Chinese Wood Ear Mushroom Salad / Cold Dressed Wood Ear

It's hard to translate Chinese dishes to English sometimes. So I was Googling the often used English name for this common Chinese cold dish, and "Chinese wood ear mushroom salad" was the one that popped out all the time.

Perhaps to westerners calling such dish salad makes sense? I was actually kind of in shock, because a "salad" to me should be something with more ingredients. At least not the simple looking wood ear dish I have here. Then I searched further, Din Tai Fung uses "cold dressed wood ear mushrooms," which sounds much more reasonable in my head. Unfortunately if I Google it using Din Tai Fung's version, basically nothing came up.

I guess for easy-searching purpose, I'll still have to put the title Chinese wood ear mushroom salad up there for now.

Chinese wood ear mushroom salad / cold dressed wood ear - 

Ingredients?

• 2 handful fresh wood ear
• 1 tablespoon goji berries
• 1 red chili
• Some cilantro
• Some young ginger
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce paste
• 1 tablespoon black vinegar
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

How?

Use small fresh wood ear if you can find it, it's called 雲耳 in Chinese. I used the dried version from China's Heilongjiang province instead. Just soak them in lukewarm water and the wood ear will puff up soon after.

Remember to rinse the wood ear a few times before the actual cooking process.

Fill a small pot with some water and add two slices of young ginger. Bring to a boil then add in wood ear. Bring to a boil again and cook for one minute. Drain and soak the wood ear in icy cold water. 

Once temperature completely drops, drain well and shake-off any remaining water. Also pick-out the ginger slices. Set the wood ear aside or store in the fridge while prepping the sauce.

To make the sauce, mix together 1 tablespoon of soy sauce paste, 1 tablespoon of black vinegar, 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil, a pinch of scraped and julienned young ginger, and 1 tablespoon of goji berries.

Stir the sauce till evenly blended and almost all the sugar has been dissolved. Add in cold wood ear and mix till evenly blended again. Plate and garnish with some cilantro leaves.

The cilantro leaves here not just for decoration, we actually do that pop of aroma to brighten up this wood ear dish.

You can always adjust the seasonings according to your preference. Some like it sour and some prefer a sweeter taste. Some even add lemon juice for a light fruity acidity touch. 

Other recipes using wood ear:

• Vietnamese steamed egg meatloaf
• Pork strips wood ear and cilantro stir-fry

Cooking for One - Oyster and Shiso Peperoncino

Just realized that my cooking portion can be quite extreme. It's either big servings, like enough for five to six full meals at once, or just a tiny amount to sustain a light lunch for one.

That means most of the time I'll use up the entire pack of pasta at once, usually 500 grams. But this time around, since I only have 6 oysters in the fridge, it's either one serving takes all, or 5 to 6 servings and each get only one oyster. The later sounds a bit sad, so it's been decided. Let's have a well-fed recipe for single person only, all 6 oysters for the winner.

Oyster and shiso peperoncino - 

Ingredients (one serving)?

• 6 oysters
• 2 shiso leaves
• 100 grams pasta (I used linguine) 
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 dried red chili
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Some salt
• Some oyster cooking water

How?

Peel and slice the garlic clove. Slice the chili into rings if possible. Mine actually broke into tiny pieces instead. Roll up the shiso leaves and slice to thin strips.

Add some water to a medium large pot and bring to almost boiling temperature. Add in the oysters and cook till about 80% cooked through. Save some of that oyster-cooking water then scoop out the oysters. Don't discard the water, we'll continue to use that to cook the pasta.

So add more water so we'll have enough liquid to cook the pasta. Season with few pinches of salt. Bring to a boil then cook the pasta. We're fully utilizing the oyster-cooking water here and hopefully the pasta will be a bit more flavorful in the end.

Cook the pasta till almost al dente. Once ready, drain and set aside. Or if timing is right, drain and transfer to the pan with oil and aromatics.

About that pan, while cooking the pasta, bring out a pan and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Use medium heat and add in the garlic and red chili. Sear till aromatic but not burn the garlic.

Pour in some oyster cooking water we saved earlier. I used about 1/3 cup. Swirl the pan to draw some air in. Let the oil and water boil a little till the they start to fuse together. The liquid will thicken a bit too, more so slightly creamy looking, that means emulsification has been achieved. 

Add in the pasta, and if you timed it right, the pasta will just about ready and you can drain and transfer that right to the pan. Continue to swirl the mixture and cook for about one more minute.

Transfer almost all the shiso to the pan. Mix till evenly blended then adjust with some salt. I used close to 1/2 teaspoon of salt here.

Lastly, add the oysters and give it a few tosses. 

Plate and garnish with the remaining shiso.

Some people prefer to remove the red chili seeds before cooking, but it doesn't really bother me as much. I simply shook off some seeds but careless about the seeds that prefer to stay.

By the way, since I've been cooking either the entire pack of pasta at once or just one single serving from time to time, I have to admit that cooking smaller portion is much easier to achieve that perfect emulsified consistency. 

That's why I tend to cook smaller amount when it comes to finer ingredients. As for hearty type of pasta recipes, like pasta bake or more Americanized pasta, I'll just use the whole pack. Different methods for different results. Both delicious per my opinion. 

Other pasta recipes:

• Paccheri with tuna in red bell pepper sauce (portion for two)
• Zucchini and squash pasta with parsley and mint sauce
• Creamy mussels and seaweed pasta