Sweet & Sour “Pork” w Monkey Mushroom/Lions Mane

This is a #wip#wip‘work in progress’

*sofu notes for next time: soak monkey mushroom in salt water ahead of time or boil for longer.

Adapted from: Woon Heng’s “How to Make Vegan Sweet and Sour Pork”

sofu’s cook timesofu’s cook timeMy estimated cook times include any prep, active cooking, and most of the clean up. I clean up as I cook and include that time here. So after eating, you should have only a few easy dishes to do.: 50 min. pretty good timing and this was on my 1st try so can probably make it faster. I’d reckon 20 minutes if you soak the monkey mushrooms ahead of time ;3

Using 1 medium bowl, 1 large bowl, 1 small pot, and 1 medium-large saucepan. And Instant Pot if making rice.

Ingredients:
– white jasmine rice if u want rice (why wouldn’t u)
– dry monkey mushroomsBy monkey mushroom I mean monkey head mushroom aka lions mane aka Hericium erinaceus aka that-mushroom-that-looks-like-cauliflower-when-you-cut-it-in-half-and-tastes-awesome-loool., like 5 avg sized ones
– 1 green bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper, 1 red onion
– corn starch
– vinegar (rice vinegar recommended but I used ACV), ketchup, sweetener (reg sug/brown sug/maple syrup all work)
– salt, ground black pepper

1. Start making rice first. White jasmine rice goes best with this imo. I use Instant Pot.
2. Small Pot, high heat: Put in desired amount of whole monkey mushrooms. Cover with water and add 1 Not Be’f Bullion Cube or like 1 tbs salt. Cover and leave it to boil.
3. Medium-large Saucepan, medium heat: Drizzle some neutral oil in pan. Chop 1 green bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper and 1 red onion. Add to pan and stir fry for like 1 min until they’ve softened a bit. Scoop them all out and put in Large Bowl.
4. Ok, check your monkey mushrooms that are boiling now. They should be soft enough that you can use a knife to cut them into chunks. I just do it inside the pot cuz it’s easy.
5. Medium Bowl: Add corn starch with a lil salt and black pepper.
6. Medium-Large Saucepan, medium-high heat: Add a lot of neutral oil – preferably something high-heat.
7. Using fork, stab boiling monkey mushroom chunks and if they’re soft on the inside (they really do need to be soft – mine turned out tough cuz I didn’t let them get soft enough), stab with fork, smush on side of Small Pot to drain water, drench in Medium Bowl’s corn starch, and then put them in Medium-Large Saucepan to fry. Repeat with all the mushroom chunks. Flip em around as needed and fry until golden brown on all sides.
8. Now, you’re Small Pot should have like an inch of salt water left. Pour that bullion/salt water into the Medium Bowl that is now covered in corn starch. You can wash the Small Pot now.
9. Medium Bowl: So, there’s salt water with leftover corn starch in there. Mix it all together, scraping down the sides. Add 2 tbs ketchup, 2 tbs of whatever sweetener you’re using, 1 tbs vinegar, and some salt. And some juice of a citrus if you have it (lemon or orange preferable). Mix it all together.
10. Whenever your monkey mushroom chunks are done frying in Medium-Large Saucepan, scoop out monkey mushrooms into Large Bowl w all the veg.
11. Scrape out the burnt greasy stuff left in M-L Saucepan and dispose (do not put down the sink! trash or compost).
12. M-L Saucepan, medium-high heat: Pour Medium Bowl’s sauce mixture in, mix it and let it simmer until saucey. Then, you can add in Large Bowl’s fried monkey mushrooms and veg. Mix it all together, cover, and cook for a few min.
13. Taste test. Add more sweet/sour as needed. Add some salt and black pepper too.
14. Boom! Done. And if you made white jasmine rice in the Instant Pot, it’ll be done now too.
15. Atp, I put the finished dish in the Large Bowl and eat out of the Medium Bowl. Haha! See, minimal clean up.