Vegetarian Thursday: Tofu With Mushrooms

We're observing vegetarian once a week and Thursday is the day. So I'll see if on the days I'm around to cook I can jot down what I've cooked to share out here. We're not on strict vegetarian basis, just basically no meat, that's it! So if you're not taking garlic and onion, by all means omit them.

I've made this tofu dish when BoiBoi was around as he loves eating tofu. He would be happy with just lightly steamed soft tofu drizzled with shallots oil and dark soy sauce. So this time round, to add more zest to the usual minced meat topping, I've made a medley of mushrooms topping. Easy peasy by just gathering all sorts of fresh mushrooms of your choice and stir fry them with some sauces. Serve by placing the mushrooms on top of steamed tofu... tadaaaa... yes it was just that simple.

Tofu With Mushrooms
(Serves 4 - 6)

Combination of fresh mushrooms:
60g enoki mushroom
60g shiitake mushroom
90g oyster mushroom

2 blocks Japanese silken tofu
3 cloves garlic, sliced/chopped
2 stalks spring onions, sliced into 4 cm length
2 Tbsp oil

Sauce (mix together):
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
Dash of ground white pepper
1 tsp corn flour (optional for a lightly thickened sauce, I did not use this as I prefer no starch in my sauces but it will look nice on the dish when served)

1 - 2 tsp Chinese cooking wine (Hsiao Tsing), optional

Heat a pan and add in the oil. Stir in all the mushrooms. Let the mushrooms sit a while in the pan so that they'll caramalised before stirring. Once they're browned thoroughly, add in the garlic and stir. As the garlic turned fragrant, stir the sauce ingredients before pouring into the pan.

Let it come to a boil, taste and adjust accordingly as my tasted is more on the low salt side :p

Add in the spring onions and Chinese cooking wine. Turn off the fire. Pour on top of lightly steamed tofu (you can do this in the microwave if you do not have a steamer. Sometimes I just place the tofu on a heatproof plate and put on top of the cooked rice in the rice cooker under keep warm mode.). Serve hot with rice.

Stir-Fried Tofu, Zucchini and Mushroom

This dish has a rather unconventional ingredients for a Chinese style stir fry as it has zucchini in it LOL. I was trying to clear half of each of the green and yellow zucchini after making the Beef and Guinness Stew and so this was how this dish came about. Surprisingly this stir fry turned out very well with the zucchini oozing it's natural sweetness and I loved those charred bits on them plus the crunch on each bite of the zucchini slices.

Stir-Fried Tofu, Zucchini and Mushroom

1/2 of a medium sized green zucchini, cut lengthwise before slicing into about 1/2 to 1 cm thickness
1/2 of a medium sized yellow zucchini, sliced as above
1 piece firm tofu, cut into thin squares
2 stalks of eryngii mushrooms, sliced into rings
1 clove of chopped garlic
Salt and black pepper to taste

1. Pan fry the tofu pieces with a little oil until golden brown and set aside.

2. Add a little oil (you don't need a lot for this one) into the same pan/wok and fry the garlic until fragrant. Stir in the zucchini slices. If you wish to have some charred bits, just leave them untouched for a couple of minutes before stirring.

3. Stir in the mushroom and tofu next. Sprinkle some water all over, be careful with the amount as the zucchini would expel some liquid whilst cooking. Season with salt (about 1/2 to 1 tsp) and black pepper (amount depends on your taste). Stir to mix and taste. Quickly dish up and serve with rice.

Stir Fry Tofu and Mushrooms

Oppsie daisie... sorry for yet another stir fry dish with similar ingredients :p

The home PC decided to act up and we're now waiting for the spare part to arrive. Hopefully by end of this week it will get sorted out. In the meantime, I'm using Capt'n Hook's Macbook and the thing is all my photos are in the PC, my back up hard disk cannot be read by the Macbook grrrr... I only have some stir fry dishes uploaded in my flickr album, so bear with me ok.

This post is dedicated to "quick and easy" Celine (Life, Love and Me) since this is another easy peasy dish but can look great to even serve to guests. Super healthy cos I only have this dish with brown rice as it has protein and fibre altogether in one dish.

This dish comprises of firm tofu, assorted mushrooms (you can use all sorts of fresh mushrooms) and carrots for colour; served on a bed of blanched dou miao (pea shoots). Just need to shallow fry firm tofu that has been sliced into squares and set aside when golden brown. In the meantime, quickly blanch some pea shoots, drain and place them on the serving plate.

Using the same pan on medium heat, make sure the amount of oil is just enough for your serving size. First stir in some sliced garlic. When it's fragrant, add in the sliced carrots and stir. Next stir in mushrooms and fried tofu. Pour in a little water, a few dashes of oyster sauce and a tiny dash of dark soy sauce which you can omit. I've used it just for some colour. Season with some white pepper. Taste and adjust accordingly.

Simmer for a few minutes or till liquid is dried up (you can add cornstarch solution to thicken). Serve this over the blanched pea shoots.

Yummy or what?

Mushroom, Carrot & Capsicum Stir Fry

I loved the colour of how this dish turned out, it's so vibrant and pretty... makes the dish looked appetising. I've used eryngii mushrooms, carrots and yellow capsicum (bell pepper). If I've added some red and green capsicum, my dish would have looked lovelier!

Very very simple, just heat a little oil and add in some chopped or thinly sliced garlic. Once fragrant, stir in sliced carrots. Pour in a little water to soften the carrots, omit this if you like your carrots to be crunchy. Cook for a couple of minutes. Next mix in the mushrooms and capsicum. Seasoned with salt and black pepper. Dish up and serve with steamed rice.

Tofu with Minced Meat and Mushrooms

This is a firm favourite dish and it's rather common to see such dish on the dining table of Chinese households and restaurant as tofu and mince meat are easy for the children. The only messy bit is one need to shallow fry the tofu which I really dislike cos the oil sputters all over the place even after patting dry the tofu with paper towel. Grrrrr...

So to make this dish, slice firm tofu into squares. Pat dry with paper towel before frying them in some oil. Once the tofu squares are lightly browned, remove and set aside.

In the same pan, if there are still a lot of oil, remove them, if not enough (about 2 or less tbsp depending how much minced meat you have) add some. Add in some chopped garlic and fry till fragrant. Then stir in minced meat (can be chicken or pork, both are equally delish, marinade with some soy sauce, ground white pepper, a dash of sesame oil and a little cornflour). Next stir in soaked and sliced shiitake mushroom. Once the meat is cooked, pour in some water, a couple dashes of oyster sauce and dark soy sauce. Season with some ground white pepper. If you prefer a saltier dish, you may adjust with some salt but seriously oyster sauce alone would be good enough.

Add in the fried tofu and let it simmer on low heat for a few minutes. If you wish, pour in some cornstarch solution to thicken up the gravy but I prefer to simmer mine till drier and the liquid thickened up. Dish up and serve with steamed rice.

Steamed Chicken with Pickled Mustard Cabbage and Mushroom

Another hearty steamed dish I've done. This is a rather unique dish which was featured in Steamed Cuisine published by Famous Cuisine.

In this one dish, you'll find meat, tofu, harm choy (pickled mustard cabbage), shitake mushroom and chicken essence! Absolutely loved this wholesome dish filled with natural sweetness with some tang, even my BoiBoi surprised me by asking for extra broth!


This is before cooking

Here's my version of the recipe:

Steamed Chicken with Pickled Mustard Cabbage and Mushroom

2 kampung chicken thighs, skinned and chopped into pieces

Marinade chicken with:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
A dash of sesame oil
Some pepper
Wee bit of sugar to bring out the taste
2 tsp cornflour

About a fistful of pickled mustard cabbage (buy those for soup), soaked and sliced
2 dried shitake mushrooms (soaked and sliced)
1 small packet of Japanese egg tofu (can use white tofu), sliced
Several cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bottle of chicken essence

In a deep heatproof dish, I placed the tofu at the bottom. Next the chicken pieces followed by the rest of the ingredients. Just scatter them all round the chicken. Put the dish in the steamer together with the bottle of chicken essence.

Steam for about 20 minutes or until chicken pieces are cooked through. Remove from steamer and serve by pouring the heated chicken essence over the chicken pieces.

Ready to be served

Another easy peasy steamed dish to be bookmarked ;-)

Stir-Fried Asparagus, Celery and Fresh Button Mushroom

This was an easy peasy stir-fry with whatever I need to clear from my fridge last weekend. I had bought the fresh button mushroom for a Western dish in mind but since I was pressed for time, I didn't get to use them. So I put on my thinking cap after rummaging the fridge and came out with this dish inspired by this Mushroom and Garlic tapas that I've made before.

Prepare the bunch of asparagus by cutting of the bottom woody part and use a peeler to shred away the hard skin before cutting into1.5" in length.

For the celery, remove the stringy strands either using a knife or peeler. Cut them into sticks similar to the size of asparagus.

Clean the mushrooms with paper towel before slicing them. Chop up 2 cloves of garlic.

Heat up some extra virgin olive oil in a hot wok and add in chopped garlic. Fry till fragrant but not brown. Add in asparagus first and stir. Next add in celery and mushroom. Keep stirring and sprinkle a bit of water inside. Add sea salt to taste and a generous pinch of black pepper. Keep stirring and drizzle in some Chinese cooking wine (in replace of white wine). Since I've over "sprinkled" more water than needed, I added a bit of cornstarch solution to thicken up the sauce. Serve immediately with rice.

Surprising this stir-fry came out tasting good. I loved how the olive oil and black pepper have given the stir-fry a new lease of life, completely different from the usual Chinese stir-fries. Give it a try ;-)


Technorati Tags: vegetable

Braised Chicken with Eryngii Mushroom and Carrot

Eryyn what??? It's Eryngii... a kinda mushroom from Chiangmai, Thailand according to the packaging. Eryngii is also known as king trumpet mushroom, french horn mushroom, and king oyster mushroom. I frist saw this packet at the vegetable stall and grabbed a pack without knowing what to do with it. The size of this mushroom is about the length of my (short) palm and the thickest part is slightly larger than the diameter of 50 sen coin.



Staring at the packet, I guess the best way to cook it would be braising it with chicken and so I set out marinading skinless chicken thigh pieces with white pepper, oyster sauce, a few dashes of fish sauce and some cornstarch. Sliced up the mushroom and carrots for some colour.

In hot oil, brown the chicken pieces. Next, add in 3 cloves of lightly crushed garlic and fry till fragrant. Stir in carrots and mushrooms. Pour in just enough water covering the chicken and add in some oyster sauce for flavouring plus some white pepper and little bit of sugar to taste. Cover with a lid and braise for about 15 - 20 minutes. Dish up and serve with rice.



I have to say this eryngii mushroom is still crunchy after braising for so long. My boiboi and I liked them very much. We ladled lots of gravy onto our rice and ate them up in a gusto! This mushroom would be nice for stir frying which I will try next, if I can find them again.


Technorati Tags: poultry + mushroom

Mushrooms Angel Hair Aglio Olio

Easy peasy super quick meal to prepare for the family - Mushrooms Angel Hair Aglio Olio. Just get the types of mushrooms you loved, sliced them into smaller portion. Cook the angel hair pasta in a pot. In another pan, heat extra virgin olive oil. Chuck in loads of chopped garlic. Stir till fragrant but don't brown the garlic! Next, stir in the mushrooms. Put in the cooked angel hair pasta, season with salt and freshly grinded black pepper. Dish up some for the kid and sprinkle in some chili flakes for adults. Topped with some freshly grated parmesan and more black pepper before serving.

Adult portion as shown above and kid's version below.



Technorati Tags: pasta + kiddy menu

Stir Fried Mushroom in Butter

I remember one episode from Kylie Kwong's Heart and Soul where Kylie cooked a mushroom ragout to topped some tiny pie casings for an art gallery party. I had some extra oyster mushrooms and enoki mushrooms on hand, so I decided to make one based on my memory of that recipe. I've watched that episode many many moons ago, when I checked the recipe today, hmmm my version is pretty close except that mine has lesser ingredients.

Stir Fried Mushroom in Butter

Mushrooms of your choice
White onions, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Butter, unsalted
Olive Oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Clean mushrooms using paper kitchen towel. Do not wash with water, else they'll soak up the water and release them in your dish.

In a pan, pour in some olive oil and add in some butter. Once hot, place in chopped onions. When it's translucent, add in chopped garlic. Fry till fragrant and do not brown the garlic. Add in the mushrooms and stir till cooked. You may add some liquid if it's too dry. Season with salt and freshly grinded black pepper.

Looks like I've left out the white wine but never mind, this still tasted great when used as a bruschetta topping. Would be great if I have some French loaves to lap up the sauce but I settled with some toasted white bread lightly coated with olive oil.

Hubby cooked some pasta and topped it with some leftovers, worked as well!

Technorati Tags: mushroom

Fish Fillet with Abalone Mushroom and Lotus Root

I saw this Fish Fillet with White Chestnut Mushroom recipe in Famous Cuisine magazine Issue 41 (Nov/Dec 2006). Since I can't find any White Chestnut Mushroom, I replaced with Abalone Mushroom instead. I've never tasted fish cooked this way and I find the taste very different from the usual fish dishes. The colour looked plain and greyish, not that appetising as compared with my dark or colourful dishes. The texture varies too from soft fish pieces and mushrooms to crunchy lotus roots. A huge change indeed but kinda refreshing.

Fish Fillet with White Chestnut Mushroom

Ingredients
350g white fish fillet/dory fish fillet (sliced)
100g local lotus root (thinly sliced)
1 box (100g) white chestnut mushroom
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp XO sauce
1 stalk spring onion

Marinade
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp monosodium glutamate (I omitted this)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Shao Xing wine
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Sauce (mix well)
2 tsp abalone sauce
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tbsp Shao Xing wine
6 tbsp water

Method
Cut the stalk of the white chestnut mushrooms, rinse and tear out. Blanch into boiling water with the lotus roots together for a while. Remove and drain. Keep them aside.

Mix the fish slices with marinade until well combined. Marinate for about 15 minutes. Parboil into hot oil for a moment (I pan fried the fish instead). Dish out and ready to use.

Leave 2 tbsp oil in the preheat wok to fry the garlic till fragrant. Add in XO sauce, lotus roots and mushrooms. Stir fry briskly for a moment.

Add in fish slices and sauce mixture, bring to a boil, toss lightly, and cook until fish slices are cooked thoroughly. Lastly, thicken the sauce with a little cornstarch solution. Place in sectioned spring onions, stir well. Dish up and serve hot.

Ref: Famous Cuisine magazine Issue 41 (Nov/Dec 2006), page 8

Technorati Tag: fish + mushroom + lotus root + malaysian food

Braised Chicken With Fresh Mushrooms

I found these lovely fresh shiitake mushrooms also known as Chinese black mushrooms in the market one morning. Can't resist, I bought a bunch of them. Back home, I cleaned them using some paper towels.



Since the flavour of shiitake mushrooms is slightly on the strong side, I decided to braise them with chicken in some oyster sauce. Marinade the chicken pieces with some oyster sauce, pepper and a dash of sesame oil. Heat up some oil and put some chopped ginger and garlic. Once its fragrant, add in the chicken and fry till slightly browned before adding the shiitake mushrooms. Pour in enough water to cover the chicken, then add in some oyster sauce and dark soy sauce (also known as black soy sauce) to taste. Stir before adding some fresh enoki mushrooms. Cover and simmer till chicken is tender and the water had reduced.

Dish up and serve with plain white rice. It's sooo sooo sooo delicious except that some of the mushroom pieces are bitter! Any idea why they're bitter?



Technorati Tags: malaysian food + poultry + mushroom

Ginger, Mushroom and Chicken in Oyster Sauce

Now, this is a very quick stir fry dish. Just cube some chicken fillet into sizable chunks. Marinade them with some oyster sauce, cornflour and a dash of sesame oil and pepper. You may use chicken breast but it might be a tad too tough for some people.

Wipe clean some oyster mushroom and set aside. Do not wash them as they'll soak up the water. Thinly sliced some ginger.

In a hot wok, pour in some oil and let it heat up. Place in the ginger and stir fry till fragrant. Put in the chicken fillet and let it brown before turning them over. Once they're cooked, stir in the oyster mushroom. Pour in some oyster sauce to taste and some water. Cook for about 2-3 minutes before dishing up to serve with hot white rice.

Surprisingly hubby liked this, so did I.