Enoki Mushrooms in Tofu Skin
金针菇豆皮卷
Enoki mushrooms are known colloquially in China as see-you-tomorrow mushrooms; I’ll leave that one to your imagination. In the West, there are sometimes known as needle mushrooms and can be either orange (golden) or white. The white versions are usually cultivated and not exposed to light. I find they have a slightly milder flavour, but both have a chewy texture. Either one can be used for this recipe, whatever you can find. You’ll probably have to take a detour to your local Asian supermarket to find enoki; they are common in Chinese, Korean and Japanese cuisine, but not so much in Western cooking.
This is one of those dishes you can serve to vegetarian-skeptics, and immediately convert them. The tofu wrap becomes crispy and sticky (from the sauce) whereas the mushrooms hold their texture, and the whole roll has a satisfying bite to it, perfect for meat-loving jaws. This is, as with most Chinese food, a ‘side dish’ - so always served up with a number of other dishes. If you’re keeping your meal vegetarian, I recommend a green vegetable dish, perhaps an egg dish, and a stable food, either bread or noodles.
Serves 2 (about 12 rolls)
Ingredients
2 sheets (200g) - Tofu skin
150g - enoki mushrooms
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 tablespoon - ginger - minced
1 tablespoon - dark Chinese vinegar
1 tablespoon - light soy sauce
1 tablespoon - oyster sauce
2-3 tablespoon - water
1 tablespoon - sugar
1 teaspoon - dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon - cornstarch
1 birds eye chilli - deseeded and finely chopped
Special Equipment: toothpicks
Method
Cut the roots off from the base of the mushrooms and discard. Wash the mushrooms and then pull them apart. They are usually clumped together, but you want to separate them into small bunches that you can easily hold between your thumb and forefinger (probably about 5 - 10 strands of enoki per bunch). Set the mushrooms aside to dry.
Lay the tofu sheets out and cut them into strips. You want the strips to be a bit shorter than the length of your mushrooms. The top and a bit of the bottom of the mushrooms should be sticking out.
Lay a strip of the tofu skin on a work surface. Sometimes tofu skin only has one textured side and one smooth side, if so, lay the textured side surface face down - you want this on the outside.
Lay a bunch of mushrooms at one end and then start rolling. You want to wrap the tofu skin around about 4 or 5 times. If the tofu strip is too long, cut any excess off. Then with a toothpick, skewer the tofu and mushroom straight through to ensure the skin stays tightly wrapped around the mushrooms. Repeat with all the mushrooms, and then set aside.
Make the sauce. Mix the vinegar, soy sauces, sugar, oyster sauce, starch and water together, then set aside. Have your chopped garlic and ginger ready, but do not add to the sauce.
Heat a large frying pan on a medium heat with a good drizzle of oil. When hot, add the tofu-mushroom rolls and pan fry until both sides are crispy (you can’t fry them on the edges with the toothpicks sticking out). Note: You’ll need a large frying pan because the toothpicks get in the way. You may have to fry in batches.
Once the rolls are cooked, add a drop more oil, throw in the garlic and ginger. Fry until fragrant (about 1 minute max) and then pour in the sauce. Simmer the sauce on a low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add a drop more water if it reduces too quickly. You want to give it time to soak into the mushrooms and the tofu.
Place the rolls onto a serving plate, and then garnish with finely chopped chilli. I usually remove the toothpicks at this point, the rolls will stay together now.
