Woodear Mushroom Noodle Stirfry

Wood ears/black fungus are a mushroom that is somewhat common in asian cuisine, as well as traditional chinese medicine.  The chinese use the woodear/black fungus as a herb to promote circulation in the body, aid in digestion, and work well with the heart.  In some cases, the wood ear is used to treat gout.

To describe the taste, it’s actually incredibly flavourless, much like tofu.  It does add an unique crunch to the dishes that it’s chosen in.  In the dish that I’ve prepared it works well with a noodle strifry.

To prepare woodears, they are bought in the store dehydrated, and the only thing that needs to be done is add water, and wait up to 15-20 minutes.  The stem needs to be removed, but otherwise its good to go.
I personally think that they are too big, and slice them up into noodle style pieces for myself.

Woodear Mushroom Noodle Stirfry
Ingredients
Woodear and Black Fungus Mushrooms
Carrots
Ginger – julienne (matchstick style)
Celery
Bell Pepper – any colour
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Noodles
Spinach

Spices
Ginger
Garlic
Soy Sauce – Dark
Sambal Oblek (chili garlic sauce)
Shitake Mushroom Juice
Vinegar
Sugar
Mushroom Seasoning (salt)

I like to prepare literally everything that I can prepare when I’m making food.  So like always, I made a sauce to help me along.

The sauce
Add all spices into bowl and mix.  Add to your preference.  Note that vinegar a strong flavour and not much is needed.  If you find that it’s too sour, add more sugar to counter it.

***cook the noodles before starting.  It will help you in the end***

The stirfry
In a wok or frying pan, add oil and wait until hot.  Add julienne ginger, and stir for about a minute.  At the same time, I added some garlic powder to the pan, and stirred it for maybe 30 seconds, before I added the carrots.

Although carrots are a tougher vegetable, they only need very little time to cook.  They will continue to cook through out the stirfry, so they need only about a minute – and that’s generous.  If you wait too long, the carrots will come out soft in the end.

Add celery and bell peppers, add some mushroom seasoning, garlic and ginger.  Stir for maybe another 30 seconds- just enough so that the celery starts to concentrate the colour.

Add broccoli and cauliflower and use the same process above – more mushroom seasoning, garlic powder and ginger.  Stir for 30 seconds or until crowns of broccoli have a stronger colour on them.

Add woodear mushrooms and spinach.  Add the sauce that you made earlier, and mix together.  The steam will wilt the mushrooms and the spinach making it ready.

Turn off the heat and add the noodles.  Mix in and taste.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

 

Woodear Mushroom Noodle Strifry