Lo Han Jai Food

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT (JAI, CHINESE VEGETARIAN STEW)

Steps:

• Prepare the dried lily flowers, shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms: Place each ingredient in a separate medium-sized bowl and pour boiling water on top to cover by at least 1" (2.5 cm). Press the ingredients down to submerge into the water. Rehydrate for 20 minutes, until they turn soft throughout.
• After the lily flowers turn soft, remove the tough ends if needed (*Footnote 1). If the lily flowers are very long, cut them in half lengthwise. Drain and set aside. Measure out 3/4 cup of the soaking water for later use.
• For the shiitake mushrooms, gently squeeze the water from the mushrooms, then slice into halves. Measure out 1/4 cup of the soaking water and pour into the same bowl with the lily flower rehydrating water.
• For the wood ear, mushrooms, once rehydrated, cut into small bite-sized pieces.
• Place the vermicelli noodles in a medium-sized bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes (or according to the package instructions), until the noodles turn al-dente. Drain and set aside.
• Combine the sauce ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, stir to mix well and set aside.
• Mix the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet (at least 13 inches) or a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. When oil turns hot but not smoking hot, add ginger and green onion. Stir a few times until fragrant.
• Add the carrot, lily flowers, and dried shiitake mushrooms. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
• Add bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
• Add fried tofu and pour in the sauce. Add the napa cabbage and bok choy. Cover and cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through. Uncover and stir in between, to mix the vegetables with the sauce.
• Add bean thread noodles and let them soak in the liquid. Stir and cook for another 30 seconds. Stir the cornstarch slurry again to dissolve completely and pour into the pan. Stir until the sauce thickens. Transfer everything to a large platter. Serve hot as a main dish.

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT (LO HAN JAI 罗汉斋)

Steps:

• Tie a knot for each dried lily flowers, for better presentation.
• Soak the dry ingredients until they turn soft and fully hydrated.
• Cut the bean curd sheet into smaller pieces. Deep-fried briefly (about 15-20 seconds), remove and drain.
• Cut the carrots and bamboo shoots into thin slices.
• Cut the soaked wood ear fungus into the size similar to the carrots.
• Remove the stem of the Shiitake mushrooms. Cut into two for the smaller one, and slice into three or four for the bigger one.
• Keep the water after soaking the mushrooms. Use it as part of the Braised liquid since it is full of flavor.
• Cut the cabbage into large pieces.
• Ladle two tablespoons of vegetable oil into the wok. Stir fry the cabbage until it starts to turn soft.
• Add the Shiitake mushroom, lily flowers, wood ear fungus, black moss, carrots, the fermented bean curd, sugar, the mushroom water, and some additional water. Braise for two minutes.
• Break the deep-fried bean curd into smaller pieces. Lay on top of the other ingredients.
• Add the mung bean vermicelli on top of the bean curd pieces. Braise with the lid on for five minutes or until the bean curd pieces are soft. Add some water if necessary.
• Add the bamboo shoots, button mushrooms, and baby sweet corns.
• Braise until the vegetables are soft, and the sauce thickens. Serve.

BUDDHA'S DELIGHT (VEGETARIAN LO HAN JAI)

Steps:

• Heat your wok over medium-high heat, and add the oil and ginger. Let the ginger caramelize for about 30 seconds without letting it burn. Add the red fermented bean curd and break it up with your spatula. Add the garlic, the white portions of the leeks (reserve to green portion for later), mushrooms, wood ears, and lily flowers. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add the Shaoxing wine and stir fry for another minute.
• Next, add the napa cabbage, fried tofu, and bean threads, and crank up the heat as high as it will go. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the remaining green portion of the leeks, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and water or vegetable stock. Stir everything together, cover the wok, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Uncover the wok and turn the heat back up to high. Add the mung bean noodles, which should soak up most of the liquid. Keep stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer to a large bowl and serve with steamed rice!

LO HAN JAI - BUDDHIST VEGETARIAN STEW

Steps:

• Soak the mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes; squeeze out the excess water; then remove stems and leave the mushrooms whole. Reserve the soaking water.
• Soak the cloud ears in warm water until soft (about 10 minutes), then cut into smaller pieces.
• Boil the bean thread in water to cover for 5 minutes, then drain.
• To prep the snow peas, remove the strings, then cut into thin slivers.
• Mix the water and cornstarch to form a slurry for thickening. The cornstarch will continue to settle out, so you'll need to stir this again just before you use it.
• Heat wok until smoky. Add vegetable oil. Stir-fry mushrooms, cloud ears, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, carrot, cabbage and cook for 3-4 minutes over high heat.
• Add bean thread and broth. Cover and cook for 5 minutes over low heat.
• Add tofu, bean sprouts, snow peas and soy sauce. Cover and simmer for two minutes.
• Stir the water and cornstarch mixture, then add to the pan to form a light gravy, adjusting if necessary.
• Drizzle with sesame oil.
• Note: Traditional Lo Han Jai ingredients include: ginkgo nuts, lotus root, dried oysters, lily stems, seaweed hair, fried tofu, and dried bean curd sticks. If you live near an oriental market, you may be able to get these; if not, this simplified recipe will give you a sense of the dish.

LO HAN JAI

Steps:

• In a hot wok with water, Chinese brown slab sugar and dark sauce and bring to a boil. Add in black tree-ear fungus, black mushroom, white fugues and fried tofu cubes and return back to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add in cabbage, carrot, straw mushroom, okra and lotus root and simmer for 3 minutes longer and thicken with some roux and adjust to taste with sesame oil and salt pour the mixture into a large serving bowl.