Recently I have been going to the local park which sets up some stands selling market items. This is once a week only.
It will be there for one or two more weeks. This has given me the opportunity to buy mushrooms that I can't find in regular stores. The other day I went in hopes that the "mushroom man" would bring lion's mane. The week before he didn't have them. I thought it was over.
When I approached the market I had my fingers crossed but wasn't really expecting him to have it.
When I got to him I saw the white puffy looking beauties heaping inside the bin. What a sight.
Mushroom man knows me already. I have spent quite a bit of money on fungus, in the last few weeks. This time I had to skip the other beauties and just go for the lion's mane. I had to be careful not to go overboard.
I tried not to flinch when he told me I picked out a kilo, and the price was 40 dollars.
I was tempted to buy some of the others but I stopped myself. The shitakes looked amazing but I can find shitakes sometimes.
The cinnamon caps looked lovely as usual. I will hope that they will be there next time. I need to have them once more.
I took my lion's mane and walked back through the little park which has a fountain right in the middle of it. This park is small and in the center of the city plateau.
I made three different dishes over the next three days. Tragically I accidently deleted one of them. But two remained which I will share. The first one was a stir fry. These are the approximate amounts of ingredients. I make things up as I go.
Stir fry with lions mane
1 cup grilled lion's mane chunks
One small nappa cabbage
3 bok choy
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
3 chilies
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon vegan oyster sauce
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon minced coriander fresh
1 tablespoon agave or other sweetener
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Juice of a lime
I chopped the veggies roughly since they are the kind that have a lot of moisture and would shrink.
The fungus was first pressed in my little electric grill, to get the moisture out.
This makes it really meaty.
After frying the onions, garlic, ginger and peppers, I added the mushrooms.
After that I added the veggies, the liquids then sprinkled cornstarch over top tossing everything together.
I added some jasmine rice on the side.
The great thing about this fungus is that it is mild and meaty. It absorbs the flavors that you put on it.
Although it is a meaty mushroom it still has a mushroom like texture. However it is a good substitute for tofu for people that avoid tofu. It's not good for it's price though.
Moving along to the next dish. I decided to make tempura with the remainder. I was in the mood for a treat.
Tempura lion's mane
lion's mane strips grilled
Tempura mix and water to make a thin batter
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of onion powder
Pinch of salt and pepper
Pinch of paprika or cayenne
Simply dip the mushroom in the tempura and fry in hot oil.
It looks so much like chicken but it's quite delicate so handle carefully.
I had to throw some onion strips in for an extra treat.
I made a quick dipping sauce from a barbecue sauce made before and added some spicy chili sauce. I could have also made a sweet soy dipping sauce or a peanut sauce but this was convenient. On the side I made a coleslaw from French breakfast radish that I bought from the market.
I hope to get one more bunch of mushrooms from the mushroom man before we part ways and I go back to the less expensive kinds. I need to get rid of my expensive obsession. I really am happy I could try these things if only a few times in my life.
Thanks for stopping by!
