braised sea cucumber mushroom recipe

Sea cucumber is rich in proteins and minerals. Eating sea cucumber helps in strengthening the kidneys, relieving dehydration and nourishing blood. Sea cucumber is also often consumed post-surgery to aid wound healing.

♥♥♥

Mushrooms take up a lot of fat as they cook so it is best to use butter / extra virgin oil / pure sesame oil for sauteing / frying.



To get dry and non-soggy cooked  mushrooms using a frying pan, use a moderately high heat so that as mushrooms shrink their water evaporates and they don't stew in their own juice.



Shitake mushrooms are among a variety of tree mushrooms. While button mushrooms can be quickly fried, we need to cook shitake mushrooms thoroughly.



♥♥♥

I enthusiastically try a recipe of braise mushroom sea cucumber modified from Zhen's one.  She advices not to overcook the sea cucumbers as they will dissolve into gel-like texture.



Servings: 2
Preparation time: 2 + 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
♥ 10 dried shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
♥ 1 sea cucumber, washed, and cut into bite chunks
♥ 5 cloves garlic, pressed
♥ 2 tbsp sesame oil
♥ 1 tsp sugar
♥ 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
♥ cilantro, to taste

Directions:
1. Soak frozen sea cucumber and dried mushrooms.
2. Wash, squeeze, slice mushrooms. Massage mushrooms with sesame oil, sugar, and garlic.
3. Heat non-stick frying pan and sautee mushrooms over high heat until fragrant.
4. Add and spread sea cucumber on the pan, add water to cover sea cucumber.
5. After water is boiling, turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until sea cucumber turn chewy. Stir occasionally.
6. Garnish with cilantro.



Tips:
♥  If you use fresh mushrooms, use as soon as possible after purchase.
♥ To ensure thorough cleansing of mushroom, invert and run water down their umbrellas.
♥ Initially, I wanted to buy oyster sauce. Reading the ingredients of oyster sauce sold raised a concern that many of them contains (MSG).
♥ Peiling Goh, in her book Falling in love with confinement, suggests that we can substitute oyster sauce with black bean paste.



Other recipes that I love:
♥ stewed pork ribs with sea cucumber @ Cook with Kathy
♥ braised sea cucumber with fish maw casserole @ The Jane Channel
♥ braised mushroom with sea cucumber using slow cooker @ The Cuisine Paradise by Ellena Guan
♥ braised pork knuckles with sea cucumber @ Nasi Lemak Lover by Sonia
♥ stewed sea cucumber and pork ribs  @ More than a Mile by Hsia Lei

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes.

With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140321*

* Happy birthday Yanfeng!