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 spring roll with wood ears.
As a wild vegetable, we added narrow-leaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata). This plant can be found whole year round. It has a slightly bitter taste and it lends itself well for stir frying. Be sure to cut the leaves along the veins for a more pleasant structure.
To accompany this snack we made sauce based on a miso like puffball paste that we described in this recipe.
Spring rolls with wood ear and narrow-leaf plantain
Equipment
- 1 sauté pan
- 1 cooking pot
- 1 Sauce pan
- 1 cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Drainer
- 1 Wet towel
- 1 Stick blender
Ingredients
- 20 Spring roll pastry wrappers (suitable for frying)
- 15 gram Dry wood ears
- 20 gram Narrow-leaf plantain leaves
- 75 gram Bean sprouts
- 75 gram Shredded carrot
- 100 gram Uncooked rice noodles
- 1 Egg
- 3 Green onions
- 3 tbsp Cooking oil
Marinade for woodears
- 4 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry
- 1 cup Water
Puffball sauce
- 2 tbsp Puffball past (from here:
https://chefofnature.com/?p=1096 ) - 2 tbsp Mirin
- 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 100 ml Water
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1½ tbsp Corn starch
Seasoning
- 1 tbsp Fish sauce
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
Instructions
Puffball sauce
- Blend all ingredients except corn starch.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer for 3 minutes.
- Strain the mixture.
- Add the strained mixture back to the saucepan.
- Dissolve corn starch in small amount of water and add it to the strained sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened.
Spring rolls
- Add the wood ears with the marinade mixture to a sauce pan and bring to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes and then put aside.
- Cook the rice noodles according to the package instructions.
- Cut the plantain into thin stripes. Cutting vertically along the veins.
- Cut the green onions in rings.
- Fry the green onions and plantain in oil in a sauté pan until soft.
- Add the drained noodles to the vegetables.
- Add an egg to the noodle vegetable mixture, mix well and stir fry until the egg is set.
- Drain the wood ears and add to the noodles together with the bean sprouts, carrot and mix well.
- Add seasoning to taste.
Forming the spring rolls
- Add about a table spoon of noodles mixture to the bottom of a spring roll wrapper as shown on the picture.
- Roll the bottom until half way.
- Fold the outer parts of the wrapper in.
- Use a brush or your hands to wet the top part of the spring roll.
- Close the sprint roll.
Frying
- The spring rolls can be fried in a sauté pan or deep fryer. Make sure they are fried until golden brown on all sides.
