28 September 2015

3 Mushroom & Cashew Nut Noodles




This dish is inspired by one I ate in a Chinese restaurant in Thailand last year, it was a variety of mushrooms in the most amazing sauce with water chestnuts and cashew nuts. Everything about this dish was so memorable, the taste of the beautiful sauce, the texture of the different mushroom varieties, the amazing crunch that came from the nuts. This is one of those dishes that I've always wanted to have again, I've searched the internet for recipes similar and couldn't find one, so I've played around with some ingredients a few times and have come up with something incredibly close to that amazing dish I had last year.



When I had the mushroom dish it was served as a side so it didn't have carbs, but I felt that it would be wonderful with noodles, which would also make it a stand alone meal. Most supermarkets these days have a variety of exotic mushrooms, including enoki and oyster mushrooms that I used in this dish. They have a chewier texture and deeper flavour compared to button mushrooms, which gives this dish incredible depth of flavour. Good stock and soy sauce are also key elements to creating that beautiful balance of flavour, I'd recommend using a naturally fermented variety of soy sauce, which is not only more natural but will have a more intense taste too. 




3 Mushroom & Cashew Nut Noodles | Serves: 2 | Time: 10-15 mins

You'll need

  • Chopping board
  • Knife
  • Large frying pan
  • Saucepan
  • Fine grater
  • Small bowl


Ingredients

  • 2 spring onions
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • 1/2 inch ginger
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1.5 tsp stock powder
  • 2.5 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp sugar 
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 75g enoki mushrooms
  • 75g oyster mushrooms
  • 75g baby chestnut mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup cashew nuts
  • 100g water chestnuts, drained
  • 3 large pak choi leaves
  • 150g thin Chinese noodles


Method


  1. Add the cashew nuts to the dry frying pan on a medium heat until golden and slightly toasted, then place to one side for later.
  2.  Chop the spring onions in half, separating the green and white ends, place the green parts to one side and finely chop the white, add these to a frying pan with a splash of sesame oil on a medium-low heat. Then crush the garlic, grate the ginger and also add these to the pan, stirring so they don't burn.
  3. Wash all the mushrooms, then roughly chop the chestnut mushrooms, slice the oyster in half if needed, trim the bottom of the enoki mushrooms and add to the pan. In a small bowl mix the stock powder, soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice and water and pour over the mushrooms. Roughly chop the pak choi and add this to the pan along with the water chesnuts, mix together and fry for a few more minutes. 
  4. Boil your noodles, drain and then serve up topped with the mushroom mixture. Slice up the spring onions and place these on top of the mushrooms along with the toasted cashew nuts and enjoy! 
Cassidy xx

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