Fragrant, meaty mushrooms cooked with one of the tastiest stir-fry sauces, King Oyster Mushroom with Garlic Sauce is an exciting vegetarian dish packed with rich flavours.
A few months ago, I found a “new product” in the vegetable section of my local supermarket (in England): King Oyster Mushrooms. I was overjoyed by this discovery. Fragrant & meaty, they are adored and made into many delicious dishes by Chinese chefs and home cooks. Today’s recipe shows you how to serve them with the famous Sichuan garlic sauce.
What is king oyster mushroom
As its name suggests, king oyster mushroom (杏鲍菇) belongs to the oyster mushroom family and it’s the largest kind of this genus. Unlike common oyster mushrooms which have big caps and small stems, king oyster mushroom has a fairly small, round cap, but a large, chunky stem which is the main part to enjoy in dishes.
What makes King oyster mushroom special is its rich umami flavour and its firm, springy texture which resembles that of abalone (marine snails). That explains why you find the character “鲍”, meaning abalone, in the Chinese name of king oyster mushroom.
There are many ways to enjoy this delicacy. I love it in hot pot, simply grilled with salt & spices or in a good stir-fry, like today’s recipe, with Sichuan garlic sauce.
What is garlic sauce
Garlic sauce refers to a type of stir fry seasoning which originated in Sichuan and which creates a complex flavour known as “Yu Xiang/鱼香”, literally meaning “Fish Fragrant”. In fact, you don’t find any fish element in the making of garlic sauce. There are two popular theories explaining the reason behind the name:
- It is believed that the seasoning used in Yu Xiang dishes was inspired by the way fish was traditionally prepared in Sichuan.
- The pickled chillies used in Yu Xiang sauce were traditionally fermented with a whole fish in the jar. Have a look at the image of this unique type of pickle that I saw on my Culinary Tour of China last year.
Here is the list of ingredients for the garlic sauce which creates a tangy, spicy, sweet & sour taste.
- Garlic. Use a generous amount and mince it well.
- Chillies. You may use fresh chillies. However, If time permits I highly recommend you make some Pickled Chili Garlic Sauce which offers a more complex flavour.
- Black rice vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Shaoxing rice wine. You may replace it with Baijiu (Chinese white liquor) or dry sherry.
- Sugar
- Cornstarch. It’s for thickening the sauce to nicely coat the mushrooms.
Sichuan garlic sauce goes well with both meat and vegetable ingredients. You can find other delicious dishes using the same set of ingredients on my blog, such as Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce (鱼香肉丝), Eggplant with Garlic Sauce (鱼香茄子)， Pan-fried Tofu with Garlic Sauce (鱼香豆腐).
The stir-fry procedures
Like many other Chinese stir-fry dishes, it’s super simple to cook this King oyster mushroom with garlic sauce. Since it takes only 2-3 minutes from start to finish, you need to have all the ingredients ready at hand, meaning all the vegetables chopped and the sauce well mixed. Here are the simple steps:
1. Heat up the oil. Firstly fry garlic until fragrant.
2. Stir in king oyster mushrooms. During this step, you are aiming to extract some of the moisture from the mushrooms.
3. When the mushrooms brown on the edge, add wood ear mushroom & fresh chilli. Stir fry for a minute or so.
4. Pour in the sauce. Make sure you stir it very well beforehand as the starch tends to sink to the bottom.
5. Stir in the scallions. Then turn off the heat as soon as the sauce thickens.
It’s very common to serve this dish with plain rice, along with other savoury dishes (vegetarian or not). Sometimes I serve it as a topping for noodles. It works very well too.
More Vegetarian Dishes
On the hunt for more Chinese vegetarian dishes? Check out these recipes:
King oyster mushroom with garlic sauce (鱼香杏鲍菇)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil
- 6 king oyster mushrooms - about 400g/14oz
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 50 g pre-soaked wood ear mushroom - about ⅓ cup
- 3 fresh chillies, thinly sliced - or pickled chili garlic sauce (see note)
- 1 stalk scallions, finely chopped
For the sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
- 1 tablespoon black rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon sugar
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Cut the king oyster mushrooms into chunky discs (like scallops). Have garlic, chillies, wood ear mushroom & scallion prepared.
- Mix all the ingredients for the sauce. Set aside.
- Heat up the oil. Fry garlic until fragrant.
- Stir in king oyster mushrooms. Fry until brown on the edge.
- Add wood ear mushroom, fresh chilli. Stir fry.
- Pour in the sauce (stir well beforehand) and scallions. Turn off the heat as soon as the sauce thickens.
- Serve warm with plain rice and other savoury dishes, or as a topping for noodle dishes.
NOTES
NUTRITION
NUTRITION DISCLOSURE: Nutritional information on this website is provided as a courtesy to readers. It should be considered estimates. Please use your own brand nutritional values or your preferred nutrition calculator to double check against our estimates.
A very good recipe indeed. Very appetizing with the souring, salty and sweet taste. Thank you for sharing.
My pleasure to share Annie! Happy to know you liked the taste.
Made this and was honestly surprised by the taste! It was delightful and absolutely delicious. Would make more of the sauce next time.
Yes, you can increase the seasoning quantity if you like it saucier.
Great flavor and texture. The only thing that stood out was it made very little sauce for the amount of mushrooms. That said, I will definitely add this to my favorites. Thank you!!
Thank you for trying out my recipe Troy! Like many Chinese homestyle stir-fries, this recipe intends to produce enough sauce to coat all the mushroom pieces (not overly saucy though). Please feel free to adjust to suit your own taste.
I had problems making this the first time, for one person. Mostly my own fault.
Not deterred, I tried again. This time, to keep it simple, I just used Chestnut mushrooms – 250 g. (easier to get) and quartered them. I then made up the sauce portion for 2.
Oh My God! it was divine. And so simple.
My wife doesn’t like mushrooms, so next time I make it I’ll use the sauce with stir-fried beef. The sauce is so versatile.
I’m sitting here with a big smile on my face. Thanks Wei, you’re my go-to source for Chinese.
That’s wonderful to hear Fintan! Yes, this type of sauce is very versatile indeed. Once you know the principle, you can improvise using many other ingredients.
Loved it! I can still hear myself saying “always so difficult to cook great vegetarian” Well, I have to eat humble pie…..actually I will eat another serving of this dish instead. Great dish – texture, flavour and even ease. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Yes, vegetarian dishes can be delicious and simple to make too. Glad you enjoyed my recipe.
Sorry to sound a bit dense, but a quick question: when the recipe reads “50 g pre-soaked wood ear mushroom, about ⅓ cup”, do you mean 1/3 cup dry wood ear mushrooms, then you soak them?
Thanks!
Hi Karen! It’s 50g of rehydrated wood ear. It would be about 3-4g of dried ones.
Thanks for the clarification Wei!
I made this dish and it is wonderful. The mushrooms have such a nice chew to them. I did use golden syrup instead of granulated sugar and I think that made a subtle difference in the sweet that was good for the umami.
Very happy to hear you loved this dish. I adore the texture of king oyster mushrooms too!
What other mushroom would you recommend to substitute for king oyster?
Yes, you can use other types of mushroom too. For example: Fresh shiitake mushroom, oyster mushroom, enoki Mushroom, etc. The common button mushroom would work for this recipe too.
This was amazingly delicious! I used 3 birds-eye chillis deseeded and a half a teaspoon of szechuan pepper just to give the zing. That was the perfect level of chilli for me.
Nothing will go wrong with more heat. Like your twist!
Easy to cook, yet very yummy! I think I will cook it twice a month 🙂
That’s great to hear!