Braised mushrooms, fried toufo with beef

Braised mushrooms, fried toufo with beef

I cooked a simple one pot braised dish tonight but thought I will blog it for my son. He bought his own place and moved out for a few years now and he has picked up some cooking skills along the years. In fact in the last year he has been cooking his own food a lot and so his skills is much improved, The wonderful thing is he is actually enjoying it. He said cooking his own food saves him a lot of monies. I attribute that to his frugal mum and her Chinese teaching! On the other hand my gal is not that interested in cooking except learning the few dishes she loves! Alamak!

Many a times I get a text or a call, “mum how do I cook this or that” or even “mum, I remember that sauce you cooked for…., how do I cook it?” I have to admit, it gladdens my heart. One gained a bit of knowledge here and there and a lot of peoples’ post a recipe for others to follow but I noticed they never give out the “important” tips! I like to think I am not like that at all. I share everything I know because to me there is actually no point in keeping the knowledge I have gained as secrets, for each individual cook will ultimately turn out to be different. No one can replicate another cook exactly even if the recipe is followed to the letter.

Tip – Rinse the bought fried toufo with hot water and drain before using. This will remove the “factory oil” taste.

Sauce – Water from the soaked mushrooms, sieved to remove impurities. Oyster sauce (1 tbsp), salt & Pepper, pinch of sugar and I used water chestnut flour instead of cornflour to thicken. It might be an age thing but I have moved away from using a lot of soy sauces or cooking anything with thick, sweet, sticky sauces. Not sure why but I have gone off those for the moment. I have been using water-chestnut flour more instead of corn-starch for sauces. It is lower in carbohydrates too. It cannot be a substitute for all food but for sauces it is fine.

TIP – It is important to freeze your beef beforehand to harden it a bit and use a very sharp knife to slice to 1mm thickness or in the case thinness! Actually if you learn to handle beef well, there is no such thing as tough beef, well not in my book anyway!

TIP – Just before you add your beef to your pot, you can marinate with anything you like, salt & pepper, soy sauce, cornflour if you want velveting but I did nothing today. I tend to stay away from using ‘tenderiser’ powder like bicarbonate soda etc. If you slice thinly you just do not need it. However the most important thing to remember is to add a couple tablespoon of oil and mix well just before adding to your pot as this will separate them nicely and they won’t clump together. I used shallots and garlic oil. Of course you may use sesame oil.

All my TIPs are based on my experiences of cooking almost daily for nearly 3 decades. Enjoy.

Topped with some forages from my garden. Wash and soak in cold water with a touch of vinegar before using.