Sunday, February 17, 2013

Recipe: Cabbage with Wood Ear Fungus and Enoki Mushrooms (Vegetarian)

Many Chinese, including us, follow the practice of eating vegetarian food on the first day of Chinese New Year. It is believed that abstaining from meat consumption on the first day will ensure longevity. Vegetarian food can include mock meat as well as vegetables.



Nowadays, cooking vegetarian food is made all the more easier and flavorful with vegetarian sauces such as mushroom oyster flavoured sauce. Well, it doesn't actually contain any oysters, but functions like oyster sauce to flavour the sauce / dish. It is made of mushroom powder.

One of the vegetarian dishes which we enjoy cooking (and eating) is stir fried cabbage with wood ear fungus 木耳 (mok yee) and Enoki mushrooms 金菇.  This dish is very auspicious since cabbage's 白菜 homonym sounds like "prosperity" and enoki mushrooms, also known as golden needle mushroom represents "gold". The wood ear fungus is added for texture as well as symbolising prosperity. I like to braise the cabbage, wood ear fungus and mushrooms slightly with the mushroom sauce for it to absorb the flavours, and the sauce can later be poured over our longevity noodles. Very delicious :)



Other than the first day of CNY, we also enjoy cooking this throughout the CNY period or even after. :)



Cabbage with Wood Ear Fungus and Enoki Mushrooms
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 pieces cabbage, thinly sliced (approx 250g)
1 pack Enoki mushrooms
8-10 pieces wood ear fungus (mok yee), soaked for at least 1 hour
1/3 carrot, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic
2-3 tbsp mushroom sauce
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
300-400ml water, depending how much sauce you want
1 spring onion, finely chopped, to garnish

1.  Heat oil in wok over medium high heat. Add garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes until fragrant or lightly browned.

2. Add the cabbage and wood ear fungus, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, until the cabbage is translucent. Add carrot, Enoki mushrooms, water and mushroom sauce and allow to braise for 5 minutes. Taste, and season with more mushroom sauce if required.

3. Remove from heat and garnish with spring onions. Serve immediately with longevity noodles or rice.



29 comments:

  1. That vegetarian dish looks simply delicious ! Would like to have that with some mung bean vermicelli :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah yes, I like tang hoon too.... that's another recipe that I have up my sleeve ;)

      Delete
  2. Hi Yen,
    I was around the neighborhood and i smell something delicious from here.... heehee

    Look like this pot of vegetarian cabbage is a very auspicious and yummy pot of dish. Must try,,,can i have mine with some longevity noodles,,,:p

    mui

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe thanks Mui Mui :) We Chinese sure can think of ways of making every dish auspicious for CNY :P

      Delete
  3. Hi Yen! Vegetarian? I spot rabbit in your dish?! Haha...

    ReplyDelete
  4. oops, i had chicken, pork and fish on the first day of cny =) but ya, this looks like a wholesome, satisfying recipe that i'd be happy to see on the dinner table anytime of the year :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe that's ok. Not all families eat vegetarian for first day... even when I go to my grandma's place, only my family eats vegetarian and everyone else there eats meat! :P

      Delete
  5. Another reminder that it isn't always that boring for vegetarian! Good stuff :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice change after all that meat over Chinese New Year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've made this a few times this year during CNY. Hubby likes it a lot!

      Delete
  7. I had no idea that cabbage and enoki were auspicious! I love learning about things like this :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never knew when I was younger either.. but when you're older u notice things like that and it matters hahaha! :P

      Delete
  8. Hi Yen,

    I'm always a big fan of vegetarian dishes and love the way you cooked this dish and presented it with a slice of bunny carrot... I see that the bunny carrot has been eventually "pinched" and I hope that the pincher is me :p

    Zoe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have experimenting a lot this CNY and cooking all sorts of different vegetarian dishes. The bunny carrot is a great way to make my kids eat it :P

      Delete
  9. I like the rabbit carrot, so cute, hehe. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe thanks CK, you'll be seeing it a lot more in the coming weeks. :P

      Delete
  10. We like this dish very much and I've spotted a bunny carrot there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For some cuteness factor to get the kids excited:P

      Delete
  11. Cabbage is one of my favourite vegetable, love the crunchiness and sweetness~

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Yen, I am a big fan of cabbage, so I love this dish!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We always make sure we have cabbage in the fridge during CNY, so useful for vegetarian dishes.

      Delete
  13. Hi Baby Sumo, very appetizing vege dish. Great dish for after CNY diet from overeating. LOL

    Best regards.

    ReplyDelete
  14. YUM! This is my kinda dish for sure! Since my diet last year, I love or I should say appreciate vegetarian dishes more . But now I've reached my idea weight I still like to eat vegetarian dish especially during lunch time. Bookmarking this recipe for sure & love the bunny carrot! CUTE! ;)

    ReplyDelete

Please drop any comments or questions you may have here. Thank you so much for reading!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...