MONGOLIAN MUSHROOMS
After some trial and error, this recipe has to be one of my favorites from this recipe collection. My Aunt requested this recipe. She was looking for an alternative to Mongolian Beef, and I was up for the challenge. Initially, I thought seitan or tempeh would be more like “beef.” Ultimately, I went back to my favorite alternative – fried mushrooms!
The trick to this recipe is to use the beef broth base in the Mongolian sauce instead of marinating the mushrooms in the beef broth before frying. While marinating mushrooms for few hours before roasting or searing in a skillet provides a big flavor payoff in the end, marinating before frying does not have the same effect. Mushrooms already have moisture in them that will be released when frying. Adding more moisture by marinating for a long period of time will cause the dredge to separate from the mushroom when frying. So, instead of marinating for flavor, we add the flavor into the sauce.
Let’s get into the Recipe!
Let’s start by preparing the mushrooms. Remember, we don’t want to add moisture. Instead of rinsing the mushroom, take a dry paper towel or a clean, dry dishcloth to wipe off each mushroom. This is to remove any dirt on the mushrooms. Set clean mushroom aside while working on the dredges and sauce.
In a medium bowl, mix vegan chicken broth base, cornstarch, salt, pepper, water, turmeric, and ground ginger. This will be your wet dredge. Set aside. Take another medium bowl, mix flour, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, seasoning salt, ginger powder, cayenne powder, allspice, and black pepper. This will be your dry dredge. Set aside. In the last medium mixing bowl, mix vegetable or avocado oil, minced ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, gochujang sauce, and beef broth. This is your sauce. Set aside.
Next, toss the mushrooms in the wet dredge then the dry dredge. Repeat this process. Place coated mushroom pieces on a wire rack to rest for 5 minutes while the frying oil heats up. Allowing the coated mushroom pieces to rest before frying will reduce flour fallout in your oil and produce a crispier mushroom.
Heat vegetable oil in a fryer or frying pot. Once the oil is ready, add coated mushrooms to the fryer or pot. Fry pieces for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown. When I am tossing something into a sauce, I lean more towards the crispier side. Finally, toss fried mushroom pieces in the Mongolian sauce. Serve with rice or noodles.
Have some leftover mushrooms? Use them with another sauce. Check out our Instagram, @PlantBasedSlay, to see how we used our leftover mushrooms.
Just A Suggestion…
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Mongolian Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 10 oyster mushrooms
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 4 Tsp vegan chicken broth base
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- Dash salt
- Dash pepper
- ½ C. water
- 1/8 Tsp turmeric
- ¼ Tsp ground ginger
- 3 C. flour
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 Tsp seasoning salt
- ½ Tsp ground ginger powder
- ½ Tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 1 Tsp allspice
- 1 Tsp ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp vegetable or avocado oil
- ½ Tsp ginger – minced
- 2 Tsp garlic – minced
- ¼ C. soy sauce
- ¼ C. water
- ½ C. brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp gochujang sauce
- 1 Tsp beef broth base
Instructions
- Wipe dirt off mushrooms with a dry paper towel or dishcloth.
- In a medium bowl, mix ingredients for the wet dredge. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix ingredients of the dry dredge. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix Mongolian mushroom sauce ingredients. Set aside.
- Add mushrooms to the wet dredge. Stir to coat. Toss in dry dredge mixture. Repeat another time and place coated pieces on a wire rack. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- In a large stockpot, heat vegetable oil for frying. Oil should cover 1/3 of the pot. Once the oil is ready, carefully add mushroom pieces into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown on all sides.
- Toss mushroom pieces in Mongolian mushroom sauce.
- Serve with favorite rice or noodles.
