ILLUSTRATIONS POLLYANNA COUPLAND PHOTOGRAPHS INDIA WHILEY-MORTON FOOD STYLING POLLYANNA COUPLAND AND EMILY GUSSIN
Fungi are enjoying a zeitgeisty moment. They’ve been touted as a carbon-capture saviour (look up ‘mycorrhizal network’ to have your mind blown) and they’ve turned supervillain in the hit TV show The Last Of Us, cementing their status as a true force of nature. But we all know where mushrooms really shine is in the kitchen, offering flavour, texture and umami by the bucketload.
Do you have a favourite, though, that you’d stand by through thick and thin? Mushroom lovers on the delicious. team certainly do – and here, four of them make a case for their favoured ’shroom being the greatest of all. Even if their heartfelt words don’t convince you, surely their exciting new recipes will
Pulled king oyster, peanut and chilli noodles
Serves 2 Hands-on time 30 min
King oysters are prized for their meaty texture, which makes them an obvious choice in plant-based dishes. Here they’re boiled and pulled into strands, to be strewn through a nutty, fragrant sauce inspired by Sichuan’s famous – and traditionally porky – dan dan noodles.
MAKE AHEAD Boil the mushrooms and make the sauce up to 24 hours in advance, then keep both in the fridge.
BE A BETTER COOK Boiling mushrooms sounds odd, but it’s actually a fantastic way to cook them. Their cell structure means you can boil them for hours and hours without them breaking down, so it’s an easy way to fully cook them without worrying about timings or drying them out.
KNOW-HOW Chinkiang vinegar is a Chinese black rice vinegar with a caramel sweetness and fresh acidity. It requires a trip to an Asian supermarket or can be found online, but it’s well worth tracking down a bottle as it’s a core ingredient in many Chinese dishes (it also lasts forever in your pantry). If you don’t have any, use regular rice vinegar to add acidity instead.
• 4 large king oyster
mushrooms
• Thumb-size knob of ginger
• 4 large or 6 small garlic cloves
• Bunch spring onions
• Vegetable oil to fry
• 2 nests dried wheat noodles
(or egg noodles for non-vegan)
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 2 tsp crispy chilli oil (or more
to taste)
For the sauce
• 1 tsp sichuan peppercorns,
crushed
• 2 heaped tbsp peanut butter,
ideally deep-roasted
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp chinkiang vinegar (see
Know-how)
1 Put the mushrooms in a saucepan and boil a kettle. Pour the boiling water over the mushrooms, put over a medium heat and boil for 15 minutes.
2 Meanwhile, finely chop the ginger and garlic, finely slice the spring onions a
