Asian Marinated Mushrooms

March 11, 2005

I'm a firm believer in the 5+a day campaign that encourages us to eat at least five servings of fresh fruit and vegetables daily.

Salads are a good way of including vegetables in the diet and to prevent boredom from setting in, think outside the square - it's OK to make a salad without lettuce. In fact there are salads that benefit from having the ingredients marinate for an hour or two in a tasty dressing or sauce, and lettuce leaves both plain and fancy just don't like lying around in vinaigrette for any length of time. They soon become slimy and disgusting.

Fresh white button mushrooms lend themselves to the salad treatment, particularly in a dish like Mushrooms a la Grecque where they are cooked with lemon juice, olive oil and herbs then served cold. I often make these to go with barbecued meat.

Today's recipe uses the same method of preparation but for a change I've used Asian ingredients for the dressing.

Marinated Mushrooms

400g small white button mushrooms
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon Kikkoman soy sauce
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 small red chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Wash and quarter the mushroom. Place all the other ingredients in a measuring jug, then add sufficient water to make a cup of liquid. Pour into a saucepan, bring to the boil and add the mushrooms. Simmer for five minutes then remove the mushrooms from the pan with a slotted spoon and place in a serving dish.

Return the pan to the heat and continue cooking the sauce for about five minutes until it has reduced by half and is turning syrupy. Pour over the mushrooms and allow them to cool in the liquid. Refrigerate if not required immediately. Serve at room temperature, garnished with finely chopped garlic chives.