Recipe: Stir fried leeks with sliced mushrooms (CNY)

Ingredients with auspicious-sounding names are sought-after during Chinese New Year. For this reason, leeks 蒜 are commonly served as the name is a homophone for "calculating (money)" (算suàn). There are several ways of serving it - stir frying with roast pork (siew yoke), mushrooms or garlic, just to name a few.

My personal favorite is stir frying it with some Chinese or shitake mushrooms as well as some dried shrimps. Dried shrimps contribute an umami flavour to this dish, and the Chinese name hae mi 虾米sounds like laughter "ha ha ha". Mushrooms 冬菇 also have an auspicious meaning - longevity. I'd like to think that anyone who has eaten this dish would have "a long and happy life counting countless amounts of money" ;)

Stir fried leeks with sliced mushrooms

Leeks belongs to the same family as onion and garlic, and hence can have quite a pungent, mildly spicy taste when raw. I usually stir fry it for 3-4 minutes, enough to cook it so it's still got a crunchy and firm texture and still a vibrant green colour.

This is also suitable as a vegetarian dish, just omit the dried shrimps and season instead with mushroom sauce or simply vegetable stock granules or salt.

Stir fried leeks with sliced mushrooms
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 8-9 minutes
Serves 3

Ingredients
250g leeks, trimmed and sliced into 2" lengths
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 tsp dried shrimp 虾米
2 Chinese or shitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 tbsp water
1 tsp ginger wine (optional)
1 tsp chicken stock granules


1. In a wok, heat oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and fry for 2 minutes, until lightly browned. Then, add the dried shrimp and cook for about 1-2 minute until fragrant.

2. Add the leeks and sliced mushrooms and stir fry for about 1 minute, then add the water and ginger wine and allow to cook for a further 2-3minutes, until the leeks are cooked through. Season with chicken stock granules and serve immediately.

Note: To make this a wholly vegetarian dish, omit the dried shrimp and chicken stock granules, and flavour with vegetarian mushroom sauce instead. :)

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*This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel's Facebook page on 21 January 2014.