Four Happinesses

Ingredients and Condiments

Vegetarian sausage: 2 pieces of bean curd skin; 150 grams of wheat gluten (in form of substitute sausage); a small amount of red fermented sticky rice.

Salty mushrooms: 40 grams of mushrooms; soy sauce; sugar.

Vegetarian chicken: Half a vegetarian chicken; soy sauce; sugar; "five-spice" powder.

Fried cashews: 150 grams of cashews; sugar.

(Note: Any combination of four types of food can be called "Four Happinesses"; there is no fixed list. Thus you can make substitutions according to taste or available ingredients.)

Directions

Vegetarian sausage:

(1) Evenly mix the gluten-sausage with the sticky rice.

(2) Cut the two pieces of bean curd skin into 4 equal parts. Use these to wrap the gluten-sausage into elongated sausage shapes. Steam thoroughly, then brown slightly over a low heat.

Salty mushrooms:

(1) Soak the mushrooms until soft; cut off the stems.

(2) Pour the water in which the mushrooms soaked into a pot (there should be enough water to cover the mushrooms later), add 4 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp sugar. Put the mushrooms back in the water. Over a small flame cook until the water evaporates. Remove the mushrooms.

Vegetarian chicken:

Mix soy sauce, sugar, and five-spice; soak the chicken.

Fried cashews:

Soak the cashews in sugar water for 20 minutes. Deep fry in warm oil until crisp. Remove and cool.

Note: When serving, slice the vegetarian sausage at an angle and place it in the center of the platter. The mushrooms should be sliced into a floral shape; the chicken should be sliced; the cashews should be spread around. The carrot can be trimmed around the edge to produce floral shapes. Arrange in a pattern. Tomatoes cut into floral shapes can be used as a centerpiece of the plate.

courtesy of Liang Chiung-pai

Bounty Year In and Year Out

Ingredients

One vegetarian fish (cut into 10 pieces); a small amount each of shredded vegetarian meat, shredded ginger, shredded mushrooms, day lily, shredded bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts; one red pepper; one cup of soup stock.

Condiments

One tsp each of white vinegar, sugar, and salt; 1 tbsp sesame oil; small amounts of black pepper and corn starch in water.

Directions

(1) Deep fry the fish pieces until crisp on the outside. Put on a plate.

(2) Using a small amount of oil, cook the ginger to release the fragrance; add the mushrooms and cook until fragrance is released. Add soup stock and dump in all other ingredients. Bring to a slight boil, and add condiments. Finally, thicken with corn starch.

(The unique thing about this dish is that the fish and the condiments are prepared separately, with the condiments only combined with the fish right at the table.)

courtesy of the Fa Hua Vegetarian Restaurant

Congratulations and May Fortune Smile on You

Ingredients

Finely diced celery; shredded mushroom; shredded vegetarian meat; green beans; shredded cabbage; shredded carrot; shredded bamboo shoots; facai seaweed (small amounts of each of these are sufficient; all should be roughly equal). Soup stock (made by simmering bean sprouts and 150 grams of mushroom in a pot of water for at least 1 hour).

Condiments

One tbsp dark vinegar; 1 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tsp sesame oil; a small amount of corn starch in water; a small amount of pepper; small bits of coriander; 1 tbsp sugar.

Directions

(1) Place 1 tbsp oil in a pot; cook the celery until fragrance is released. Add the shredded mushroom, then the shredded meat, beans, cabbage, carrot, and bamboo; fry all together.

(2) Add the soup stock. After cooking for 3 minutes, add the facai. Add the condiments, and finally thicken with corn starch.

(3) Put food on serving platter; sprinkle with pepper and coriander.

courtesy of the Fa Hua Vegetarian Restaurant

Splendid Jade Flute

Ingredients

Half a vegetarian chicken; sugar cane shoots; 150 grams of green bean kernels; four strips zhusheng edible fungus; one cup soup stock.

Directions

(1) Cut the chicken into small pieces; fry slightly in oil. Place in a bowl, and steam in a cooker.

(2) Scald the sugar cane shoots and beans in hot water; soften the zhusheng edible fungus by soaking in water.

(3) Fry the beans in oil, and set on a plate. Pan fry the sugar cane shoots, and place on top of the beans as a second layer. Place the steamed chicken on top of the sugar cane shoots.

(4) Lastly, put the zhusheng in a pot; add soup stock and boil. After thickening with starch, place on top as the final layer.

courtesy of the Evergreen Laurel Hotel, Taichung

A Hall Filled With Gold and Jade

Ingredients

One pineapple, intact; one cup pine seeds; one cup corn kernels; two-thirds of a cup of green beans; half a cup of sweet violet; half a cup of carrot chunks; two tbsp lemon juice; two tbsp sugar.

Directions

(1) Cut pineapple in half. Hollow out the inside of the half with the stem.

(2) Fry pine seeds in oil until crisp; set aside.

(3) Heat oil in a pan, and pan fry the corn, green beans, sweet violet, and carrots in the oil until done. Add sugar and lemon juice. After thickening with a touch of corn starch, mix in the pine seeds (leaving a few aside to sprinkle on top of the dish later).

(4) Place all ingredients into the hollowed out pineapple, and sprinkle remaining pine seeds on top.

courtesy of Wu Wen-chu

Spring Park Bright Pearls

Ingredients

Ten fresh mushrooms (well rounded in shape); 6 dried mushrooms (soaked in water); 6 water chestnuts; a small amount each of jiucengta (Chinese basil) and corn starch; half a cup each of flour and water.

Condiments

Vegetarian oyster sauce; vegetarian meat flavoring; sugar; MSG.

Directions

(1) Cut off the stems of the mushrooms; wash and soak the heads in salt water. Remove and dry with a clean cloth.

(2) Soften dried mushrooms in water; chop dried mushrooms, water chestnuts, and jiucengta (Chinese basil). Mix with dry corn starch (necessary to give it a light, crisp flavor). This is the stuffing. Place stuffing inside the heads of the fresh mushrooms.

(3) Mix flour and water into a thick dough. Cover stuffed mushrooms with dough. Fry in oil until crisp and golden brown; remove. (Note: You have to be careful because vegetables cook quickly, so the oil cannot be too hot. The frying should be done slowly, turning the mushrooms frequently to cook evenly.)

(4) Put condiments in a pot; mix evenly. Put mushrooms in the pot and cook until the flavor of the condiments soaks in; remove.

The dish can be made even more golden and glistening by a sprinkling of sesame or peanut oil.

courtesy of the Evergreen Laurel Hotel, Taichung

A Harmonious Group

Ingredients

Any vegetable suitable for making a bed for the dish, such as spoon cabbage; ten large wheat flour gluten puffs; half a taro; four mushrooms; six water chestnuts.

Condiments

(1) One tbsp sesame oil; half tbsp salt; half tbsp butter.

(2) Two tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce; half tbsp corn starch in water; half a cup of vegetarian soup stock (or water); a small amount each of pepper and sesame oil; half tbsp sugar.

Directions

(1) Peel the taro and cut into slices. Steam, then, while still soft, mash. Mix evenly with condiments (1).

(2) Soak mushrooms until soft, then chop. Also, chop water chestnuts into small pieces. Mix both into the taro paste.

(3) Punch a small hole in the gluten puffs with a chopstick; stuff fully with taro paste. After all the puffs are filled, place in a electric cooker and steam for five minutes.

(4) Put condiments (2) in a pot; add taro gluten puffs. Coat each evenly in the condiments, then place on the vegetable bed.

courtesy of Liang Chiung-pai

Arhat Dish

Ingredients

Four mushrooms; 6 pieces miniature corn; half a carrot; 1 lily bulb; 40 grams of wheat flour gluten; 1 bamboo shoot, 40 grams of pea pods; a small amount of facai seaweed. (Amounts of ingredients can be flexibly altered to taste.)

Condiments

Two tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce; 1 tsp sugar; a small amount of black pepper; 1 cup vegetarian soup stock; 1 tsp corn starch; a small amount of sesame oil.

Directions

(1) Soak the mushrooms until soft; remove the stems and slice remainder in half.

(2) Peel the carrot; boil in water until done, then cut into slices.

(3) Boil the bamboo shoot, then cut it into slices.

(4) Wash the lily and the pea pods (separately).

(5) Soak the facai and gluten in water until soft.

(6) Pan fry the mushrooms in 3 tsp oil. Add the other ingredients one after another-in descending order of hardness-and cook until ready. Also, add all remaining condiments. Cook all together so that the flavor soaks in. When water has boiled away, the dish is ready to serve.

courtesy of Liang Chiung-pai

Returning Fully Loaded

Ingredients

One vegetarian chicken; half a taro; a small amount each of legisticum, cnidium officinale, ginseng, medlar, cinnamon, ginger, and rehmannia glutinosa (a root); soup stock.

Condiments

Salt, MSG, sugar (amounts to taste).

Directions

(1) Cut chicken and taro into large chunks; fry chicken in oil to a golden brown.

(2) Place all ingredients into a pot to simmer; fill with soup stock. Simmer for thirty minutes.

courtesy of Fa Hua Vegetarian Restaurant

Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients

Outside-About 300 grams of pumpkin; 300 grams of sticky rice flour; 4 tbsp flour.

Stuffing-300 grams of red bean paste (or water lily seed paste or date paste)

Condiments

(1) 3 tbsp salad oil; 1 tbsp sugar

(2) 1 tbsp each of soy sauce and sugar; a small amount of pepper; 4 tbsp water; half a tbsp of corn starch in water.

Directions

(1) Peel the pumpkin and cut into pieces. Steam until done. While still hot, mash into pumpkin paste. Mix in sticky rice flour and wheat flour and knead until mixed evenly. Include condiments (1) in the mix. This will serve as the outside.

(2) Divide the kneaded mix into fifteen balls. Place some stuffing (red bean paste or alternatives) inside each ball, and mold into a pumpkin shape.

(3) Using a bread knife (or spatula), cut pumpkin-like ridges into the outside of the balls; put a raisin on top as the "pumpkin stem."

(4) Place in a greased pan and steam for 15 minutes.

courtesy of Liang Chiung-pai photos by Vincent Chang