Stir fried Oyster Mushrooms

              Me and my Hubby are both great fans of mushroom.. white button mushrooms are pretty commonly found nowadays in India. But when we saw fresh oyster mushrooms in the newly opened Food Hall on 1 M.G.Road mall we were super thrilled. It was first time I could catch hold of fresh oyster mushrooms in India..

           Anyways, God must have taken pity on me and we were able to get those oyster mushrooms. By the way did you know that the oyster mushroom may be considered a medicinal mushroom, since it contains statins such as lovastatin which work to reduce cholesterol. One more great reason to eat these umbrellas...

                This recipe I made is simple with few veggies and sauces, but in the end I thought of adding few spoons of roasted crushed peanut powder and it made a great difference to the dish.

Ingredients:

• 400 gms oyster mushrooms
• 1 large capsicum (sliced thinly)
• 1 small carrot (juliennes)
• 1 medium onion ( sliced thinly)
• small bunch of spring onions( about 12)
• 4 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp hot and sweet tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp chilli sauce
• 1 ½ tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• 4 tbsp roasted crushed peanut powder
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt ( to taste)

Method:

• Oyster mushrooms have acquired their name because of their texture rather than flavor which is quite superb. They are delicate so its better to tear the mushroom into pieces along its gills rather than slicing with knife.
• Cut the white of spring onions into small pieces and chop the greens in 1 inch pieces.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan or a wok, add garlic and saute till its golden.
• Add spring onion whites, onions, capsicum and carrot. Saute on high flame for about a min.
• Add oyster mushrooms and continue cooking on high flame till the vegetables are crisp tender and mushrooms are cooked.
• Mix all the sauces with water and pour over the vegetables. Taste and season with salt if required.
• Once the sauce has well coated all the vegetables, add peanut powder and stir to coat all...

To make the peanut powder, firstly roast the peanuts on the skillet till they are little browned and then make a coarse powder. You should be able to taste peanut pieces when you eat this dish.

Serve with Malay yellow rice or steamed rice....