Buddha’s Delight

Prep time: 20 mins | Cooking time: 20 mins | Serves 5

Fresh, nutritious and full of flavour, learn to make this iconic Chinese vegetarian dish and that has been enjoyed for centuries.

This dish was one of the recipes we taught at our live cooking demonstrations at the 2024 Waihi Vegetarian Festival.

Ingredients

• Minced ginger 1 tbsp

• Button mushrooms 1 cup

• Shiitake mushrooms x 5 pieces

• Wood ear mushrooms x10 pieces

• Carrot x 1

• Red capsicum x 1

• Chinese cabbage 250-300g  

• Half package of the vermicelli noodle (soak in the cold water and drain)

• Fermented red tofu curd x 3 pieces

• Fried bean curd skin x 3 pieces

• Tofu puff x 5 pieces

Seasonings

• Cooking oil 3 tbsp

• Salt 1 tsp

• Water x 1 bowl

• Soya sauce 1 tbsp

• Vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce/black bean soya paste 1 tbsp

• Corn flour (for sauce thickening) 1 tbsp

Instructions

1. Place the dried Shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms in a bowl and pour in hot water. Let it soak for 10-15mins.

2. Roughly chop the carrots, capsicum and Chinese cabbage. Cut the tofu puffs in halves.

3. Remove the soaked mushrooms from the bowl and rinse them in some cold water. Chop up the wood ear mushrooms and cut the Shiitake mushrooms in halves.

4. Stir the corn starch in one bowl of cold water to create a corn starch slurry. Then, mix that together with both soya sauce and mushroom oyster sauce.

5. Heat up a sauté pan to medium heat with cooking oil.  Sauté the ginger, Shiitake mushrooms and fermented red tofu curd for a couple of minutes.

6. Add in and sauté the carrot, Chinese cabbage, capsicum, button mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms for another couple of minutes. 

7. Add in the sauce mixture, tofu puffs, fried bean curd skin and vermicelli. Give it a good stir, simmer for about 15 minutes (cook until all vegetables are soft and tender).

Serve with rice and enjoy your Buddha’s delight!