Braised shiitake in oyster sauce

Ingredientsserves 6

Equipment

• One small heavy pot with a lid. That is all: the work in this dish is the soak.

How the time splits

1. 8 hrThe mushrooms soak until soft to the centrehands off
2. 15 minTrim, rinse, fry the gingerhands on
3. 30 minLid on, low heathands off
4. 15 minHeat off, left to sit in the pothands off

Method

1. Rinse the mushrooms and soak them in cold water for four hours or overnight, until they are soft right through to the centre. Keep the soaking water — it is the stock for the whole dish. Cut off the stems, rub the caps with a little cornflour and rinse again to lift the grit out of the gills.
2. Fry the ginger in the oil, then lay the mushrooms in cap down and fry them for a minute.
3. Splash in the wine, then the strained soaking water, the rock sugar, the oyster sauce and the soy.
4. Cover and braise on low heat for twenty to thirty minutes, until the liquid has reduced to a spoonful or two of thick sauce. If it is still thin, take the lid off for the last five minutes.
5. Turn the heat off and leave them in the covered pot another fifteen minutes to take up the last of the sauce. Thicken with the slurry if it needs it, and finish with the sesame oil.
6. Blanch the lettuce for the bed, arrange the mushrooms cap up on top and pour the sauce over.

Take care

• Mollusc (the oyster sauce; use vegetarian oyster sauce for a 齋 table), soy, wheat, sesame.

The story

The New Year mushroom: 冬菇 for 東成西就, success east and west, and the round cap for the family being round the table. It sits on the 團年 table and in the third layer of a 盆菜. It is the easiest thing on this wall, and it is here because of those twelve hours. From the first soak to the plate you are actually working for under twenty minutes; everything else is waiting. Ah Ma puts the mushrooms in to soak the night before and does not touch them again until she starts the dinner. A 功夫菜 is not always hard work — sometimes it only asks you to remember the night before.

Same kind

Crackling roast pork bellyConpoy and whole garlic, steamed and turned outDongpo pork, belly braised in Shaoxing wine

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.