This vegan Chinese Mushroom Recipe is made in a medium spicy sauce with white button mushrooms, soy sauce, scallions, garlic and spices.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Chinese, World

Ingredients

  • 200 grams white button mushrooms (- chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil (- regular or toasted)
  • 2 teaspoons garlic (- finely chopped)
  • 1 to 1.5 teaspoons ginger (- finely chopped)
  • 3 tablespoons spring onion whites (- chopped (scallions) or 3 tbsp finely chopped onions)
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons celery (- finely chopped, optional)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce (- naturally brewed, add as required)
  • 2 teaspoons red chili sauce (or red chili paste or add as required, can also add sriracha sauce)
  • ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns (or ½ teaspoon crushed black pepper or ground pepper)
  • 2 sichuan peppers (- crushed lightly in a mortar-pestle, optional)
  • ⅔ to ¾ cup Vegetable Stock (- water)
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch (+ 2 tablespoons water)
  • ½ teaspoon rice vinegar (or regular vinegar)
  • 1 teaspoon rice wine (- optional)
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar
  • 2 to 3 tablespoon spring onion greens (- chopped, (scallion greens))
  • salt (as required)

Method

Preparation

  1. Rinse or wipe dry the mushrooms. Chop them and keep aside.
  2. Chop the spring onions, garlic, ginger.
  3. Crush the sichuan pepper and black pepper in a mortar-pestle.
  4. Dissolve 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoon water to a fine, smooth paste or slurry. Keep aside.

Making Chinese Mushrooms

  1. Heat sesame oil in a frying pan or wok. Add finely chopped garlic and finely chopped ginger. Sauté on a medium heat for half a minute.
  2. Then add chopped spring onion whites or finely chopped onions. Sauté for a minute on medium heat.
  3. Next finely chopped celery. Celery is optional and you can skip it.
  4. Now add crushed black pepper or pepper powder and the crushed sichuan pepper. Stir and mix well with the rest of the mixture.
  5. Next add sliced or chopped white button mushrooms.
  6. Sauté the mushrooms on a medium heat.
  7. First the mushrooms would release a lot of water. Continue to saute till all the water dries up and the mushrooms are cooked well.
  8. Then add the naturally brewed soy sauce. For a gluten-free version, use gluten-free soy sauce.
  9. Next add red chilli sauce or red chili paste. Red chilli paste would make the sauce more spicy. You can add both the soy sauce and chilli sauce as per your taste. Mix very well.
  10. Pour ⅔ to ¾ cup of vegetable stock or water.
  11. Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar. Stir and mix well.
  12. Then add the cornstarch paste or slurry.
  13. Stir and mix very well after you add the cornstarch paste.
  14. Bring the sauce to a simmer on medium heat. Then add salt. Add less salt as soy sauce and chilli sauce already has salt in them.
  15. Mix very well and continue to simmer for some minutes till the sauce thickens.
  16. Switch off the heat and lastly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the spring onion greens, ½ teaspoon rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon rice wine (optional).
  17. Give a quick stir and serve this spicy Chinese Mushrooms with fried rice, stir fried noodles, hakka noodles or chowmein. It also pairs well with steamed rice.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.