Braised shitake mushrooms with pak choy 香菇菜心
Shitake Mushrooms, braised in an aromatic umami-rich liquid and served with some vibrant jade green veg like pak choy, make a very decorative dish and is very delicious. This dish is a very popular home-cooked dish and is often served as part of a Chinese New Year feast. A more luxurious version is usually made with “fatt choy” or a hair-like fungus that is very auspicious as the name is an alliteration of “to prosper”. This ingredient is not that easy to find in London Chinatown but if you ask for it at the cashier, they sometimes have some stashed behind the counter. It’s quite pricey.
I don’t know how long this dish has been on Chinese menus but it might be quite a while as I have seen it featured in Chinese costume dramas.
This braised mushroom dish can be made vegan or vegetarian if you use the vegetarian oyster sauce instead of the regular oyster sauce. If you can find baby bak choy instead of the regular fat ones from a high street supermarket, they will make the dish look a lot more abundant.
Plan your Chinese New Year Menu
If you want to make this recipe, here are some other dishes you can add to your Chinese New Year menu. Every dish has a special meaning, usually something auspicious.
- Cantonese style steamed fish
- Prawns
- Noodles
- Dumplings
- Braised belly pork
Braised mushrooms with pak choy : recipe details
This recipe is really easy to make. There aren’t any tricky technical methods needed to make this dish. The recipe is in 2 parts. First, the pak choy followed by braising the mushrooms.
The first step is to reconstitute the dry shitake mushrooms. The dried mushrooms need to be soaked for a while and how long depends on the size and thickness of the mushrooms.
Next, prepare the pak choy by washing it vigorously. I could only get the larger ones from my local supermarket and you will often find mud between the leaves. Submerge them in water to remove any dirt and surface-level chemicals. You can use the Veggie Wash on this too to minimise the chemicals.
Note: You can buy baby pak choy from a Chinese supermarket with a fresh produce section like Loon Fung or See Woo in London Chinatown. Taste wise, they are sweeter than the bigger versions, presentation wise, they look much better than the big ones on a plate. Some people serve the mushrooms in slices instead of whole. It’s a personal preference.
I then slice them into halves or quarters lengthwise as they are too big to eat easily. The veg is then quickly boiled for about 1 min in boiling water. I like to do this in a wok or a large saute pan that is long enough to accommodate the veg.
This is immediately followed by an ice bath to stop the veg from cooking further andto preserve the vibrant green colour. Submerge the veg in the ice batch for about 30 seconds, remove and drain.
To braise the mushrooms, start by sauteing some chopped garlic in hot wok with a neutral oil until fragrant. About 30 seconds. Add the reconstituted shitake mushrooms and stir fry this for about a minute, constantly moving it around the wok.
Then add the braising liquid and aromatics, oyster sauce, dark soy, rice wine, sugar, garlic, ginger, star anise and cinammon stick. Pour the braising liquid over the mushrooms and turn the heat down. Let it simmer for 15 – 20 minutes until the flavour has been fully absorbed by the mushrooms. Adjust seasoning to taste at this point.
Meanwhile, prepare the serving platter. Arrange the pak choy either in a circle if you using a round plate or at one end if you’s using a rectangular plate.
When the mushrooms are ready, carefully arrange the mushrooms in the middle of the plate and spoon over the braising liquid. Serve immediately.
Braised Chinese Mushrooms with Pak Choy
Ingredients
- 50 g dried Chinese Shitake Mushrooms
- 1 or 2 packs pak choy
- neutral cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1½ tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp regular or vegan oyster sauce
- 1½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- a pinch of white pepper
- 1 tbsp cornstarch add water to make slurry
Instructions
- Firstly, rehydrate the dried shitake mushrooms. Soak the mushrooms in a owl with hot water for at least 30 minutes. If they are bigger or thicker, they will need longer time. Leave aside until ready to use. Do not discard the soaking liquid.
- Prepare the pak choy. Wash thoroughly, especially between the leaves as they can sometimes be muddy. If using baby pak choy, soak in a big bowl of water or use the Vegi Wash to minise the chemical residue. Cut lengthwise into quarters.
- Heat water in a wok or a big pot to blanch the pak choy. Bring the water to a boil, add some salt and blanch the veg for about a minute until just wilted. Then immediately dunk it into an ice bath to stop the cooking process and to maintain the jade green colour of the veg. Drain and arrange around the edge of a plate leaving space in the middle for the braised mushrooms.
- To prepare the braising liquid, start with frying the garlic and mushrooms in neutral oil over a medium hot wok for about 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on the amount you are cooking. Add the Shaoxing wine and mushroom soaking water (watch out for the sediments).
- Add all the flavourings and stir well and simmer for a few minutes. To thicken the sauce, prepare the corn flour slurry by adding some water to the tbsp of corn flour. Stir well before adding the sauce in the wok. Bring back to a simmer and taste for seasoning. If more is required, now is the time to adjust it and add more.
- In 2-3 minutes, the braised mushrooms are ready to add to the plate. Carefully spoon the mushrooms onto the middle of the plate and serve immediately.
- This dish can be served as part of a banquet dish or for a regular family dinner with a few other dishes and some steamed rice.
Notes
Nutritional Info Disclaimer
