Stir-fried Ginseng Eryngi Mushrooms With Leek & Capsicum

It's been several times now that I included Eryngi Mushrooms in my diet and my family like it as well. Firstly, it's a hardy mushroom and not easily spoilt compared to other species of mushrooms. For this dish, I used Ginseng Eryngi Mushrooms with some leeks and capsicums. Usually, when I had my meals, I like to have some varieties on the table with minimum 2 dishes with rice or noodles. I tried to have meat, vegetables, poultry or fish combinations but most of the time vegetables are the highest quantity consumed :-) I think my fridge has more vegetables than ever before. Must be the habit since childhood... :-)

Stir-Fry Ginseng Eryngi Mushrooms With Leeks & Capsicum

250 g Ginseng Eryngi Mushrooms

100 g Leeks

1 nos  Red Capsicum - medium size

2 cloves Garlic-minced

Sesame Seeds - toasted

Soya Sauce to taste

Shaoxing Cooking Wine to taste

Cooking Oil

Method:

1. Remove any grits from the mushroom and cut off the hard stump. Wash the whole mushrooms and pat it dry. Slice the mushrooms about 2-3 mm thickness or to your liking. Set aside.

Note: This is the only mushroom that I would wash under running water :-P

2. Wash the Leek stalks thoroughly from grits. You can slice it first then wash with water or remove each layers which were affected by dirt and soak in water so that the dirt will sink to the bottom. After cleaning, slice diagonal the leeks and set aside. You can slice in rounds but I prefer diagonal cuts in leeks.

3. Wash and cut capsicums/bell peppers in halves. Remove the seeds and white pith. Slice diagonally as well.

4. In a pan or wok, heat the oil. When oil is hot, add in the garlic. Give it a few stir until fragrant.

5. Add in the, vegetables. Give a good stir and then add in the Ginseng Eryngi Mushrooms. Stir the vegetables thoroughly.

6. Stir in some soy sauce to your taste and add in some Shaoxing cooking wine. If you don't have Shaoxing wine, you can use brandy/cognac or dry sherry instead... :-)

7. Just before serving add in the toasted sesame seeds. Give a few stirs and serve hot with rice or side dish to your main meal...

Note: You can make a thicker grave/sauce by mixing 1-2 tsp of cornflour/cornstarch with some water and pour back into the wok/pan. Stir a few minutes until the gravy thickens. Dish up and serve hot.

UPDATE: For those who are interested to read more about Folklore/ Cookery/ Mycology/ Drug, you can download this digital edition of Mushrooms, Russia and History, 1957 by Author, Robert Gordon Wasson & his wife,  Valentina Pavlovna Geurcken. It was scanned from original from a generous contributor and hand corrected by Igor Dolgov, Zachary Jones and Gred Golden. It's a rare book which fetched thousands of USD!

♫ Enjoy ♪

Jellyfish And Kyuri Salad

It had been long time since my last jellyfish meal :-P Yes, you read it right  j-e-l-l-y-f-i-s-h that floating wobbly, water filled animal with long stinging tentacles that spells out trouble for swimmers and fishermen alike. You can say that's bizarre but it's a delicacy and enjoyed by many people. As for me, I rather eat jellyfish anytime than turtles! 

Ok... I don't know which species of jellyfish I'm eating but I guessed it's edible and not endangered (?) species right? :-D This batch was given to me by my neighbour. I think I got the tentacles part. Almost all the whole jellyfish parts can be eaten as mentioned by foodie blogger Melting Wok.

Jellyfish And Kyuri (Japanese Cucumber) Salad

300 g Jellyfish (already prepared and cleaned by seller :-D)

1 pc Japanese Cucumber (kyuri)

1 stalk Spring Onions

3 tsp Rice Vinegar

3 tbl Sesame Oil

4 tsp Shoyu/Light Soya Sauce

1 tbl  Fish Sauce (Optional)

3 tbl  Sesame Seeds

4 tsp Sugar

Some water to blanch the jellyfish

Method

1. Wash jellyfish in fresh water. Drain and set aside.

2. In a pot, boil some water. When water boiled, pour the jellyfish into the hot boiling water. Blanch the jellyfish in few seconds (you will see that the amount will shrink in size) and quickly plunge it into cold water to stop the cooking. Drain the jellyfish.

3. When jellyfish is cold enough to handle, slice the jellyfish into smaller pieces. Set aside.

4. Wash the japanese cucumber: cut into halves lengthwise and remove the seeds. Slice them thinly. Set aside.

For the dressing

1. In a small pan, roast the sesame seeds without any oil until fragrant and golden yellow. Crush lightly the seeds a bit to release the oil. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, fish sauce, vinegar, shoyu until the sugar dissolves. Add in the sesame oil and sesame seeds. Stir the dressing well. Set aside until needed.

To assemble the salad; Mix the jellyfish and the japanese cucumber together. Pour in the dressing and mix well. Adjust the taste to your liking. Garnish with sliced spring onions. If you intend to serve the salad later, don't add the dressing too early or you will end up with watery salad. Few minutes before serving is better because you also want the jellyfish to absorb the dressing...

Variation: You can add on to your sushi or top it up on Donburi meals. You can also add some chopped fresh chillies or chilli flakes to give that extra 'kick' :-)

Jellyfish is one of sea turtles main food and that helps keeping the jellyfish in control but now with the dwindling of sea turtles population these jellyfish is back with vengeance! In countries that were badly hit with the surge of jellyfish population had cost lost of income to the fishermen. Only way to control this situation is to stop eating sea turtles (also their cousins) and their eggs or else we all end up eating jellyfish as food or the other way round!

Enjoy!