Buddhas Delight Recipes

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT (VEGETARIAN LO HAN JAI)

Steps:

• Heat your wok over medium-high heat, and add the oil and ginger. Let the ginger caramelize for about 30 seconds without letting it burn. Add the red fermented bean curd and break it up with your spatula. Add the garlic, the white portions of the leeks (reserve to green portion for later), mushrooms, wood ears, and lily flowers. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add the Shaoxing wine and stir fry for another minute.
• Next, add the napa cabbage, fried tofu, and bean threads, and crank up the heat as high as it will go. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the remaining green portion of the leeks, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and water or vegetable stock. Stir everything together, cover the wok, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Uncover the wok and turn the heat back up to high. Add the mung bean noodles, which should soak up most of the liquid. Keep stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer to a large bowl and serve with steamed rice!

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT

Steps:

• Soak mushrooms in 5 cups boiling-hot water in a bowl, keeping them submerged with a small plate and turning mushrooms over occasionally, until softened and cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes. Squeeze excess liquid from caps back into bowl and reserve liquid, then cut out and discard stems from mushrooms. Cut caps into 1-inch wedges.
• While mushrooms soak, carefully break bean curd skins in half crosswise, then halve each portion crosswise again. Transfer to a bowl, then add enough boiling-hot water to cover and soak, turning occasionally, until softened, about 30 minutes.
• If using fresh bamboo, trim bottoms of shoots, then halve shoots lengthwise with a sharp heavy knife. Pull off and discard leaves from shoots, then remove any blemishes with a sharp paring knife (don't worry about natural dotted pattern along base of shoots).
• Cover fresh or frozen bamboo with cold water by 1 inch in a 2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes, then drain in a colander and rinse under cold water. Repeat boiling and rinsing, then arrange bamboo halves, cut sides down, on a cutting board and cut bamboo lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
• Soak noodles in cold water to cover until softened, about 5 minutes, then drain in colander and transfer to a bowl.
• Drain bean curd skins in colander. When cool enough to handle, squeeze dry and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces.
• Halve tofu lengthwise, then cut each half crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
• Heat oil in a 5- to 6-quart wide heavy pot over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add mushrooms, bean curd skins, bamboo, and ginkgo nuts and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar and simmer 1 minute. Add reserved mushroom-soaking liquid and bring to a boil. Gently stir in tofu and soybean sprouts, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Gently stir in noodles and simmer, covered, 5 minutes. Add romaine hearts (pot will be full) and turn to coat, then simmer, covered, until romaine is tender, about 5 minutes.

CHINESE BUDDHA'S DELIGHT

Steps:

• Combine first 5 ingredients, tossing to coat.
• Cover and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour.
• Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving marinade.
• Cook broccoli florets, carrot, and broccoli stems in boiling water 1 1/2 minutes.
• Drain these vegetables.
• Plunge into ice water.
• Drain.
• Heat canola oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
• Add tofu.
• Stir-fry 5 minutes or until lightly browned on all sides.
• Stir in onions, ginger, and garlic.
• Stir-fry 30 seconds.
• Stir in broccoli mixture, snow peas, corn, and water chestnuts.
• Stir-fry 1 minute.
• Combine broth and cornstarch, stirring with a whisk.
• Add cornstarch mixture, reserved marinade, and salt to pan.
• Bring to a boil.
• Cook 2 1/2 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly.
• Serve over brown rice.

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT (LO HAN JAI 罗汉斋)

Steps:

• Tie a knot for each dried lily flowers, for better presentation.
• Soak the dry ingredients until they turn soft and fully hydrated.
• Cut the bean curd sheet into smaller pieces. Deep-fried briefly (about 15-20 seconds), remove and drain.
• Cut the carrots and bamboo shoots into thin slices.
• Cut the soaked wood ear fungus into the size similar to the carrots.
• Remove the stem of the Shiitake mushrooms. Cut into two for the smaller one, and slice into three or four for the bigger one.
• Keep the water after soaking the mushrooms. Use it as part of the Braised liquid since it is full of flavor.
• Cut the cabbage into large pieces.
• Ladle two tablespoons of vegetable oil into the wok. Stir fry the cabbage until it starts to turn soft.
• Add the Shiitake mushroom, lily flowers, wood ear fungus, black moss, carrots, the fermented bean curd, sugar, the mushroom water, and some additional water. Braise for two minutes.
• Break the deep-fried bean curd into smaller pieces. Lay on top of the other ingredients.
• Add the mung bean vermicelli on top of the bean curd pieces. Braise with the lid on for five minutes or until the bean curd pieces are soft. Add some water if necessary.
• Add the bamboo shoots, button mushrooms, and baby sweet corns.
• Braise until the vegetables are soft, and the sauce thickens. Serve.

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT

Steps:

• 1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms and lily buds in a bowl of warm water for 15 to 20 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water. Discard the stems from the mushrooms and thinly slice the mushroom caps. (For extra mushroom flavor, reserve the soaking liquid and add it to the dish.) Slice the rough black ends off the lily buds and discard, cut the lily buds in half, and pull apart the strands.
• 2. Rinse the bamboo shoots and thinly slice them. Trim and discard the hard ends from the snow peas and cut the snow peas lengthwise. Drain and finely chop the water chestnuts.
• 3. In a large bowl, soak the bean thread noodles in enough warm water to cover for 10 minutes to soften them. Drain, shake off the excess water, and set aside.
• 4. Drain and rinse the tofu, then pat dry with paper towels. Slice the tofu into 1-inch cubes.
• 5. Prepare the sauce: In a small bowl, stir together the vegetable broth, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar. Set aside.
• 6. Heat a wok, Dutch oven, or deep 14-inch skillet over medium heat until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact. Add the peanut oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add the ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, lily buds, bamboo shoots, snow peas, water chestnuts, cabbage, and tofu. Add the sauce and the mushroom soaking liquid (if using) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the lid, add the drained bean thread noodles, re-cover the wok, and simmer for about another 5 minutes, or until the noodles are cooked. (Don't worry if the dish looks a little soupy; the noodles will absorb the remaining broth.) Ladle everything into a deep serving dish and serve hot.

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT

Steps:

• Place the lily buds, black fungus, Shiitake mushrooms and tofu in separate bowls. cover each with boiling water and soak for 30 minutes. Drain the bowls and squeeze the excess water from the tofu. Cut the fungus into bite-sized pieces and halve the shiitake.
• Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Stir-fry carrot, celery and ginger for 30 seconds. Add soaked ingredients, remining ingredients and 1/4 cups water. Mix well. cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes or until heated through. Serve.

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT VEGAN STIR-FRY

Steps:

• Mix water, fermented tofu blocks, oyster sauce, mushroom seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cornstarch, sesame oil, white sugar, and pepper together in a bowl until fermented tofu has dissolved.
• Cook vegetable oil and ginger in a skillet over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add tofu, lotus root, ginkgo nuts, lily flowers, red dates, shiitake mushrooms, and carrot. Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add cabbage, snow peas, black fungus, noodles, goji berries, and salt. Cook for another 3 minutes. Add moss and fermented tofu mixture; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish.