← Nouns Cooking · Chinese

Ingredients

• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 15 g Dried lily flowers (golden needles)
• 2 tbsp dried wood ear mushrooms
• 30 g Dried beancurd sticks (fu chuk), broken into 5 cm pieces
• 40 g mung bean vermicelli
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp Ginger, minced
• 2 pieces Red fermented bean curd (tao hu yee), mashed with a little of its liquid
• 1 Carrot, sliced
• 350 g Napa (Chinese) cabbage, cut into chunks
• 100 g Bamboo shoots, sliced
• 100 g baby corn, halved
• 10 Fried tofu puffs, halved
• 100 g Mangetout (snow peas)
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Vegetarian stir-fry sauce (mushroom "oyster" sauce)
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 250 ml strained mushroom soaking water
• 1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil

Method

1. Soak the shiitake, lily flowers, wood ear and beancurd sticks in separate bowls of warm water for 30 min. Soak the noodles in warm water for 10 min. Keep 250 ml of the mushroom water.
2. Trim and slice the mushrooms and wood ear, snip the hard ends off the lily flowers and tie each in a knot, and drain the noodles.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or wide pan over medium heat and fry the garlic, ginger and fermented bean curd for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
4. Add the shiitake, wood ear and carrot and stir-fry for 2 min. Add the cabbage, bamboo shoots, baby corn, lily flowers and beancurd sticks and toss for 2 min more.
5. Pour in the mushroom water, soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce and sugar. Cover and simmer for 8–10 min, until the cabbage is soft and sweet.
6. Add the tofu puffs, snow peas and noodles and cook for 2–3 min, until the noodles drink up most of the liquid. Thicken with the cornflour mix, drizzle with sesame oil and serve.

Tips

• Traditionally eaten on the first day of Lunar New Year; families use anything from 8 to 18 ingredients, so swap freely.
• Contains soy and wheat (in the soy sauce).

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Omnivore's Cookbook Taste of Asian Food Made With Lau