Food pr0n SCORE!: mushrooms!

[azurelunatic]

I've been craving mushrooms lately. Not just any mushrooms, but the mushrooms that you find at those Chinese buffet places: whole, cooked in something mildly seasoned and salty, and utterly delicious.

And I decided that I can't just keep having to go out for those, if I'm craving them this badly: I need to learn to cook them.

So the other day I bought a huge-ass container of fresh mushrooms.

I was craving them again today all throughout work, so when I got home, I decided to do something about it.

Ingredients:

• 1 large package mushrooms, whole.
• Enough oil to cover the bottom of the frying pan. (Vegetable will do, but I suspect that one of the missing flavors is sesame oil; bad job I don't like sesame oil.)
• Garlic (granulated works for me), 1 or 2 good shakes, to taste.
• Onion (powder works for me), 1 good shake, to taste.
• Chinese 5-Spice powder, 1 pinch.
• Soy sauce, 1 liberal or several conservative splashes.

Oil in pan on stovetop. Mushrooms in pan. Spices on mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have shrunk visibly and are bubbling in their own tasty juices.

Cool before serving.

Disclaimer: no badgers were harmed in the making of this dish.

Comments

Yay food!

[jdemorae.livejournal.com]

missing flavors is sesame oil

Have you tried peanut oil? There isn't much taste to it, so it lets everything else come through clearly. Minced garlic might work, too... lots of places where you can buy the HUGE jars of it for an absurdly small amount of money. I don't know if you like spicy or sweet...but anything Asian related? Green onions are your friends, green and white parts chopped. (They look like/are also called scallions.)

I use peanut oil when cooking Asian dishes--when I can get it. It's not that it's hard to find, but it's almost always on the top shelf and super-shrimps like me can't reach it. Maybe I should just swallow my pride and bring my reacher/gripper to the store with me, huh?

What's *in* 5-Spice powder, anyway? I've never seen it, and would probably have to make my own.

Re: Yay food!

[azurelunatic]

My first reaction about peanut oil was admittedly immature: "Ick!" But since I'm OK with peanuts in things, just not peanut butter (I burned out on it after too many school lunches with pbj), and I do remember the oil being fairly neutral, I should be OK with it.

Green onions are awesome. Unfortunately, having them on hand means planning ahead for cooking, which is not entirely my strong point. Ah well, I have dried chives in the spice cupboard, which is pretty close.

I know 5-spice involves cloves somewhere... According to Google, this one's good.

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

Somehow I managed to read "One large package mushrooms, whole" as "One large badger mushrooms, whole." *boggles*

Re: Yay food!

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

The spice database I like - I don't know how good their accuracy is on mixtures, but they tend to have very thorough information about individual spices - says:

Chinese Five Spice powder (wu xiang fen [五香粉]) (see star anise)
This very aromatic and intensive mixture combines star anise with cassia, cloves, fennel and sichuan pepper. It is not hot, but to be used with care.

And cassia is apparently similar to cinnamon.

It's hard to find non-spicy peanut oil around here. I must keep looking.

[azurelunatic]

My oh my.

Re: Yay food!

[azurelunatic]

... Anne McCaffrey has a habit of naming female characters after exotic foodstuffs. There is a queen dragon named Amaranth, and then a far-too-exotic female in Coelura named Cassia.