Buddha’s Delight (lo han jai)
Buddha’s Delight is a dish traditionally enjoyed by Buddhists, but it has also grown in popularity throughout the world as a vegetarian option in Chinese restaurants. The Chinese traditionally serve it on the first day of the Chinese New Year, stemming from the old Buddhist practice to maintain a vegetarian diet in the first five days of the new year, as a form of self-purification.
4 persons
Medium
1 hour
Ingredients
Based on 4 persons
- 100g glass noodles
- 100g fried tofu
- 100g fresh baby corn
- 100g fresh snow peas
- 34g dried white fungus
- 26g dried black fungus
- 22g dried lily flowers
- 20g dried Chinese mushrooms
- 6 soybean rolls
- 9 red dates
- 1 lotus root
- ½ carrot
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 spring onions
- 1 big onion
- 1 Tbsp vegetable stock
- 2 tsp corn starch
Sauce mix:
- 3 Tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp cooking wine
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- ¼ tsp sugar
- Pepper and salt
- Soak the dried fungus, lily flowers, mushrooms and dates separately in warm water for 1 to 2 hours until they have softened. Put the mushroom water aside. Soak the glass noodles in warm water for 30 minutes until they are soft. Drain the water. Dissolve one tablespoon of vegetable stock in 500 ml water and add 100 ml of mushroom water.
- Remove the stalks from the Chinese mushrooms. Thinly slice the black and white fungus. Cut the carrot into slices and cut the baby corn in half so you have two thin strips. Thinly slice the garlic. Cut the spring onion in three. Cut the onion in strips and slice the fried tofu in half. Peel the lotus root and cut it into thin slices.
- Heat a pan with water on the stove. Boil the Chinese mushrooms for 10 minutes. Then add the lotus root and snow peas and cook it for another 2 minutes. Take them out of the pan and put it aside.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic, onions and spring onions and stir-fry until the aromas are released. Then add the glass noodles, tofu and soybean rolls. Once the soybean rolls have become soft, you can add the fungus, lily flower and dates. Add the vegetable broth and sauce mix and let it simmer until half of the moisture has evaporated.
- Mix the corn starch with 2 tablespoons of water in a bowl until it has become a paste. Then add the mixture to the sauce and stir well. Add the lotus root, Chinese mushrooms, snow peas and baby corn. Stir well and let it cook for another 2 minutes.