It’s Vesak Day today. I made a big pot of vegetarian chap chye to eat throughout the day. Haha, I love taking the easy way out! Seriously though, I have no issues eating chap chye with rice all day long, simply because it’s so savoury and soupy. That’s all thanks to the magic ingredient, nam yee (red fermented beancurd), which is widely available at supermarkets, wet markets and provision shops.
I learnt how to make this dish from my mother-in-law, who is a Hakka. See, I may have “Teochew tastes”, but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating other cuisines, especially when they are so yummy 😉 You hardly need a recipe for this version of chap chye. My mother-in-law actually fries the ingredients individually before dumping them in 1 big pot. She says it enhances the taste. For me, less oil is better, so I just throw all the ingredients in and simmer till it’s one big dee-licious mess!
Vegetarian Chap Chye
– Wong bok or chinese cabbage (or have them both!)
– 2 or 3 cubes of nam yee (depending on how big a pot you’re cooking)
– 1 can of button mushrooms
– 1 packet enoki mushrooms
– A handful of dried mushrooms (soaked and sliced)
– A handful of black moss
– A handful of wolfberries
– A handful of dried woodear fungus (soaked)
– A handful of gingko nuts (buy pre-peeled if you want to make life easy)
– 3 tbsp of vegetarian oyster sauce
– 1 soup bowl of water (or more, if you want it more soupy, but remember, the cabbages add to the liquid content as they soften and cook)
1. In a pot, over a medium heat, fry your nam yee with some oil. Mash up the cubes as you fry. Add in the oyster sauce.
2. Lower the heat. Throw in all your ingredients except the cabbage and black moss. Try and coat all the ingredients with nam yee. If it’s too dry, use some of the nam yee liquid from the jar.
3. Now add in your cabbage, black moss and water. Cover and simmer over a very low heat.
4. Cook for about 30 minutes until the cabbage is soft.
In the event that you want it more salty, just add a little more vegetarian oyster sauce + nam yee cubes. All up to your preferences, really.
Can’t resist showing another pic … just look at that scrummy black moss!
