Soy-Braised Fall Mushrooms With Chestnuts Recipe

Fiona Reilly
Soy-Braised Fall Mushrooms With Chestnuts Recipe
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  • Yield:Serves 4
  • Active time:15 minutes
  • Total time:20 minutes

[Photograph: Fiona Reilly]

This dish celebrates the seasonal arrival of mushrooms and fresh-roasted chestnuts in the form of a simple soy-spiked stir-fry. You can use any fresh fall mushrooms available to you, including enoki, shiitake, button mushrooms, Swiss browns, and chanterelles. This dish is part of our seven-course Mid-Autumn Festival feast.

Why It Works

A fall medley of flavors Read the Whole Story
  • Using two types of soy sauce adds nuance: Dark soy sauce provides a rich golden-brown color, while light soy sauce lends additional flavor.
  • Blanching the chestnuts and mushrooms until they're tender reduces the amount of time they need to be stir-fried, ensuring they don't burn before they're cooked through.
  • Sweet roasted chestnuts offset the saltiness of the rich soy braise.

    • Ingredients

    • 2 teaspoons corn starch
    • 3 1/2 ounces fresh chestnuts, peeled (about 1 cup)
    • 9 ounces assorted fresh mushrooms (such as button, beec, shiitake, or enoki), sliced (about 1 1/2 quarts)
    • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    • 1/2-inch knob ginger, peeled and finely sliced (about 2 teaspoons)
    • 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely sliced (about 1 teapoons)
    • 2 scallions, white parts only, finely sliced (about 3 tablespoons)
    • 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
    • 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
    • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
    • Kosher salt
    • Steamed rice for serving

    Directions

    1. 1.

      In a small bowl, combine corn starch with 2 tablespoons water and set aside. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.

    2. 2.

      Cook chestnuts in boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove with a strainer, drain, and set aside. Add mushrooms to boiling water, cook for 1 minute. Remove with a strainer, drain, and set aside.

    3. 3.

      Heat vegetable oil in a wok over medium heat until shimmering. Add ginger, garlic, and scallions, and cook, stirring, over until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chestnuts and continue stirring for 1 minute. Add mushrooms and stir for 1 additional minute.

    4. 4.

      Increase heat to high. Add dark and light soy sauces, stirring to combine. Add cornflour and water mixture and reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened and coats the mushrooms and chestnuts, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in sesame oil, season to taste with salt if necessary, and serve immediately with steamed rice.

    Fiona Reilly
    Contributor

    Fiona Reilly is a xiao long bao expert and street food tragic who divides her time between Shanghai and Australia, trawling the streets for good eats and great stories for local and international publications, as well as her award-winning blog ‘Life on Nanchang Lu.'

    She has travelled China top to bottom and end to end, eating all the way, including an epic six-month food discovery voyage around China in an RV, a mode of travel entirely novel to the world's most populous nation.

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