Recipe - Prawn, mushroom and black bean sauce stir fry

Happy Chinese New Year!

Stir Fry is a Chinese cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred in a wok.

Nursing students might know…

The process of stir-frying is used in the preparation of some Chinese herbal medicines under the term 'dry-frying'. Stir frying a medical herb with honey is commonly used to increase its sweetness and therefore its spleen and stomach qi tonic effects. Stir frying in vinegar is typically used to direct the properties of an herb more to the liver based on the principle that the sour taste belongs to the liver.*

Serves: 4 – 6

Ingredients

1 kg mushrooms
500 ml black bean sauce
2 tablespoons seasoned oil
30g/2 inches root ginger crushed and chopped finely
6 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
2 small onions, chopped in large chunks
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
2 green peppers
500g prawns

To prepare

1. Slice the mushrooms into thin slices
2. Heat the oil in a wok until hot and add the onion and carrot, cook for 1-2 minutes until translucent but not browning at all
3. Add the prawns and cook until golden brown
4. Add the ginger and garlic for a further minute stirring constantly
5. Add the mushrooms and cook until golden brown on all sides.
6. Pour over the black bean sauce and simmer until the mushrooms are cooked through.

Recipe by Dan Ostler - Executive Chef at Brookes

* Courtesy of Wikipedia – we assume it’s accurate, but you may want to check – or do some other research!