Chinese asparagus/mushroom dish

[wildgoose]

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables, and it's in season now. One of my favorites is a dish I concocted based on an offering by a local Thai restaurant. The original had Thai sauce, jasmine rice, and shiitake mushrooms. Mine has white mushrooms (I love shiitake mushrooms, but I'm cheap!) diced white onion, brown rice, and a sauce I concoct from a cornstarch and water slurry with low sodium soy sauce, granulated garlic, and ground ginger.

Water-sauté the asparagus and onion till tender.

In the meantime, add about a teaspoon of cornstarch to 1/4 cup water in a small bowl. Mix in low sodium soy sauce (about 5 or 6 shakes -- maybe 1/2 tsp or more?), 1/8 tsp granulated garlic, and a pinch of ground ginger (adjust spices to taste -- mine never comes out the same way twice, because I eyeball things). Stir well.

Add peeled, sliced mushrooms to asparagus and onion. Sauté until desired degree of doneness is reached. Move veggies to side of skillet. Tilt skillet toward empty side, pour in sauce, stir rapidly until thickened (this happens fast). Combine sauce with vegetables. Serve with brown rice.

It comes out more Chinese than Thai, but I like it!

Goose

[debknott]

This sounds great! I have copied it and plan to make it soon. Thanks for posting!

Deborah

[Vegankit]

That looks delicious. I needed an inspiration for supper tonight - and a mushroom asparagus stir fry is what we are going to have for supper tonight.

Thanks.

[debknott]

I forgot to ask. How many servings does your sauce cover? Is it just enough for one serving, or for more? Thanks!

Deborah

[wildgoose]

I forgot to ask. How many servings does your sauce cover? Is it just enough for one serving, or for more? Thanks!

Deborah, the sauce covers one LARGE serving (as shown, on a 10" plate, half a bunch of asparagus and maybe 7 or 8 good sized mushrooms, sliced) heavily. I always make the sauce fresh for each time I eat it, because it doesn't store that well (the cornstarch tends to break down). By experience, I know how much cornstarch/soy sauce/water I need to start with to make the amount of sauce I like. I mix it up in the same little dish every time, so I know how much I have without really measuring,

I know that's not particularly helpful for somebody who's never made it before. What I would suggest is to take a small pan or large metal measure (I have a 2-cup one that works well on the stove) and cook the sauce separately a few times so you can figure out how much sauce works for you. Then, once you have the amounts worked out, you can make the sauce in the pan with the veggies like I do if you want to save a step.

Goose

[debknott]

Thanks WildGoose!