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Vegetarian Dish aka 'Jai Choy'


 It's customary for my family to observe a vegetarian diet on the first day of the lunar Chinese New Year.  This mixed veggie is not a stir-fry dish but sort of 'braised' till all the ingredients, especially the mushrooms have been infused with the flavourful 'nam yee' and oyster sauce.



  

Dried shitake mushrooms that have been soaked and cut up, and softened glass vermicelli.
Bean curd puffs that have been halved, crushed ginger and 'nam yee' or preserved bean curd paste.

  

Washed and cut 'wong ngah bak', Chinese cabbage.  
Bean curd sheets that have been deep fried.


All the ingredients simmering in the wok. 


  
My favourite is the deep fried bean curd sheets.  They still maintain a bit of crunchiness even though they've been cooked and the 'juicy' bean curd puffs that have absorbed all the flavours of the sauce...... Delicious!

Recipe for Vegetarian dish aka 'Jai Choy'

Ingredients
  • 80 gm, about 12 pieces dried Shitake mushrooms - soaked and stems cut off 
  • 550 gm Wong Ngah Pak/Chinese cabbage - cut
  • 180 gm bean curd puffs - cut
  • 200 gm dried bean curd sheets - deep fried
  • 1 piece Nam Yee/preserved bean curd
  • 30 gm ginger - crushed
  • 100 gm glass vermicelli - soaked
  • 1 Tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
  • Oil for frying/deep frying
  • Salt and sugar to taste
Preparation
  1. Heat up some oil in a wok.  Break up the bean curd sheets and deep fry, take out and drain.  Set aside.
  2. In the same wok, heat up 1 tbsp of oil, saute the crushed ginger with the cut mushrooms.  Fry for a while and add in the cut vegetables.  Stir-fry for a while and add in some water to cover the vegetables and mushrooms.
  3. Break up the nam yee, add in some water to make a paste and add this in together with the vegetarian oyster sauce.
  4. Add in the deep fried bean curd sheet and let it simmer till the mushrooms are soft.
  5. Add in the glass vermicelli and bean curd puffs.  You may need to add in some water at this juncture as both these items are very absorbent.  Simmer for a while.
  6. Add some sugar and salt to taste.
  7. Dish out and serve.
Note :  This dish tastes much better when it's cooked a day before.
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Comments

  1. Angie's RecipesFebruary 15, 2010 at 2:47 AM

    Oh yep...nothing beats a vegetarian treat on the first day of CNY!

    ReplyDelete
  2. tinyskilletFebruary 15, 2010 at 9:09 AM

    A nice vegetarian dish it looks so good! Happy Lunar New Year!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. 3 hungry tummiesFebruary 15, 2010 at 12:17 PM

    We had this at a restaurant yesterday and it was the worst lo hon jai I ever had, give me your delicious version anytime :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sokehah cheahFebruary 15, 2010 at 11:28 PM

    Angie
    Yes, after a great feast at the reunion dinner.

    Thanks, Lyndsey

    3 hungry tummies
    Oh Yes, I've cooked quite a fair bit and stocked some in the freezer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ReanaclaireFebruary 16, 2010 at 12:09 AM

    this is a must during the 1st day of cny in my mum's house.. :p

    ReplyDelete
  6. penny aka jeroxieFebruary 16, 2010 at 4:40 AM

    Gong Xi Fa Cai! We had so much food as well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2010 at 9:31 AM

    Sounds like a delicious specialty for the Chinese New Year celebration! I would love to try this!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sokehah cheahFebruary 17, 2010 at 12:26 AM

    renaclaire
    Just following mum's tradition!

    penny
    Yup, food, food and more food!

    5 Star Foodie
    This is normally practised in Buddhist/Taoist households.

    ReplyDelete
  9. MaryMohFebruary 18, 2010 at 2:45 AM

    That's a very delicious vegetarian dish to start off the year. A friend cooked for me once & I just fell in love with it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sokehah cheahFebruary 18, 2010 at 1:38 PM

    Mary
    It's a favourite amongst my siblings too, after taking so much meat, seafood the night before.

    ReplyDelete

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