Summer Vegetable Recipes

Eggplant season runs through the summer into early fall. In this Szechuan dish, eggplant is paired with marinated ground pork and spicy seasonings, including hot bean sauce. This can easily be turned into a vegetarian dish by leaving out the ground pork and increasing the amount of eggplant to compensate, and replacing the chicken broth with vegetable broth.

Using a colorful assortment of sweet bell peppers is a great way to lend flavor and color to a dish. Feel free to use leftover cooked turkey (as shown in the photo) instead of cooked chicken.

In this recipe, morsels of marinated chicken breast are paired with onion and red and green bell peppers.

Here is the popular restaurant dish – green beans are fried until browned and puckered, then finished with a variety of seasonings.

Need a bit of help? Here are step-by-step photos showing how to cook Chinese green beans
Szechuan Green Beans With Pork
Beef With Chinese Green Beans

A flavorful dish with hot chili pepper, Asian sesame oil and a variety of other seasonings. I've included photos showing how to make the salad.

This recipe uses pickling cucumbers.

While spinach is available year-round, its growing season varies depending on the regional climate. In this quick stir-fry, fresh spinach is briefly stir-fried in garlic until the leaves are almost wilted, then seasoned with Asian sesame oil and a bit of sugar. Chili paste adds the final touch.

If you think lettuce must taste bland, this simple stir-fry will change your mind. It's popular during the Chinese New Year season, as the Chinese consider lettuce to be a "lucky" food. The recipe includes a nutritional breakdown.