Sticky gochujang mushrooms
and deep fried memories
Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary.
My book Tenderheart is available from Books are Magic, Kitchen, Arts and Letters, Book Larder, Bold Fork Books and also here or here.
The smell of oil is an indulgence I rarely allow myself. The scent is my portal to protected memories, ones so special that I only allow myself to experience them a few times a year. Experiences become less special if you indulge in them all the time, and hence I keep this one scarce.
The smell of oil takes me home.
My mother did not deep fry food often, it was saved for special times of the year. The heady perfume of fried oil transports me to the morning of Lunar new year, the fumes so strong, they would wake me from my slumber. Like a dog following a familiar scent, I would creep downstairs to find my mother. I knew exactly where and how I would find her - hunched over her wok, spider ladle in her right hand, patiently turning the jin dui (glutinous rice sesame balls), the floor lined with old cardboard to protect it from oil splatters. Or on my birthday, when I would come home from school to a tray of golden spring rolls, lulled inside by the hedonism of fried oil.
Deep fried foods are celebration, an opportunity to celebrate life with abandon.
It is Lunar New Year’s Eve, and I have stood over a wok of oil for at least four hours. The jin dui that my family makes takes time - they are fried on low heat, pressed and then turned repeatedly, until they puff into balloons. My house, my clothes, my hair, smell of fried oil. My daughter comes home from school and says the oil is making her eyes water. She opens a window and lets the brisk winter air dilute the thick oily fumes inside. I return to my oil, now darker from the hours of frying. I call my mum on FaceTime and I show her my creations. As always, she is muted with her praise, tells me I fried my jin dui too dark, as she does every year. I open my fridge and show her my Nian Gao (mochi / glutinous rice cake) and the beautiful fresh shiitake I picked up from my food coop. I suddenly become wistful, wishing I could share this feast with her. The dishes that I am cooking today are ones I know because I am her daughter.
When we sit down to eat, I am no longer hungry, my appetite diminished by longing. But when I bite into the crispy sesame ball, I can’t help but feel grateful that I have the smell of fried oil to take me home.
HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR AND WELCOME TO THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON.
COOK / EAT / SHARE
I made my broccoli wontons with umami crisp from Tenderheart on The Today Show last week, to celebrate the Lunar New Year. It is always fun to visit their studio. If you don’t have Tenderheart, the recipe for the wontons, umami crisp, and my ginger and coconut mochi cake are now on Today Food website here (you can also watch the segment!)
A new recipe from me over at NYT Cooking. These tangy and sweet tamarind-maple brussels sprouts (gift link) are an easy dinner. Just eat with rice, maybe with some panfried tofu on the side.
Cooking from Tenderheart: This week, I’m feeling the Smoky Eggplant and Lentil Stew with Baked Feta. I’d also like to recommend the Inspired by Chana Saag, a gorgeously verdant chickpea curry. Turn the page and use the leftovers to make the leftover curry fried rice (you could do this with leftover take-out curry too!). Got nothing in the house except cabbage and kimchi? Make my cabbage and kimchi okonomiyaki. There’s also these crispy potato tacos (gift link).
THIS WEEK’S RECIPE
Sticky gochujang mushrooms
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love
This is an eat-as-you-like dish. See below for the many ways you could enjoy these gorgeous, meaty mushrooms.
Serves 4
400g / 14 ounces oyster (or other cluster varieties like beech/shimeji, mistake, enoki) mushrooms, torn apart into small clusters
toasted white esame seeds, for serving
Chopped scallions, for serving
Marinade
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon brown sugar or maple syrup
2 tablespoons gochujang
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 scallions, finely chopped
Serving suggestions
With rice, with kimchi on side, topped with scallions and sesame seeds
With rice, wrapped in lettuce, topped with scallions and sesame seeds
Stuffed into corn tortillas, with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, grated
cheese and sour cream/vegan yoghurt
In a burger bun, with your favorite fixings
Tossed through noodles, finished with more sesame oil and topped with scallions and sesame seeds
In a large bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, soy sauce or tamari, brown sugar or maple, gochujang, sesame oil, sesame seeds and scallions and whisk until combined. Add the mushrooms and toss until well coated. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes (or longer, overnight is fine too).
Preheat the oven to 220ËšC / 450ËšF. Line a baking sheet with foil. Transfer the mushrooms to the lined baking sheet and spread out into a single layer, avoiding overlapping as much as possible. Roast until the mushrooms are caramelized around the edges, 12-14 minutes.
To serve, top with sesame seeds, scallions and eat as is, or serve as one of the suggestions above.
If you’re looking for a newsletter recipe, see my Substack recipe archive here. For recipes with a 🔒 symbol, you will need a paid subscription. Everything else is free.
🥦 My cookbook, Tenderheart is for cooking vegetables, all year round. Pick up your copy here. It is also mostly vegan (or vegan-izable) and gluten-free adaptable.
Happy Lunar New Year to you Hetty. What a heartwarming post! 🥰
I just made the mushrooms. This is a keeper recipe. I want to try the marinade with tofu next too.