I love dabbling in unfamiliar culinary territory, so when I saw this recipe over at Smell & Taste are my memory, I just had to try it. The recipe uses two ingredients I hadn’t used before, taucheo (fermented soy beans) and black fungus.
Fermented soy beans are a pungently aromatic ingredient that is generally used in moderation. It adds a salty, savoury, umami type flavour – leaving a lingering olive-ish tang on the palate (excuse my westernised comparison). It can be purchased as a paste or as whole beans; EG’s Mum advised I buy the whole bean product as one can always mush them up should the recipe require it. The ingredient is common in Chinese and South East Asian cuisine, generally used when cooking/braising fish. It is also used as the starting base of some soy sauces.
Black fungus, commonly referred to as cloud ear or jelly mushroom, comes in a dried form that must be reconstituted. It doesn’t provide much in the way of taste, taking on the flavour of whatever it is cooked with. But it adds rubbery bite and visual appeal to the dish. In Chinese Herbal Medicine it is attributed with improving circulation and fluidity of the blood.
When the fungus is reconstituted, you can clearly see why it is given it’s billowy name of cloud ear. Each “ear” is about the size of a twenty cent piece when dried, and will reconstitute to about the size of your palm. Just pop the “ears’ in cold water for about half an hour. When reconstituted, delicately wash between the frills to remove any sandy sediment.
So let’s get onto the recipe! I did adapt it to add a carrot (I have a glut of them in the fridge), but otherwise I remained faithful to Lao Cha’s recipe. This really is a magnificently satisfying dish, hitting all the right buttons on the tastebuds. I served it with some stir-fried greens and steamed rice.
Ginger & Black Fungus Chicken
Adapted from “Thai Cooking Made Easy” and Smell & Taste are my memory
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 inches ginger (peeled and cut into thin strips)
1 small red onion (quartered)
1 medium carrot (sliced)
4 pieces dried black fungus (pre-softened in warm water for 30 minutes, then cut into strips)
1 teaspoon fermented soy beans (taucheo)
1 skinless & boneless chicken breast (cut into strips)
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons water
Method:
Heat up the cooking oil in a wok and stir fry the ginger strips until aromatic. Add in the onions, carrots and black fungus and do a few quick stirs. Add the fermented soy bean before adding the chicken strips into the wok. Stir-fry the chicken meat until the color changes, then add in oyster sauce, kecap manis, and sugar. Stir all ingredients together before adding in the water. Do a few quick stirs, dish out and serve hot.
Well done, Mellie !!! Love the touch of the carrot, yours look much better than mine***clap clap***
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Thanks Lao Cha! It was a lovely recipe, and I’m so glad you posted it. I’m going to have to find some recipes that use the taucheo now – I’ve got a really big jar of it left!!
Looks great! Would you believe we’ve seen fresh black cloud ear fungus packaged at Safeway…the Sydney Rd Coburg outlet. Btw your Bento lunches are pretty impressive too. You really must be morning people, to get all that done before leaving for work! I’m normally struggling just to wolve down a piece of toast!
Hi,
You may want to check out this foodblog http://www.thefoodpornographer.com/ This blogger is also very into bento lunches and you may get some ideas there altho’ the food may not be Japanese..
Ah, it looks so tasty, but the sight of that fungus turned me right off, I’m afraid!!
Hey Towser – hmm, I wonder what the cloud ear tastes like fresh? If it has any flavour? Hmm…I’ll have to seek itout! And I think I am most definitely a morning person, so I’m the one who tackles the bento in the morning (EG just reaps the rewards of my current fascination by eating the results;-)). I’d like to be able to cut down the preparation time a bit. I guess as I get more practiced that will happen naturally.
Hey Lee Lin – thanks for the link! I’m definitely into putting other cuisines in the bento. It’s a great way to increase variety and stave off boredom.
Hiya Anna – don’t knock it till you try it! The fungus actually doesn’t have a mushroomy texture to it (ie. like you dislike). It’s more like nibbling on a jelly sweet or one of those fruit strips. And it tastes like whatever you cook it in. I think you would be surprised!
Hmm… well, I MIGHT be tempted to try it one day. I mean, salmon, sushi, octopus balls and all the rest haven’t killed me – yet!!
XD
Nice recipe
my mum and my girlfriend both cooked something similar before and I love it! Though more time-consuming and less convenient, we use bone-in chicken pieces and braise the chicken instead of stir-fry, and eat it with thinly sliced spring onion. It’s unbelievably yummy!
Thanks Yongtze – I will have to try a slow braise. I’m thinking some boned chicken, the ginger and the fermented beans would go well over a long cook. Would you throw the cloud ears in at the end of the cooking? Or let them simmer along with the rest?
No worries mellie. We simmer the black fungus along with the rest for it to soak up all the flavours, the black fungus really gives a nice contrasty texture.
Thanks for the tip YongTze…I’ll give it a go next time
NB. Towser – I actually saw fresh black fungus in the CBD Safeway only last night! It was almost $5 for a small tub. I must try it next time..