Cooking Diary #31: Vegetarian Chicken

I woke up with a migraine this morning along with a backache which had been “haunting” me for the past few days. I came in to work on a late shift today. So, I slept in later than usual for a Sunday and woke up just in time to prepare lunch. It is 观音诞 today, so I am a vegetarian for half a day until lunch.

Guess what am I cooking today?

I would usually cook a big pot of Vegetarian Curry most of the time when I am a vegetarian for half a day. But I did not manage to get enough ingredients for Vegetarian Curry, hence I ended up cooking something with what I could find at home. The method of cooking a Vegetarian Chicken is simple and straightforward. Just like how you would cook a normal chicken dish.

As I am not allowed to use garlic or big onion when having vegetarian, I resorted to using ginger strips since it would enhance the flavor better. It would have been more fragrant if I sauteed the ginger strips with sesame oil instead of the usual vegetable cooking oil.

To make Vegetarian Chicken, you will need:

• Preserved vegetarian mock chicken
• Straw mushrooms, sliced into halves
• Ginger strips
• “Chicken” stock from the preserved vegetarian mock chicken
• Cooking oil or sesame oil
• Dark soy sauce

Directions:

1. Saute the ginger strips with cooking oil or sesame oil.
2. Add in preserved vegetarian mock chicken when you smell the aroma of the ginger strips coming out and stir well.
3. Add in the sliced straw mushrooms and stir well.
4. Add in a few tablespoonful of the “chicken” stock.
5. Add in a little bit of dark soy sauce if you wish your Vegetarian Chicken to look more like a real chicken dish.
6. Remove from heat and serve!

My end product!