"Chinese Buddha's Delight", also known as "Luohan Zhai", is a classic vegetarian dish that holds a special place in Chinese cuisine. It is a symbolic dish often served during auspicious occasions and is believed to bring good fortune and blessings. The name "Buddha's Delight" reflects the notion that this dish is so delectable that even Buddha himself would enjoy it. With its vibrant colors, diverse textures, and harmonious blend of flavors, this dish is a true testament to the culinary artistry and wisdom of Chinese vegetarian cooking.
Here are our top 6 tried and tested recipes!
BUDDHA'S DELIGHT (VEGETARIAN LO HAN JAI)
Buddha's delight, or lo han jai, is a vegetarian dish well-known in Chinese and Buddhist cuisine. Use our family recipe for an authentic take on this dish.
Provided by Bill
Categories Fish and Seafood
Time 1h15m
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- Heat your wok over medium-high heat, and add the oil and ginger. Let the ginger caramelize for about 30 seconds without letting it burn. Add the red fermented bean curd and break it up with your spatula. Add the garlic, the white portions of the leeks (reserve to green portion for later), mushrooms, wood ears, and lily flowers. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add the Shaoxing wine and stir fry for another minute.
- Next, add the napa cabbage, fried tofu, and bean threads, and crank up the heat as high as it will go. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the remaining green portion of the leeks, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and water or vegetable stock. Stir everything together, cover the wok, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Uncover the wok and turn the heat back up to high. Add the mung bean noodles, which should soak up most of the liquid. Keep stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer to a large bowl and serve with steamed rice!
BUDDHA'S DELIGHT (JAI, CHINESE VEGETARIAN STEW)
An epic vegetable stew that features colorful vegetables, tender vermicelli noodles and fried tofu braised to perfection in a savory earthy sauce. Whether you're making this as the centerpiece of your dinner party or Chinese New Year celebration, or you simply want something hearty and healthy for dinner, this is the dish for you! {Vegan, Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Provided by Maggie Zhu
Categories Main
Time 1h5m
Number Of Ingredients 21
Steps:
- Prepare the dried lily flowers, shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms: Place each ingredient in a separate medium-sized bowl and pour boiling water on top to cover by at least 1" (2.5 cm). Press the ingredients down to submerge into the water. Rehydrate for 20 minutes, until they turn soft throughout.
- After the lily flowers turn soft, remove the tough ends if needed (*Footnote 1). If the lily flowers are very long, cut them in half lengthwise. Drain and set aside. Measure out 3/4 cup of the soaking water for later use.
- For the shiitake mushrooms, gently squeeze the water from the mushrooms, then slice into halves. Measure out 1/4 cup of the soaking water and pour into the same bowl with the lily flower rehydrating water.
- For the wood ear, mushrooms, once rehydrated, cut into small bite-sized pieces.
- Place the vermicelli noodles in a medium-sized bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes (or according to the package instructions), until the noodles turn al-dente. Drain and set aside.
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, stir to mix well and set aside.
- Mix the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet (at least 13 inches) or a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. When oil turns hot but not smoking hot, add ginger and green onion. Stir a few times until fragrant.
- Add the carrot, lily flowers, and dried shiitake mushrooms. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Add bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Add fried tofu and pour in the sauce. Add the napa cabbage and bok choy. Cover and cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through. Uncover and stir in between, to mix the vegetables with the sauce.
- Add bean thread noodles and let them soak in the liquid. Stir and cook for another 30 seconds. Stir the cornstarch slurry again to dissolve completely and pour into the pan. Stir until the sauce thickens. Transfer everything to a large platter. Serve hot as a main dish.
Nutrition Facts : ServingSize 1 serving, Calories 212 kcal, Carbohydrate 22.6 g, Protein 9.8 g, Fat 10.5 g, SaturatedFat 1.8 g, Sodium 726 mg, Fiber 4.1 g, Sugar 5.3 g
BUDDHA'S DELIGHT (LO HAN JAI 罗汉斋)
This recipe is the secret family recipe of our family, the Buddha's delight. This recipe has passed down from my mother in law who has been cooking this dish during every Chinese New Year for the past six decades.
Provided by KP Kwan
Categories Recipes
Time 30m
Number Of Ingredients 13
Steps:
- Tie a knot for each dried lily flowers, for better presentation.
- Soak the dry ingredients until they turn soft and fully hydrated.
- Cut the bean curd sheet into smaller pieces. Deep-fried briefly (about 15-20 seconds), remove and drain.
- Cut the carrots and bamboo shoots into thin slices.
- Cut the soaked wood ear fungus into the size similar to the carrots.
- Remove the stem of the Shiitake mushrooms. Cut into two for the smaller one, and slice into three or four for the bigger one.
- Keep the water after soaking the mushrooms. Use it as part of the Braised liquid since it is full of flavor.
- Cut the cabbage into large pieces.
- Ladle two tablespoons of vegetable oil into the wok. Stir fry the cabbage until it starts to turn soft.
- Add the Shiitake mushroom, lily flowers, wood ear fungus, black moss, carrots, the fermented bean curd, sugar, the mushroom water, and some additional water. Braise for two minutes.
- Break the deep-fried bean curd into smaller pieces. Lay on top of the other ingredients.
- Add the mung bean vermicelli on top of the bean curd pieces. Braise with the lid on for five minutes or until the bean curd pieces are soft. Add some water if necessary.
- Add the bamboo shoots, button mushrooms, and baby sweet corns.
- Braise until the vegetables are soft, and the sauce thickens. Serve.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 392 calories, Carbohydrate 66 grams carbohydrates, Cholesterol 0 milligrams cholesterol, Fat 9 grams fat, Fiber 9 grams fiber, Protein 18 grams protein, SaturatedFat 1 grams saturated fat, ServingSize 1, Sodium 2622 milligrams sodium, Sugar 25 grams sugar, TransFat 0 grams trans fat, UnsaturatedFat 7 grams unsaturated fat
BUDDHA'S DELIGHT
Steps:
- Soak mushrooms in 5 cups boiling-hot water in a bowl, keeping them submerged with a small plate and turning mushrooms over occasionally, until softened and cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes. Squeeze excess liquid from caps back into bowl and reserve liquid, then cut out and discard stems from mushrooms. Cut caps into 1-inch wedges.
- While mushrooms soak, carefully break bean curd skins in half crosswise, then halve each portion crosswise again. Transfer to a bowl, then add enough boiling-hot water to cover and soak, turning occasionally, until softened, about 30 minutes.
- If using fresh bamboo, trim bottoms of shoots, then halve shoots lengthwise with a sharp heavy knife. Pull off and discard leaves from shoots, then remove any blemishes with a sharp paring knife (don't worry about natural dotted pattern along base of shoots).
- Cover fresh or frozen bamboo with cold water by 1 inch in a 2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes, then drain in a colander and rinse under cold water. Repeat boiling and rinsing, then arrange bamboo halves, cut sides down, on a cutting board and cut bamboo lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
- Soak noodles in cold water to cover until softened, about 5 minutes, then drain in colander and transfer to a bowl.
- Drain bean curd skins in colander. When cool enough to handle, squeeze dry and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces.
- Halve tofu lengthwise, then cut each half crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
- Heat oil in a 5- to 6-quart wide heavy pot over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add mushrooms, bean curd skins, bamboo, and ginkgo nuts and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar and simmer 1 minute. Add reserved mushroom-soaking liquid and bring to a boil. Gently stir in tofu and soybean sprouts, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Gently stir in noodles and simmer, covered, 5 minutes. Add romaine hearts (pot will be full) and turn to coat, then simmer, covered, until romaine is tender, about 5 minutes.
BUDDHA'S DELIGHT
A buddhist vegetarian dish eaten on the first day of the Chinese New Year. It traditionally contains 18 ingredients that are considered auspicious. The servings are as part of a Chinese banquet for 6-8 people. If you are making just this I have no idea how many people it would feed! Some info about the more Asian ingredients: Dried lily buds aka golden needles. They are the dried flower of the day lily. soak before using. Dried black fungus aka wood ear fungus or cloud ear fungus Tofu puffs = golden squares of fried tofu found in the refrigerator section.
Provided by Missy Wombat
Categories Vegetable
Time 35m
Yield 6 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 11
Steps:
- Place the lily buds, black fungus, Shiitake mushrooms and tofu in separate bowls. cover each with boiling water and soak for 30 minutes. Drain the bowls and squeeze the excess water from the tofu. Cut the fungus into bite-sized pieces and halve the shiitake.
- Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Stir-fry carrot, celery and ginger for 30 seconds. Add soaked ingredients, remining ingredients and 1/4 cups water. Mix well. cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes or until heated through. Serve.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 89.9, Fat 6, SaturatedFat 0.8, Sodium 345.1, Carbohydrate 7.9, Fiber 1.4, Sugar 2.7, Protein 2.6
BUDDHA'S DELIGHT
Provided by Diana Kuan
Categories Wok Soy Stir-Fry Vegetarian Dinner Lunar New Year Tofu Advance Prep Required Vegan Pescatarian Kosher
Yield serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal
Number Of Ingredients 18
Steps:
- 1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms and lily buds in a bowl of warm water for 15 to 20 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water. Discard the stems from the mushrooms and thinly slice the mushroom caps. (For extra mushroom flavor, reserve the soaking liquid and add it to the dish.) Slice the rough black ends off the lily buds and discard, cut the lily buds in half, and pull apart the strands.
- 2. Rinse the bamboo shoots and thinly slice them. Trim and discard the hard ends from the snow peas and cut the snow peas lengthwise. Drain and finely chop the water chestnuts.
- 3. In a large bowl, soak the bean thread noodles in enough warm water to cover for 10 minutes to soften them. Drain, shake off the excess water, and set aside.
- 4. Drain and rinse the tofu, then pat dry with paper towels. Slice the tofu into 1-inch cubes.
- 5. Prepare the sauce: In a small bowl, stir together the vegetable broth, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar. Set aside.
- 6. Heat a wok, Dutch oven, or deep 14-inch skillet over medium heat until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact. Add the peanut oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add the ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, lily buds, bamboo shoots, snow peas, water chestnuts, cabbage, and tofu. Add the sauce and the mushroom soaking liquid (if using) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the lid, add the drained bean thread noodles, re-cover the wok, and simmer for about another 5 minutes, or until the noodles are cooked. (Don't worry if the dish looks a little soupy; the noodles will absorb the remaining broth.) Ladle everything into a deep serving dish and serve hot.
Tips:
- For a crispier texture, blanch the vegetables for a shorter amount of time, or toss them in a cornstarch slurry before frying.
- To make the sauce thicker, add a cornstarch slurry or a teaspoon of soy sauce.
- If you don't have rice wine, you can substitute dry sherry or white wine.
- For a vegan version of this dish, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and omit the eggs.
- Serve Buddha's Delight over rice or noodles, or with a side of steamed vegetables.
Conclusion:
Buddha's Delight is a delicious and healthy Chinese dish that is easy to make at home. With its variety of vegetables, protein, and sauce, it is a great way to get a balanced meal. The tips above can help you make the best Buddha's Delight possible. Enjoy!
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