Chinese Mushroom in Spicy Sauce

Preparation

1. Rinse or wipe dry the mushrooms. Chop them and keep aside.
2. Chop the spring onions, garlic, ginger.
3. Crush the sichuan pepper and black pepper in a mortar-pestle.
4. Dissolve 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoon water to a fine, smooth paste or slurry. Keep aside.

Making Chinese Mushrooms

1. Heat sesame oil in a frying pan or wok. Add finely chopped garlic and finely chopped ginger. Sauté on a medium heat for half a minute.
2. Then add chopped spring onion whites or finely chopped onions. Sauté for a minute on medium heat.
3. Next finely chopped celery. Celery is optional and you can skip it.
4. Now add crushed black pepper or pepper powder and the crushed sichuan pepper. Stir and mix well with the rest of the mixture.
5. Next add sliced or chopped white button mushrooms.
6. Sauté the mushrooms on a medium heat.
7. First the mushrooms would release a lot of water. Continue to saute till all the water dries up and the mushrooms are cooked well.
8. Then add the naturally brewed soy sauce. For a gluten-free version, use gluten-free soy sauce.
9. Next add red chilli sauce or red chili paste. Red chilli paste would make the sauce more spicy. You can add both the soy sauce and chilli sauce as per your taste. Mix very well.
10. Pour ⅔ to ¾ cup of vegetable stock or water.
11. Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar. Stir and mix well.
12. Then add the cornstarch paste or slurry.
13. Stir and mix very well after you add the cornstarch paste.
14. Bring the sauce to a simmer on medium heat. Then add salt. Add less salt as soy sauce and chilli sauce already has salt in them.
15. Mix very well and continue to simmer for some minutes till the sauce thickens.
16. Switch off the heat and lastly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the spring onion greens, ½ teaspoon rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon rice wine (optional).
17. Give a quick stir and serve this spicy Chinese Mushrooms with fried rice, stir fried noodles, hakka noodles or chowmein. It also pairs well with steamed rice.