Yes, you read right…."mock eel"….like really. I've found some time to cook a bit recently and am now going to try to make it through those cookbooks I've got stacked on my coffee table. I've often done riffs on Fuchsia Dunlop's recipes. Her cookbooks hold a special place on my shelves. So when her latest cookbook Land of Fish and Rice was announced, I pre-ordered it.
Being married to someone from China and working with several others, I've noticed something quite interesting; the Missus's Shandong cum Hunan lineage struggles with the sweet flavors of Su-Cai and similar cuisines. As does our former coworker "Lily" who is from Shanxi. Meanwhile "YZ" can't deal with "Yang Rou"….and so one and so forth. Me? I love it all. So while I'm tempted to go for the Dong Po Rou, the Missus wasn't having any of that. While paging through, I found a rather simple recipe that caught my atttention it's called Vegetarian "eels" in Sweet-and-Sour Sauce in the book. I was mainly interested because the recipe didn't use tofu; which would probably have been the easy out. Instead, dried shiitake mushrooms were used.
Of course I adjusted the recipe to suit our (the Missus's) taste, upping the Chinkiang vinegar and soy sauce, adding a bit of five spice, mushroom soaking liquid, and a chili for some heat. And of course, using the Big Kahuna which cut the cooking time to mere minutes. The dish is best made in small batches. Also, do a good job of "scattering" the mushroom while deep frying, otherwise they tend to stick together.
The Missus really enjoys this; the sweet-salty-sour-savory components go together well.
Vegetarian "Eel" in Sweet and Sour Sauce:
10-12 dried Shiitake Mushrooms
About one-fourth of a good sized red bell pepper
About one-fourth of a good sized green bell pepper
Three thin slices of ginger
One medium sized red serrano pepper
Hot Water
2-3 Tb Potato Starch
1/4 tsp Five Spice Powder
2 cups peanut oil for deep frying
1 Tb Shaoxing wine
2 Tb strained mushroom soaking liquid
The Sauce:
1 Tb Shaoxing
3 Tb sugar
3 Tb Chinkiang vinegar
3 Tb light soy sauce
2 Tb strained mushroom soaking liquid
1/2 tsp Dark Soy Sauce (you may also want to try Mushroom Soy Sauce)
1/2 tsp Sesame Oil 
– Soak the mushroom in hot water for 20-30 minutes
– Slice bell peppers into thin strips. Julienne the ginger. Cut the serrano pepper in half, remove seeds than cut into strips.
– Remove mushrooms from the soaking liquid, squeeze out excess liquid, remove stems and cut into strips.
– Strain 4Tb of the mushroom liquid
– Combine sauce ingredients until sugar is dissolved
– Combine mushroom slices with potato starch and five spice until coated
– Heat oil and scatter the mushroom, you may need to do in two batches. Fry until slightly crisp and remove from the oil
– Remove all but about 3-4 tb of oil and heat until nearly smoking
– Add peppers into the hot oil and stir fry
– Add Shaoxing, mushroom liquid, and ginger and stir fry until fragrant
– Add the mushroom back into the wok, add the sauce and stir fry until coated.
– Remove from heat and add dark soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix well.
The Missus really enjoyed this one….especially on this rather chilly and wet Sunday. I'm thinking this is going to bet a regular part of our rotation during cold weather.
