Chinese•healthy

Buddha's Delight Luohan Zhai 羅漢齋

This delectable dish is the Buddha's Delight or Luohan Zhai, 羅漢齋, famously delicious vegetarian fare that traditionally was eaten by Buddhist monks.

Ingredients

Quantities are shown as originally provided.

1
Soak tiger lily buds in boiling water for 20 minutes or til soft. Cut off any hard ends.
2
Soak mushrooms in boiling water for 30 minutes or til soft. Squeeze and remove from water and reserve mushroom soaking liquid. Cut of stems and chop in half or quarters, depending on size of the 'shrooms.
3
Soak black fungus in cold water til soft, around 20 minutes. Squeeze water out, cut away the tough bits at the heart of the fungus. Cut into sizes similar to mushroom cut sizes.
4
Cut the gluten puffs or tofu puffs in half or quarters.
5
Cut root ends off the soy bean sprouts and rinse well.
6
Slice the carrot into thin slices.
7
Blanch the snow peas and set aside.
8
Mix starch with 1 tbsp water and set aside.
9
Heat wok to hot and then add oil.
10
Add carrots and stir fry for a minute, then add bean sprouts and stir fry another minute.
11
Add the gluten puffs, braised gluten, tiger lily buds, black fungus, mushrooms, salt, sugar, stock, 2 tbsp of reserved mushroom liquid and soy sauce and mix well. Use a spatula to push down the gluten puffs into the stock.
12
Cover, lower heat to a simmer and let cook for 4 minutes.
13
Check that gluten puffs are soft. Add the snow peas. Stir up the starch/water mixture and dribble in, stirring constantly until sauce thickened.
14
Turn heat off, add sesame oil and stir.