Braised mushrooms
Instructions:
- These are most useful to have around, as a few can be sliced or chopped and added to rice or noodles to give magnificent flavour. They are also a vegetable dish on their own or may be served as part of a cold hors d’oeuvres platter.
- 125 g (4 oz) dried shiitake mushrooms;
- 500 ml (16 fl oz/2 cups) very hot water;
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce;
- 2 tablespoons sugar;
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil;
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil.
- Wash the mushrooms briefly in cold water. Put into a bowl, pour hot water over and soak for 20-30 minutes. The better the quality of mushrooms, that is, the thicker the caps, the longer soaking they will need. Use a sharp knife to cut off and discard the stems. Squeeze as much moisture as possible from the mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid, for it has a lot of flavour.
- Stir soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil into 375 ml (12 fl oz/1½ cups) of the mushroom soaking water, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- Heat the peanut oil in a wok and fry the mushrooms over high heat, stirring and pressing them against the hot wok until the undersides are browned. Add the liquid, lower the heat, cover and simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and the mushrooms are glazed with the syrupy reduction. Towards the end of the cooking time, stir occasionally. Serve hot or cold.