Ka lei kok is a Chinese snack and it literally translates to “Curry triangle”. Usually, it is made with chicken but in this recipe we substitute the chicken with a mix of two winter mushrooms: the Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) and the Velvet shank (Flammulina velutipes) also (not entirely accurately) called Enoki. Both mushrooms can be found on dead and decaying wood. Velvet shank (Flammulina velutipes) left, Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) right. The oyster mushroom, which you can find in the wild during winter, is a closely related mushroom to the one found in the supermarket. The main difference between
Category: Starter
This recipe is about doing something creative with a bit of an obscure winter mushroom: Black Witch’s butter (Exidia glandulosa). It is not exactly known as a mushroom with high culinary value, it can however be used to create a vegan bacon substitute. Its neutral taste and soft texture lend it self well for this application. The mushroom can be found all year round, mostly on oak trees. However, the ideal season for it is in the winter, when there is not much else. Black Witch’s butter can survive frost as you ca see on the picture below. Black Witch’s
Wood ears (Auricularia auricula-judae) are mushrooms that can be found all year round, mostly when there has been a lot of rain fall. They grow on dying and dead tree part and have a preference for elder trees. Historically, in the west, they were never considered an edible mushroom however in Asia they have been eaten for centuries. In this recipes, we incorporate them in spring rolls. Spring rolls are a snack typically found in most Asian restaurants in the West. They originated from China and there are many varieties. The version we describe here is a Chinese style fried
This salad contains two types of seaweeds: sea lettuce (ulva spec.) and bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosus L.), and two types of sea vegetable: sea rocket (Cakile maritima) and rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum). It can be hard to tell apart different types of seaweeds but luckily there are no poisonous ones. When you harvest them just make sure you pick them from a clean environment. The two types of seaweeds we picked are relatively easy to recognise. While determining the exact type of sea lettuce requires a microscope or even DNA research, for consumption purposes you only have be able to determine
Gyoza is a kind of Japanese fried-steamed dumpling. Traditionally, they are filled with meat, mushrooms, and cabbage. Here we present a wild version with two mushrooms and late-spring greens: wild garlic (Allium ursinum), narrow-leaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata), arugula (Eruca vesicaria), and rapeseed kale (Brassica napus L.). From left wild garlic (Allium ursinum), narrow-leaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata), arugula (Eruca vesicaria), and rapeseed kale (Brassica napus L.) Four spring greens perfect for mushroom gyoza
Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) was historically used as food, most notably as the foundation of the Eastern European soup known today as borscht. Borscht also happens to be the common name of this plant in Slavic languages, although hogweed is not used in the modern-day version of the soup. A variety of hogweed known as Persian hogweed (Heracleum persicum) is used as a spice in Persian cuisine. The common name of hogweed in English comes from its application as forage for hogs. When picking hogweed care should be taken to not confuse it with its bigger counterpart giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum).
Fermenting mushrooms is a popular way to preserve mushrooms in Slavic countries. Mushrooms prepared this way can be used in a salad or on bread. The liquid, left over after fermentation, can be used as a vegan fish sauce. For this recipe, we used St. George mushroom (Calocybe gambosa). The St George mushroom is one of the first gilled mushrooms to appear in the spring. Historically it appeared around St George day on 23th April but in current days can be found weeks earlier. This mushroom is one of the few mushrooms that can be consumed raw. Its raw taste