wood ear – yummy food share

Speedy Spicy Cowpea Mushroom Salad

2025-11-27

Looking for a vibrant, flavorful dish that comes together in a flash? This Speedy Spicy Cowpea Mushroom Salad is your answer! Designed for busy cooks, this recipe boasts impressive flavor with minimal effort. It’s a fantastic side dish that adds a delicious kick to any meal, particularly wonderful served alongside fluffy rice. The beauty of this salad lies in its simplicity – a quick blanching and mixing process that takes just about ten minutes from start to finish. Its preparation difficulty is genuinely easy, making it perfect for beginners or anyone needing a quick, satisfying addition to their spread. The star of the show is its delightfully spicy and aromatic taste, a result of fresh chilies, garlic, and a savory dressing that will leave your taste buds tingling. Here’s what you’ll need to bring this delightful salad to your table. For the star of the show, Cowpea or Long Beans (about 8-10 oz / 250-300g), which are slender green beans with a satisfying crunch. If you can’t find cowpeas, regular green beans or string beans make an excellent substitute. Next, we have Wood Ear Mushrooms (about 0.5 oz / 15g dried). These mushrooms rehydrate to a wonderfully chewy texture. If unavailable, you could use a small amount of rehydrated shiitake mushrooms for a different but still delicious mushroom flavor. For aromatics, you’ll want Garlic (2-3 cloves), Red Chili (1-2, depending on your heat preference), and Green Chili (1-2). You can adjust the type and quantity of chilies to suit your spice tolerance – jalapeños or serranos work well. The dressing ingredients are straightforward: Peanut Oil (about 2 tablespoons) or any neutral cooking oil, Salt (to taste), Light Soy Sauce (about 1-2 tablespoons), Vinegar (about 1 tablespoon – rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar are good options), Chicken Granules or MSG…

Savory Pressed Tofu and Wood Ear Salad

2025-11-21

Welcome to a delightful culinary adventure that brings a vibrant, refreshing dish straight from the heart of simple Asian home cooking to your table! This Pressed Tofu and Wood Ear Salad is a testament to how a few quality ingredients, combined with minimal effort, can create something truly spectacular. It’s a dish that perfectly balances textures and flavors, boasting a light yet satisfying profile with delightful hints of spice and tanginess. You’ll be amazed that something so incredibly delicious and visually appealing can be ready in a mere 10 minutes, making it an ideal option for a quick lunch, a light dinner, or an impressive appetizer. Its straightforward preparation means even novice cooks can achieve restaurant-quality results with confidence. Let’s dive into how you can recreate this quick yet flavorful masterpiece! Here’s what you’ll need to assemble this refreshing salad. The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity and adaptability. Firstly, you’ll require about 3 slices of fresh pressed tofu (often called Dou Gan – this is a firm, flavorful tofu with a dense texture, often found vacuum-sealed in Asian markets; if you can’t find it, very firm or extra-firm tofu, pressed well to remove excess water, can be a good substitute, though the texture won’t be quite the same). Next, gather an appropriate amount of wood ear mushrooms. These unique fungi, known for their slightly chewy, gelatinous texture and subtle earthy flavor, are usually sold dried and need rehydrating. If dried wood ear mushrooms are hard to come by, try thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms or even cremini mushrooms for a different but still enjoyable texture. Finally, for a pop of freshness, prepare an appropriate amount of chopped cilantro and perhaps a few finely sliced scallions. For the tantalizing dressing, you’ll need: soy sauce (an appropriate amount, feel free…

Vibrant Garlic Chive and Mushroom Stir Fry

2025-11-10

Looking for a recipe that’s incredibly fast, wonderfully healthy, and bursting with a unique, savory flavor? Look no further. This stir-fry is a testament to the beauty of simple cooking, proving that you don’t need a long list of ingredients or complicated techniques to create something truly delicious. Ready in about 10 minutes from start to finish, this dish is the definition of a perfect weeknight meal. It’s an incredibly easy stir-fry that highlights the fresh, subtle garlic notes of the chives and the delightful texture of wood ear mushrooms. The flavor is light, clean, and savory, making it a refreshing addition to any dinner table. Its simplicity is its greatest strength, allowing the natural goodness of the ingredients to shine through. To get started, you’ll only need a few simple things. This ingredient list is straightforward, but I’ve included some easy-to-find alternatives in case you can’t get your hands on the traditional items. For the Stir-Fry (serves 2 as a side dish): Garlic Chives: 1 large bunch (about 8 oz or 225g). These are flat, wide chives with a distinct but mild garlicky flavor. Dried Wood Ear Mushrooms: A small handful (about ¼ cup). These are thin, dark fungi that expand significantly when soaked. They are prized for their unique, slightly crunchy and chewy texture rather than their flavor. High-Smoke-Point Oil: 1 to 2 tablespoons, such as peanut, canola, or avocado oil. Salt: ½ teaspoon, or to taste. Ingredient Notes & Substitutions: Can’t find garlic chives? No problem! A great substitute is to use the green parts of 4-5 scallions (spring onions) and add one minced clove of garlic to the stir-fry along with them to replicate that signature flavor. What if wood ear mushrooms aren’t available? While their texture is unique, you can easily substitute them with fresh…