Choy Sum with Tofu Puffs & Mushrooms

After the gluttony of Christmas and New Year… I really fancied some leafy greens so I got some choy sum from the supermarket, and made a stir fried with rehydrated shiitake, rehydrated cloud-ear and some tofu puffs.  The new ingredient? Tofu Puffs.  So… a lot of people I’ve spoken to about tofu have said they don’t like it.  Well in my opinion… tofu is yummy, and tofu puffs is amongst the yummiest of the its incarnations.

Soft and spongy, with a texture which soaks up whatever flavour you cook it with, it is a very versatile form of tofu.  My mother stuffs it with fish paste and deep fry it and that IS my all time favourite way to eat it…. but sliced or halved, it is good in stir fries and soups too.  Look for it in the refrigerated section of your local chinese supermarket.  You won’t find this in sainsbury’s or asda or even whole foods/planet organic.  Only the chinese supermarkets will have this.

Ingredients for this stir fry:

• 1/2 packet tofu puffs (about 100g) halved or sliced
• About dehydrated shiitake mushrooms – rehydrate and quarter (if large)
• Half a handful of cloud ear mushrooms – rehydrated and rinse sand out
• 1 large onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 500g choy sum – rinsed and sliced into ~2 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce – replace with soy sauce oyster mushroom sauce to keep vegan

Method:

1. Heat 1-2tbsp oil
2. Fry onions & garlic until fragrantt
3. Throw in tofu, mushrooms & cloud ear.
4. Stir in oyster sauce
5. Leave 1-2 minutes
6. Throw choy sum in, add about 3tbsp water, turn heat to highest, cover & steam for 5 minutes or until soft
7. Stir everything in together, add some dashes of white pepper.  Taste – adjust seasoning as needed,  Add 1tbsp of chinese rice wine if feel like it.  Serve with steamed rice.

 

NOTE: The choy sum was £3.19 / kg at Loon Fung.  Weight for weight – that makes it more expensive than carrots, broccoli & courgettes.. but cheaper than say…… dwarf beans (£4.50/kg), cavalo nero (£7.00/kg) or even spinach (£5.38/kg).  Shopping at a chinese supermarket can be very expensive – as they sell vegetables such as Dou Miu or Kai Lan, or Kai Choy which can be over £10.00/kg, but they also sell other things as decent prices.  Mooli, aubergine, celery, and cabbage is often cheaper from loon fung than from sainsbury’s.  If you watch what you put in your basket and stay away from the more expensive stuff… you can pick up stuff from there which you can’t get from the large supermarkets, but not hurt your wallet.  It isn’t ‘budget’…… but it isn’t extravagant either.