Stir-fried mushrooms with greens are dishes I often make. If not broccoli, it could be lettuce, boy choy or even Chinese cabbage with enokitake-mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms or Chinese black mushrooms. It all depends on what is fresh, good, and in-season,
After all – I often rely on one recipe and method: fry or sauté mushrooms and tumble them with a vegetable in an aromatic oyster sauce, a sauce frequently used for braising the real abalone too.
When eating this in a restaurant for the first time, I knew it was a mushroom, but its springy, meaty texture really cheated me, making me as excited as enjoying the real ones, though the taste was somewhat different.
Sadly, this cap mushroom (bai ling gu 百靈菇) does not seem to be a common ingredient. I could only spy them occasionally among other fresh mushrooms in markets, not to mention in supermarkets.
Happy problem is, it gives me a chance to discover that my another favorite mushroom also works very well with this same recipe. It is this – meaty and springy king oyster mushroom, which I would recommend you to try too.
Besides, this dish is not only meatless but also can be easily made vegetarian by using a vegetarian oyster sauce than the ordinary one, which is what the Chinese vegetarian eateries does.
- Ingredients
- 1 abalone cap mushroom 百靈菇, ~150 g
- 200g broccoli
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp oil
- For blanching broccoli
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp cooking
- 4-5 cups water
- Sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 C water
- 1 tsp yellow wine
- corn starch paste for thickening (corn starch : water = 1 tsp : 2 tsp)
Method
Using a damp towel, wipe off any dirt from abalone cap mushroom. Half it vertically from the center and cut each half into about 1/4 cm thick slices.
Wash broccoli clean, cut into about 2 cm thick florets. Bring 4 to 5 cups of water to a rolling boil, add sugar, salt, and oil. Drop in broccoli, blanch for 1 to 2 minutes. Drain and arrange on dish (you may also choose to par-boil the vegetable for 1/2 to 1 minute and cook in the sauce later).
In a bowl, combine all ingredients for sauce (except wine and cornflour paste).
Heat a wok over medium heat until hot (like doing this). Add 1 table spoon of oil and distribute it evenly. Place slices of mushrooms in bottom of wok in one layer. Fry until the downside turned lightly golden, about a minute, lowering heat if required. Turn all slices to the other side and continue doing the same, adding more oil if needed.
Push the fried mushroom slices aside (or dish up if you want) and add half table spoon oil in center of wok. Sauté garlic until lightly brown, then splash in the wine.
Return the mushrooms to the center of wok and stir in the combined ingredients for sauce.
Raise heat if you’ve lowered it; keep stirring as the sauce comes to a simmer and until about one third of it is reduced.
Sample taste, add more salt if required (toss in broccoli to cook with the sauce and mushroom if you like). Thicken with cornstarch paste to your desired consistency.
Dish up; serve hot.
Enjoy!
- Category: Featured . Mushroom and Fungus . Vegetable .
- 15 comments
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We love mushrooms, but I feel like it is a food I need to explore so much more. There are so many varieties out there that I haven’t tried yet. This is one. It looks delicious!
Love these mushrooms and your luscious looking sauce. You make it seem so simple and gorgeous.
What a delicious dish Maureen…I never seen this mushroom before. I like that this mushroom looks very meaty 😀
Thanks for the recipe and hope you are having a fantastic week!
I’m quite surprised to hear that oyster mushroom are still in season ! I admit I didn’t seek after them recently since it is a kind of food I rather associate with autumn dishes. But this is one that may bring about a change of mind to me !
Looks so refined with the neatly blanched broccoli around the sauteed mushrooms, I guess what an interesting contrast it is in terms of taste and texture…yet I would also like the other version where they’re combined and both coated with savoury depth from the seasoning sauce. I love oyster sauce anyway ! And your photos make even the simplest dishes look so inviting 🙂
@Helena,
Hope this is a nice surprise : ). But am afraid this is not the same as oyster mushroom.
Yes, it indeed is ! Sorry for having misread what you wrote about the choice of mushrooms, yet I wasn’t that wrong since both kinds belong to the same mushroom family 😉
Never tried experimenting with cap mushrooms. When I was in Hong Kong, I had eaten a vegetarian version of abalone and it was delicious. So did they add these mushrooms to create vegetarian abalone?
@Purabi Naha,
There should be other ways to mock abalones, soy products and mushrooms are both popular.
This looks so good, I’ll have to check the Asian grocery stores to see if I can find these mushrooms
I remember Bai Ling Gu with Chinese Spinach usually served in Chinese restaurants! And I love that dish too. How good it is to enjoy this dish at the comfort of your own home 🙂 And I also believe your dish is much much better than some Chinese restaurants which seem to be lacking in quality and finesse like this.
You cook like a professional Cantonese chef! Love 百靈菇!
What a great dish. We love mushrooms, and your recipe is a beautiful Asian vegetable recipe. Thank you.
This is great since I don’t need to grab a pot holder or towel to open the lid. You would never dream of leaving something cooking on your stove-top all day while you were at work, but the slow cooker enables just that. After you gain some experience, you can begin to improvise with chicken or beef broth, wine, tomato juice,etc.
This is such a great idea!!
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