Cookbook Challenge: Week 16, Noodles
Recipe: Chinese mushrooms with cellophane noodles
From: Chinese, the essence of Asian cooking
The theme for this week’s Cookbook Challenge is “noodles” and for the recipe I’ve gone very Chinese. And by very Chinese, I mean – I’m not sure anyone but us Asians would eat this. :p
This week I made Chinese (shiitake) mushrooms with cellophane noodles. This is a very hearty vegetarian dish, that contains shiitake mushrooms, bean curd skins, fermented bean curd and wood ears/black fungus. It’s very filling. I ate a bowl of it and felt like I had eaten a seven course banquet!
Left: dried wood ear. Right: rehydrated wood ear
Are you wondering what wood ears are? They’re an edible fungus, commonly sold dried, and they’re used for their texture as they don’t have much flavour on their own. The texture is firm, gelatinous and slightly crunchy and they soak up the flavours of whatever they’re cooked in.
I love the strong, meatiness of shiitake mushrooms, so I really enjoyed them in this dish. I’ve never been a huge fan of dried bean curd though, and I think there was far too much in this recipe. It made it all taste very “beany”. I think halving, or even quartering the amount specified in the recipe would be a good idea.
But I’ll just have to get over the “beaniness” of the dish since I have rather a lot left over. Alastair tried it and didn’t like it, so it looks like it’s up to me!
See previous Cookbook Challenge posts here
Update: See the round up at My Food Trail.
Chinese mushrooms with cellophane noodles
From Chinese, the essence of Asian cooking
Serves 4
115g dried Chinese mushrooms
25g dried wood ears
115g dried bean curd, broken into small pieces
30 ml vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 slices fresh ginger, finely chopped
10 Szechuan peppercorns, crushed
15ml (about 1 tablespoon) red fermented bean curd
1/2 star anise
pinch of sugar
15-30ml soy sauce
50g cellophane noodles, soaked in hot water until soft
salt
In separate bowls, soak the Chinese mushroom, wood ears and dried bean curd in plenty of hot water for 30 minutes.
Strain the mushrooms, squeezing out as much liquid as possible, and reserving the liquid. Discard the stems and cut the mushrooms in half if they are vey big.
Drain the wood ears, rinse thoroughly and cut into 2-3cm pieces.
In a heavy based pan, heat the oil, and add the garlic, ginger and Szechuan peppercorns. Fry for a few seconds, then add the mushrooms and red fermented bean curd. Stir and fry for several minutes.
Add the reserved mushroom liquid to the pan, with enough liquid to completely cover the mushrooms. Add the star anise, sugar and soy sauce, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the chopped wood ears and reconstituted drained bean curd pieces to the pan. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes.
Drain the noodles and add them to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes, or until tender. Add more liquid if necessary. Season with salt to taste and serve.
Conor @ HoldtheBeef
March 8, 2010 @ 2:09 am
Wow this dish is so brown! 😀 I can actually imagine that it would taste brown too, if that actually makes any sense. I'd like to try it (and I'm not even Asian, haha). Awesomely meaty vegetarian dish.
I've seen wood ears in my local Asian supermarket and wondered what they are like, so thanks for the little lesson!
Hannah
March 8, 2010 @ 6:44 am
Oh, this looks soooo good! I love the umaminess of shiitake mushrooms and tofu and the crunch of wood-ear mushrooms! Sadly I know I could never get away with making this at home for the parents… another for the "once I've stopped travelling and also moved out" folder 😛
Vee - A Melbourne Munchkin.
March 9, 2010 @ 10:38 am
Those cellophane noodles look lovely – are they like broad rice vermicelli?? I love wood-ear mushrooms, you know they're considered very auspicious for Chinese New Year?
Jo - SecondHelping
March 9, 2010 @ 3:15 pm
Like Conor, I'd be more than happy to try it and I'm not Asian either!
I had wood ear (and other interesting funghi) when I was in China a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed the texture and flavour.
I should also mention that shiitake are my favourite mushrooms 🙂
Agnes
March 9, 2010 @ 10:43 pm
Conor: hehee, yes it was very brown! There was no point trying to disguise the brownness. And yes, it did taste brown!
Hannah: My husband didn't like it, but I cut it into little pieces and snuck some into his fried rice today. Perhaps you could try that with the parents. 😉
Vee: I actually used mung bean noodles. By cellophane noodles, I think the book meant vermicelli? Ah, I didn't know that wood ears are very auspicious for Chinese New Year, although I did read that they help to prevent various forms of bleeding, eg blood in feces, hemorrhoid bleeding, excessive menstrual flow, etc (!!!).
Jo: Yay! I should know better than to assume fellow food lovers would be scared of a little fungus! 😀
April @ My Food Trail
March 17, 2010 @ 8:50 pm
I would think it's not a very appetising dish if you're not Asian too!
I have never seen (or perhaps never looked out hard enough) those wider mung bean noodles! I always buy the thinner ones like vermicelli. Will look out for the thicker ones next time! I love the mung bean noodles though they don't have any/much flavour!
chitchatchomp@yahoo.com.au
March 19, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
Those mushrooms look picture perfect. I'm also with Conor and Jo – I'm not Asian but would definitely give this a go!
Agnes
March 21, 2010 @ 9:46 pm
Rilsta: I normally buy vermicelli too, but I spotted the mung bean ones so picked them up.
chitchatchomp: yay! It's great knowing there's so many open minded food lovers out there.