Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts

After using a small amount of snow pea shoots in salads or as garnishes, I make Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts to use up the rest. I find this is the best way to consume a large amount of snow pea sprouts because they come in a pack with quite a lot of shoots.

My Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts is full of umami because of the generous amount of bonito flakes mixed into the stir-fry.

Today’s recipe is a fast-cooking side dish. It takes only a couple of minutes to cook the snow pea sprouts, and you hardly need to do any further cooking after adding the bonito flakes and seasonings. It is ready in less than 5 minutes.

Snow pea sprouts and pea sprouts are different

To put it simply, snow pea sprouts are the young shoots from snow peas, while pea sprouts come from regular peas. However, the name ‘pea sprouts’ is sometimes used for snow pea sprouts as well.

Sprouts are the first stage in a plant’s life cycle. If they sprout from snow pea seeds, they are snow pea sprouts. If they sprout from peas, you call them pea sprouts.

Where I live, snow pea sprouts are more readily available than pea sprouts.

You may also find pea shoots sold in a large plastic container. They are immature plants with tender leaves, harvested 2-3 weeks after germination.

The stems of snow pea sprouts can be a little bit stringy, which makes them slightly difficult to chew when cooked at full-length. So, I cut the sprouts into 2.5cm/1” long pieces to make them easier to eat.

What’s in my Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts

• Snow pea sprouts
• Oil
• Bonito flakes
• Soy sauce
• Cooking sake.

If you have pea sprouts, you can of course substitute them for snow pea sprouts.

Soy sauce, cooking sake, and mirin are the most used seasonings in Japanese cooking. If you cook Japanese dishes, you most likely already have them in your pantry.

How to make Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts

1. Cut snow pea sprouts into 2.5cm/1” long pieces.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
3. Add snow pea sprouts to the pan and cook for 1 – 1½ minutes.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Turn the heat off.

Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts is a quick side dish you can add to a meal when you want one more dish. It is a slightly crunchy flavour bomb that goes very well with rice.

Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts keeps a few days in the fridge, making it perfect for a bento box as well.

Yumiko

5 from 1 vote

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Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts

Prep Time

2 mins

Cook Time

2 mins

Total Time

4 mins

 

Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts is full of umami thanks to the generous amount of bonito flakes mixed into the stir-fry. This is a fast-cooking side dish, taking only a few minutes to stir-fry. It is perfect as an emergency side dish or for adding to a bento box.

Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.

Recipe Type: Side

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: pea sprouts recipes, simple stir-fry, snow pea

Serves: 2

Author: Yumiko

Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 80g/2.8oz snow pea sprouts (note 1)
• 2 tsp oil
• 5g/0.2oz bonito flakes (note 2)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp cooking sake
• ½ tsp mirin

Instructions

1. Cut snow pea shoots into 2.5cm/1” long pieces.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
3. Add the snow pea shoots to the pan and stir-fry for 1-1.5 minutes, until snow pea pieces start wilting.

4. Add bonito flakes and the remaining ingredients to the pan. Quickly stir, ensuring that the bonito flakes and the flavourings are evenly mixed with the snow pea sprouts.

5. Turn the heat off and immediately transfer to a serving plate (note 3).

Recipe Notes

1. My snow pea sprouts came in a plastic container and weighed 160g (see the photo in the section “SNOW PEA SPROUTS AND PEA SPROUTS ARE DIFFERENT”). If your sprouts are pea sprouts, that’s OK too.

2. Bonito flakes can be shaved into small pieces or larger pieces like mine. Small bonito flakes usually come in a small sachet and are very finely shaved. You can find them in the Asian section of supermarkets. The larger shaved pieces (like mine) are typically sold in a big plastic bag at Japanese/Asian grocery stores. Either type is fine for this recipe.

3. Do not leave the stir-fried snow pea sprouts on the hot frying pan. Because the shoots are so fine and delicate, they will wilt too much and lose crispness.