Wood ear mushroom salad
A Chinese cold appetiser of wood ear mushrooms — fungi with almost no flavour but an extraordinary crunchy, jelly-like texture. All the flavour comes from the dressing: black vinegar, garlic, chilli and hot oil poured over the aromatics. Two steps are essential. The mushrooms soak in cold water, not hot — in hot they turn soft and slippery. And after a brief blanch they are chilled in iced water, which fixes the crunch.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the mushrooms 60 min
- Blanching 5 min
- Dressing 10 min
- Marinating 15 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the mushrooms in cold water
Cover the wood ears with cold water for an hour. They swell several times over. Cold water matters: hot speeds the soaking, but the mushrooms lose their crunch and turn slippery as jelly. Do not soak them for more than a few hours at room temperature — if you want to soak them overnight, put the bowl in the fridge.
Ingredients: 25 g dried wood ear mushrooms · 1500 ml water
Cold water, an hour — they swell several times over.Trim the tough bases
Rinse the mushrooms and snip off the hard, knotted bases where they grew from the tree with scissors. Tear large caps into bite-sized pieces. The bases stay hard and sinewy even after cooking.
Ingredients: 25 g dried wood ear mushrooms · 1500 ml water
Blanch two minutes
Drop the mushrooms into boiling water for 2 minutes. Blanching cleans them and is essential, since afterwards they go into the dressing without further cooking. No longer — they soften.
Ingredients: 25 g dried wood ear mushrooms · 1500 ml water
Chill in iced water
Transfer the mushrooms straight into a bowl of ice and water for 3 minutes, then drain thoroughly. Chilling them fast stops the cooking at once and sets the characteristic crunch that is the reason to eat this salad.
Ingredients: 25 g dried wood ear mushrooms · 1500 ml water
Straight into ice — hence the crunch in every bite.Pour hot oil over the aromatics
Put the garlic, sliced chilli and Sichuan pepper in a small bowl. Heat the oil until it just begins to smoke and pour it over them — they sizzle and release their aroma. Raw garlic in a cold dressing would be harsh and biting.
Ingredients: 5 cloves garlic · 2 pcs chilli · ½ tsp Sichuan pepper · 3 tbsp oil · 3 tbsp black rice vinegar · 2 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tsp sugar · 1 tsp sesame oil · 1 tbsp chilli oil
Smoking oil over the garlic — it sizzles and blooms.Add vinegar, soy and sugar
Into the slightly cooled oil stir the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. The dressing should be distinctly sour and garlicky, salty with a hint of sweetness. Taste before tossing with the mushrooms.
Ingredients: 5 cloves garlic · 2 pcs chilli · ½ tsp Sichuan pepper · 3 tbsp oil · 3 tbsp black rice vinegar · 2 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tsp sugar · 1 tsp sesame oil · 1 tbsp chilli oil
Toss and marinate a quarter hour
Toss the drained mushrooms with the dressing and chilli oil and leave 15 minutes, stirring once. Wood ears have no flavour of their own — they need a moment to take up the dressing.
Ingredients: 5 cloves garlic · 2 pcs chilli · ½ tsp Sichuan pepper · 3 tbsp oil · 3 tbsp black rice vinegar · 2 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tsp sugar · 1 tsp sesame oil · 1 tbsp chilli oil
Scatter with coriander and serve cold
Scatter with chopped coriander and spring onion and serve cold, as a starter before the main dishes or with rice. In China it is one of the most popular summer appetisers.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp coriander · 2 pcs spring onions
Before you start
Wood ear, cloud ear, black fungus
Wood ear, cloud ear, black fungus, jelly ear — closely related Auricularia species, used interchangeably in the kitchen. They are sold dried in Asian shops. Thin ones, black on both sides, are more delicate and crunchier than thick ones with a greyish-white underside, which can be rubbery.
Do not skip the blanch
Soaked, uncooked wood ears should not be eaten — two minutes in boiling water cleans them, and the texture does not suffer. Blanching will not rescue mushrooms soaked for too long, though: after many hours in warm water they can grow bacteria that produce a toxin boiling does not destroy. Throw away any that are slimy or smell odd after soaking.
Two days in the fridge
The salad keeps two days in the fridge without softening, as wood ears hold their crunch for a long time. It is more garlicky on the second day. Add the coriander fresh before serving.
