Pea Shoots Recipe

4 ingredient Pea Shoots recipe, under 10 mins. These stir fried pea shoots are delicious on their own, but you may serve alongside rice and/or lentils. Tender, crunchy and naturally sweet, these are nutritious and flavor-packed that anyone will love.

Pea Shoots are a staple in my home for several reasons – they are easily available, all-round the year, easier to prep & cook, and more over they are delightful. I often use them in various dishes like sookhi dal (dry dal), veggie fry, saag, salads, scrambled eggs, stir fry & rice dishes.

Like most microgreens you may eat pea shoots raw, but if you want to include plenty in your diet, stir frying them is a great way. They are so tender, delicate and actually begin to wilt under 30 to 60 seconds depending on the quantity. This way they are partially cooked, retaining the crunch and much of the sweet flavor.

What are Pea Shoots?

Pea shoots are the young, tender and tiny plants grown from peas. These tiny plants are cut off/clipped, just above the roots for consumption. Pea shoots come from the germinated/sprouted peas, where they are grown only a little and harvested much before they grow up into baby greens.

They are a common ingredient in the Chinese cuisine and often eaten stir fried with soya sauce, garlic and peanut oil. It is also common to find them raw in salads, spring rolls and a lot of times as garnishing, to bring in a green refreshing element to a dish.

Pea shoots are best when their stalks are tender and young because more mature stems and stalks are going to be fibrous and won’t soften even after overcooking them. So it is ideal to chop them down to tiny bits before stir frying briefly. It is always wise to pick young stocks of these shoots and use them up the same day you buy.

Leaving them in the refrigerator even for a few days may rot some of the leaves, requiring a through clean-up which is time consuming. I always buy them on the day I intend to cook. However stir fried pea shoots can be refrigerated for 2 days.

How to prepare them?

Fresh pea shoots won’t require a lot of cleaning because they are grown in hygienic and cleaner atmosphere. But still you may simply scan through to find and discard grass or unwanted greens. This is how mine looks before the clean-up. If you find some of them with fibrous stems, you may trim them off. But It is tedious to do that, so invest a little time in choosing very young shoots at the stores.

Here is how I rinse and drain them – Fill water in a large bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 tablespoon sea salt. Add the pea shoots and let rest for 2 to 3 mins and rinse off 2 to 3 times with fresh water. Remove them to a colander and shake off gently to bring out the excess moisture. Let drain completely, until all the excess water is out of the pea shots.

I simply let mine sit in the colander for 30 mins while I cook other dishes for the meal. If required pat dry with a cotton towel or kitchen papers. It is very essential not to cook them without draining well else you will end up with a pool of water at the bottom of the pan. If you want you may chop them finely before cooking.

Here are some dishes that go well with this pea shoots stir fry
Masoor dal
Red lentil curry
Brown lentils (Sabut masoor dal)
Chana masala

Photo Guide

How to stir fry pea shoots

1. Pour oil to a wok and add 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 1 deseeded & minced green chili or ¼ tsp chili flakes. (I do not wait for the oil to heat up here.)

2. Let the garlic and chili cook on a low heat for a minute, until aromatic. Do not brown.

3. Add the pea shoots and sprinkle ⅛ teaspoon salt. I usually don’t add salt because they are sweet and I don’t feel salt is required. If you want you may add a teaspoon of organic soya sauce or tamari but I am not using it here.

4. Increase the flame to high and stir fry just for a minute, until wilted. Turn off and do not overcook.

Remove to a serving plate immediately and serve.

Variations

We love them plain and simple but here are some tried and tested variations.

• Add 1 teaspoon of organic soya sauce or tamari to the pan along with shoots. Avoid salt.
• Sprinkle lemon juice once you turn off the heat.
• Add 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper in place of chili. This version tastes best when sauteed in ghee.
• For a spicier version use fried chili oil or pickle oil or schezwan sauce at the last stage.
• To make a south Indian style dish, use 1 sprig curry leaves, 1 dried red chili green chili, 2 crushed garlic cloves, a pinch of mustard and cumin seeds. Temper them in ghee and stir fry the shoots.

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