black fungus

This recipe, an adaptation from “The Hakka Cookbook” by Linda Lau Anusasananan, came to The Times by way of Mark Bittman in 2013. The Hakka people are sometimes thought of as the Jews of China, because they’re dispersed all over the place. But the Hakkas cannot even point to an original homeland: you can find them everywhere. “Some people call us dandelions, because we thrive in poor soil,” says Ms. Anusasananan, who was born in California. Hakka dishes like this one, chow mein and pretty much anything in bean sauce, have defined Chinese-restaurant cooking for nearly everyone. This lively stir-fry comes together in about a half-hour and is easily doubled or tripled for a crowd. To make it more family- and weeknight-friendly, substitute sliced bell peppers for the fungus and canned pineapple for the fresh, and leave out (or greatly reduce) the chile peppers.

Stir-Fried Pork and Pineapple

pork shoulder

soy sauce

vegetable oil

cornstarch

rice vinegar

sugar

salt

black fungus,

scallions, including green tops

ginger

pineapple,

For the pork: Cut the pork into slices
1/8 inch thick, 2 inches long and
1 inch wide. In a small bowl, stir together
the soy sauce, oil and cornstarch,
and mix with the pork.

For the sauce: In a small bowl mix the
vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and salt.

For the Pork

Rinse the fungus. In
a medium bowl, soak the fungus in
hot water until soft and pliable, 5 to 15
minutes, and then drain. Pinch out
and discard any hard, knobby centers.
Cut the fungus into 1-inch pieces.
Trim the ends off the scallions, and then
chop them, including green tops, into
2-inch lengths.

Set a wok or a large frying pan over
high heat. When the pan is hot, after
about 1 minute, add the oil and rotate
the pan to spread. Add the ginger
and pork; stir-fry until the meat is lightly
browned, about 2 minutes. Add the
pineapple, black fungus, sauce
mixture, scallions and chile. Stir-fry until
pineapple is hot, 1 to 2 minutes.
Transfer to a serving dish.

For the Stir-Fry

If Chinese Hot and Sour Soup and Mapo Tofu had a baby, this Spicy Silken Tofu would be it. The sauce is a delicate balance of savory, spicy, a bit of acidity, and a hint of sweetness. You can enjoy this as a saucy tofu dish and serve it over a bowl of rice.

Spicy Silken Tofu

mushrooms

black fungus (, rehydrated)

21.1 oz soft or silken tofu

tbsp doubanjiang or Chinese chili broad bean paste

Chinese black vinegar

tbsp Shaoxing wine

tbsp sugar

water

tbsp corn starch

tbsp neutral cooking oil

onion

thumb ginger (minced)

garlic (minced)

green bell pepper

Salt and pepper to taste (for mushrooms)

tbsp mushroom water (, if needed to water down)

tbsp sesame oil

Chili crisp or chili oil

green onions (for garnish)

rice

Rehydrate the shiitake mushrooms and black fungus. I left mine in room temperature water overnight. You can soak these for 20-30 minutes in hot water. Don’t discard the mushroom water.

You can also use fresh shiitake mushrooms or other mushrooms of your choice.

Squeeze out excess water from the mushrooms. Dice the shiitake mushrooms.

For the black fungus or wood ear mushroom, I thinly sliced half and the remaining half I tore into small pieces. This is to have different textures in the dish later on.

MUSHROOMS

Slice the tofu into 1-inch (2.5cm) thick pieces. Set aside in a bowl.

The tofu will release more water as it sits. Drain the water.

TOFU

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well for the sugar and corn starch to dissolve. Feel free to adjust this to your desired taste.

SAUCE

Heat a medium or large pot over medium high heat.

Once hot, add the oil. Stir-fry the onion, white part of green onion, and ginger until aromatic - around 1 minute.

Add the garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the bell pepper. Stir-fry for 1 minute.

Add the sliced mushrooms then season with a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Stir-fry the mushrooms for 1-2 minutes.

Mix the sauce again since the corn starch tends to settle at the bottom of the bowl.

Over medium heat, pour the sauce into the mushroom mixture.

Mix well and allow the sauce to come to a boil. It will start to thicken from the starch.

Add the silken tofu into the pot.

Carefully mix the tofu into the sauce. Don’t over mix since this can easily break apart the silken tofu.

Add more of the mushroom water if you want to thin out the sauce. I added 1-2 tbsp water since I wanted my sauce thick to serve over rice. You can add more or less depending on your preference.

Taste the tofu with the sauce. Feel free to season with more soy sauce, to taste, if needed.

Finish the tofu with sesame oil, chili oil (if desired), and chopped green onions.

Serve while hot and enjoy over or with rice.

STIR-FRYING/COOKING

A good hearty weeknight dinner. I followed your tip and also added some fresh shitake. Great recipe :-)

Amazing! Delicious and reminds me of home. Thank you!

An idea to spice things up would be to add some thinly sliced pieces of tofu, bamboo shoots, more white pepper powder and some vinegar to may this a Hot and Sour Fake Shark’s Fin Soup.I like adding some crunchy bits to this soup too.  You could add deep-fried wonton wrapper or puffed rice.Add some red vinegar to it, just like regular shark’s fin soup.You may also choose to use julienned fresh meat instead of cooked meat.

Fake Shark's Fin Soup 碗仔翅

pork

g Dried black fungus (julienned)

Mung bean vermicelli ((approx. 15 grams))

Shiitake mushrooms (, julienned (soak overnight

1.5 L Broth ((pork

½ tbsp Dark soy sauce

Salt

Sugar

White pepper powder

Water

tbsp Water (for slurry)

Skip this step if you already have cooked pork or chicken and broth.  To make broth:  you can make 1.5L of pork or chicken broth using approx. 900g pork bones or chicken bones that have some meat attached and 2L water.  First clean the bones by putting them in a pot, add water to cover them, then bring to a boil.  Once it starts to boil, remove the bones and rinse with cold water.  Put the bones in a pot again with 1.8L fresh water and add a few slices of ginger.  Bring to a boil and turn down heat to low and let cook for 2 hours.  Remove the bones and meat from the broth.  Strain the broth and set aside.

Soak dried black fungus in water for 1 hour or until softened

Blanche the black fungus in boiling water for 1 minute, remove from water and let cool

Soak mung bean vermicelli in water for 15 minutes.  Dry in colander and cut into 3-5cm pieces I like mung bean vermicelli so I used 2 bunches instead of 1.  But note that the soup will be thicker with more vermicelli

Remove the meat from the bones if not already done

Hand shred the meat until it is in fine shreds and set aside

Julienne the soaked black fungus and shiitake mushrooms

Beat 1 egg and set aside

Combine 1 tbsp water chestnut starch with 2 tbsp water, mix and set aside water chestnut starch is preferred over other starches because of its ability to bind with water and not separate.  This feature is more important if the soup will be continuously heated such as in a retail environment.  If you’re just making it for your family, corn starch will do the job.  But if you’re looking for authenticity, water chestnut starch is the way to go

Combine 1.5L broth, julienned black fungus, julienned shiitake mushrooms, shredded pork or chicken and mung bean vermicelli in a pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low

Add 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, ¼ tsp white pepper powder, ½ tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt (amount of salt may vary if your broth had already been salted) and ½ tbsp dark soy sauce.  Mix well

Taste and make adjustments.  Add more dark soy sauce if you would like it darker

Stir the slurry and pour it into the soup slowly while stirring at the same time.  You may add more slurry if you want it thicker, however, note that the vermicelli will also add thickness to the soup once it cools a bit

Slowly pour the egg into the soup in a continuous stream either in a circular motion or zigzag motion

Slowly move the chopsticks from one side of the pot to the opposite side to form egg ribbons

Serve by itself or with red vinegar

Brilliant.  I used genuine shark fin though.

Top 3 black fungus recipes from across the web

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Stir-Fried Pork and Pineapple

Spicy Silken Tofu

Fake Shark's Fin Soup 碗仔翅

Top 3 black fungus recipes from across the web

The most viewed black fungus recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Stir-Fried Pork and Pineapple

Spicy Silken Tofu

Fake Shark's Fin Soup 碗仔翅

The most viewed black fungus recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine