This recipe is a staple for me – whenever I see some really good looking exotic mushrooms they go into my trolley, and making Mushroom San Choy Bow is one of my favourite ways to use them. But it’s great even with regular mushrooms. After you’ve cut all the mushrooms up it’s pretty quick and easy to make, and the ratios of the ingredients can be flexible, I don’t measure precisely when making this – a splash here and there of the various sauces and balance to taste.

Mushrooms are so good for you!

Mushrooms are a very healthy food – they are good for your brain health, good for your immune system and they’re a prebiotic, so they feed your good gut bugs.

Learn more about medicinal mushrooms here – Medicinal Mushrooms Podcast

There is a lot of naturally occuring sulphur in this dish with the onions, cabbage, leek and garlic, so it’s also very good for your liver, hormonal detoxification and your skin.

Don’t want a vegetarian san choy bow? Fodmap issues? Check my options at the bottom of the recipe.

The Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 tsp ginger, finely grated
• Half leek – halved vertically and washed, then thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup shredded green cabbage
• 1 full bag paper mushrooms, or equivalent quantity of mixed mushrooms (I use mostly button mushrooms, and add shiitake, king oyster and enoki mushrooms)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp soy
• Splash fish sauce (omit if vegan)
• 1 tsp mirin
• Splash rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 lime, juiced
• Small pinch of salt
• 1/4 cauliflower, very finely chopped/shredded
• 1-2 green onions
• 1 Iceberg or cos lettuce (see step 5 – you may want to do this in advance if you’re not confident).

Method

1. Heat some olive oil in a large fry pan on medium heat and sautee the red onion until soft. Add the leek and continue to fry for a further minute.
2. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft.
3. Add the cauliflower, cabbage, ginger and salt and cook until it’s all adequately softened, then add the sauces. Balance to taste.
4. Dice up the spring onions and stir most of them through, reserving a little to garnish with.
5. Take the iceberg lettuce apart into leaves (allow some time for this a it can be fiddly, you want to avoid tearing the leaves). Wash and dry them, then assemble on a plate.
6. Put the mushroom mixture into a bowl, sprinkle with the remaining spring onions or some sesame seeds, I also like to drizzle a little sesame oil over the top.
7. Now you can eat it – take a lettuce leaf, place a couple of spoonfuls of mushroom mixture into the lettuce, wrap up the lettuce so you can hold onto it and take a bite.

Tweak it.

Add some unflavoured medicinal mushroom powder into this mix before you serve it for some extra oomph! I like to use Lion’s Mane, or a blend of Reishi, Cordyceps, Shiitake, and a few others.

Not keen on a vegetarian dinner? Use pork or beef mince to replace 1/3-3/4 of the mushrooms. Sautee the mince off after the red onion, then proceed with the rest of the steps.

If you’re fodmap sensitive this recipe may give you some gas so you may choose to swap the mushrooms for pork or beef mince, skip the red onion and use the green part of the leek and spring onions only. You can probably handle some mushrooms, but maybe not this much.

The post Mushroom San Choy Bow appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

Want something tasty and fresh to serve with your New Years meal? This recipe is a big crowd pleaser. The dressing is asian inspired but it can easilly be served with a big variety of meals.  Not just suitable for a big day though, this dish is a great salad for mid week dinners or lunches as well.

~Serves 4-6~

Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 1 red onion
• 2 tsp sea salt

• 1 large handful coriander, mint and basil or dill, roughly chopped.
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced into batons or ribbons.
• 2-3 large handfuls (about 700g) red or wombok (Chinese cabbage) leaves
• 1 long red chilli, finely chopped.
• 1 handful bean sprouts

Dressing

• 125ml rice wine vinegar
• 55g brown sugar
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 tbsp soft brown sugar or grated palm sugar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 thumb size piece of ginger
• 2 garlic cloves

Method

Julienne the carrot and thinly slice the onion, then combine with the salt in a non metal bowl and allow them to sit for 30 minutes.

Grate the ginger into your serving bowl (or a plate, and squeeze out the juice from the ginger). Crush or grate in the garlic, then whisk together with the rest of the dressing ingredients.

Shred the cabbage with a knife or with the slicing attachment in a food processor and dump on top of the dressing. Add the cucumber, bean sprouts and chilli and mix through.

Squeeze out the liquid from the carrot and onion then add to the rest of the slaw along with the herbs, then mix through again and serve.

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This ice cream is dairy free, calcium dense and so easy to make. I love making this to serve after asian inspired meals. Tahini (ground up sesame seeds) is a fantastic source of calcium, and the black tahini has an extra nourishing nutrient hit to it.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup black tahini (ground black sesame seeds)
• ½ cup finely dessicated coconut
• ½ cup coconut nectar (or whatever sweetener you have in the house maple syrup, rice malt syrup or agave syrup)
• 1 can coconut cream
• 1 cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (you may need to warm is slightly so its melted)
• 1 tsp chia seeds soaked in 30ml water to form a gel
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Pour into container or silicon molds. Cover and place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.
3. Remove from freezer and stir. Repeat process again in another hour. This helps break up the ice crystals and allows it to freeze evenly.

Should be ready to eat in 4-6hrs.  If consuming on another day, be sure to let sit out of freezer for ½ hr to defrost a little.

I served this with a crumble of toasted mixed nuts.

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