. For us, it’s the perfect weekend lunch that’s made in just about 30 minutes. This dish always reminds us of Singapore. We’ve eaten copious amounts of noodles whilst there for a week and although nothing was exactly like our Vegan Pineapple Stir Fry, the aromas and flavours of the dish definitely take us back to the buzzing Hawker markets.
Start by toasting your sesame seeds in a dry frying pan on medium heat. When they turn golden brown, tip them into a small bowl or plate to prevent further browning. Reserve the pan for the next step.
Grab a medium-sized red onion and cut it into 8 wedges. Then deseed a pepper and cut into bite-size pieces. You can use any colour pepper you have, but here’s the thing. Red, orange and yellow peppers are lovely, but I find them too sweet and not as crunchy in this dish. Because green peppers are harvested early they aren’t as sweet and have a firmer crunchier texture.
Fry the onion wedges and green pepper in a reserved pan with a splash of oil for about 4 minutes. Then add pineapple chunks. If you have pineapple rings, just chop 3-4 of them into pieces. For this recipe, we use tinned pineapple in juice (not syrup). Add the pineapple chunks (reserve any juices in the tin) to your vegetables, increase the heat and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Your pineapple will caramelise slightly, vegetables will soften but still retain some crunch.
While your vegetables are cooking, boil your noodles. We tend to use dried medium egg noodles (when it’s not Veganuary) and find they work best texturally. We have also tried it with whole wheat noodles (usually vegan) and it makes a more filling, less sticky dish. Whole wheat noodles seemed to absorb more sauce.
Now onto the best part – curried coconut sauce! It’s very flavoursome, and if you taste it on its own, you may think it’s too rich, too sweet and too salty. But when mixed with vegetables and noodles, it is PERFECTION!
The one ingredient that is not substitutable in this recipe is creamed coconut. Don’t confuse it with coconut cream or coconut milk though – they have completely different textures. Creamed coconut normally comes compressed into a block shape or small (50g) sachets. We normally find this in the international food isles in the Thai or Chinese sections. Chop 50g of it roughly to help incorporate into the sauce quicker.
Start your sauce by toasting curry powder and chilli flakes in a dry pan to release aromas. Then add all the other ingredients: creamed coconut, 4 tbsp of pineapple juice from the tin, 3 tbsp soy sauce and 2-3 tbsp water. Mix to combine and cook on low heat until thickened slightly. It will typically only take 30 seconds to a minute.
All that’s left is to assemble. Tip your vegetables into the drained noodles, add the sauce and stir to combine. Divide between two bowls and generously sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and some spring onion.
Looking for other quick meal ideas for an easy weekday dinner:
Vegan Pineaapple Stir Fry with Curried Coconut Sauce
Ingredients
- 10 g sesame seeds
- 1 green pepper chopped into bite-size pieces
- 1 red onion cut into 8 wedges
- 130 g tinned pineapple chunks in juice or rings cut into pieces
- 130 g noodles (2 nests)
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 50 g creamed coconut from a block or a sachet (not tin)
- 4 tbsp pineapple juice from tinned pineapple
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2-4 tbsp water
- vegetable, olive or coconut oil
Instructions
- First, toast your sesame seeds in a frying pan until they turn golden brown. Remove from the pan into a bowl to prevent further browning. Reserve the pan for stir frying the vegetables.
- Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the reserved pan on medium-high heat. Tip in red onion wedges and chopped green pepper and stir fry for 4 minutes. Then, add pineapple chunks and stir-fry for 2 more minutes. Pineapaple should caramelise slightly, onions and peppers soften but still retaining some crunch.
- Put the noodles on to boil, following instructions of the pack.
- In the meantime, prepare your stir-fry sauce. Heat a small saucepan and add curry powder together with chilli flakes. Dry-cook on medium heat for a minute until fragrant. Cut 50g of creamed coconut block into pieces and tip into the spices. Reduce the heat to low. Add pineapple juice from the tin and soy sauce. Stir to combine everything into a thick sauce. Add 2-3 tbsp of water to loosen and take off the heat. It should be pouring cream consistency.
- When your vegetables, noodles and sauce are ready, mix it all in the pan making sure to coat all noodles.
- Serve the noodles with toasted sesame seeds generously sprinkled on top. Add some spring onion and enjoy!
