From My Kitchen

You are going to have to trust me when I say that This Is Amazing. The Teen refuses to eat it because she simply will not entertain the idea of eating mushrooms, but The Husband and I have been eating these satay mushrooms as often as possible because they are unbelievably tasty and feel actually meaty when you’re eating them. This is the kind of vegan food that I can really get on board with. The recipe comes from Meera Sodha’s brilliant book East, but with double the amount of sauce to mushroom ratio, and while she serves the mushrooms in bao buns, I like it this way too. I mean, I’m never going to turn down a bao bun (Meera’s recipe is excellent), but rice and greenery is way easier on a week night and keeps this recipe speedy! Serves 3 just about, but better just for 2.

Ingredients

300g shiitake/fancy schmancy mushrooms

Sauce

6 tbsp light soy sauce

4 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter

8 tsp rice wine vinegar

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 tsp toasted sesame oil

Plus

2 tbsp rapeseed/veg oil

Small handful chopped salted peanuts

Greenery such as pak choi or choi sum

Method

1. Cut the ends of the stalks off the mushrooms, discard them, then slice up all of the mushrooms and set to one side.
2. In a bowl mix together the sauce ingredients well. Don’t worry if your peanut butter refuses to blend in with everything else (mine simply refuses), just do the best you can.
3. Slice up your greenery so it’s ready to go, then grab 2 frying pans.
4. Pour the veg oil of whatever kind you’re using into a hot pan and add the mushrooms. Cook them for 5 minutes or so until they’re browning, flipping them only occasionally, then add in the sauce and cook for a further few minutes, giving it a stir every now and then so it doesn’t stick.
5. While the sauce is doing it’s thing, heat the other pan and a slurp of whatever oil takes your fancy (I like a bit of sesame oil here), then fry your greenery of choice, adding a splash of water so that the stalks steam and soften a bit.
6. Serve the mushrooms and greenery with rice, scatter over some chopped salted peanuts, and dive in.