Cantonese dishes can be very heavy, with lots of breaded and deep fried meat. So when I want something lighter, I try to add in this mushroom and tofu stir fry dish. If you want to make it a truly vegetarian dish, use a vegetarian oyster sauce. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
Mushroom and Tofu Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 package soft tofu cut into 2×2 pieces
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 2 cups neutral oil for frying
- 1 package beech mushrooms washed and separated
- 1 handful trumpet mushrooms or King oyster mushrooms thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups yu choy washed and cut in half
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce or vegetarian oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Cut tofu and then pat dry with paper towels. Heat a shallow frying pan on high. When pan is hot, add in 2 cups of oil. Allow oil to become hot and shimmery for about 5 minutes.
- Dip each piece of tofu into corn starch and coat thoroughly. Then immediately place into hot oil. The oil should bubble vigorously around the tofu. Otherwise, your oil is too cold. Continue coating pieces of tofu and adding to the frying pan. Make sure that there is space between the tofu. Fry in batches. The tofu is done when it is golden brown. If tofu becomes brown almost immediately, lower your heat. Remove from frying pan and set aside to drain.
- Then wash mushrooms by submerging them in a big pot of cold water. Use your fingers to rub off dirt. Drain and set aside. Cut off the ends which contain dirt and impurities. For the beech mushrooms, separate each mushroom from the rest. For the trumpet mushrooms, thinly slice them and set aside.
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Prep yu choy: cut off the bottom 1/4 inch of each piece. Then cut in half. Fill a large mixing bowl with cold water. Submerge the cut yu choy pieces in the cold water. Slosh the vegetables around with your hands and rub the leaves gently. This allows any dirt to come off. Take the vegetables out into a colander and repeat washing 1-2 times, until the water is clean and no more dirt/sediment are coming off the yu choy.
- Once the pot of water is boiling, add in yu choy and boil for about 3-5 minutes until slightly softened but still bright green. Then remove from the boiling water and allow to drain in a colander.
- Heat a large frying pan on high until hot. Then add in 1 tbsp oil. When oil is shimmery, add in mushrooms and stir fry 3 minutes. When mushrooms begin to soften, add in garlic and stir fry another 2 minutes. Then add in sauce mixture (soy sauce, oyster sauce, low sodium soy sauce, sugar). Then mix together 2 tsp corn starch with 1/4 cup of water until all lumps are smooth. Then add into the mushroom sauce mixture. Allow sauce to boil for about a minute until thickened. Then add in fried tofu and toss gently to coat with sauce.
- Place the boiled yu choy onto a serving platter. Arrange onto an even layer. Then top the vegetables with the tofu and mushroom mixture, pouring all the sauce evenly onto the vegetables. Serve immediately.
For other Cantonese recipes, check out my tomato braised spare ribs.
