Braised Mushrooms with Fat Choy

Grandma’s Braised Mushrooms with Fat Choy is perfect for weeknight dinners or a fuss-free family banquet! The mushrooms are simmered until succulent, then slow cooked with Chinese cabbage to infuse a natural sweetness into the sauce.

If you love this style of Cantonese cooking, try it with chicken wings, abalone, sea cucumber, tofu or eggplant!

A one-pot family side dish

When the festive season comes around, there are two things that happen in our household: (1) Grandma pulls out all the stops and makes her most celebrated dishes and (2) all the extended family gather together to welcome the New Year, hearts brimming with excitement and bellies full of delicious food!

You can probably guess that only the finest recipes make it to the dinner spread. Much like Grandma’s Cantonese Steamed Fish with Ginger and Shallots (清蒸鱼) and Dad’s XO Claypot Crab with Vermicelli (金沙粉絲蟹煲), Braised Mushrooms with Fat Choy is, without a doubt, on the top of that list.

Here’s what you need to know about the classic Cantonese dish: It’s an easy one-pot recipe that brings your family to the dinner table. As it cooks, the sauce thickens until it’s deep with umami, amplifying every bite in a way that can only be found in the heart of an authentic family dish. 

Just reminiscing about it has my mouth salivating. Now it’s time for you to share it with your family too!

What is black moss seaweed?

Black moss, affectionately called ‘fat choy’ (髮菜) in Cantonese, is a type of bacteria that can be found growing in the Qinghai Plateau and Northern China’s Gobi Desert. Its name is literally translated to ‘hair vegetable’ and has an astounding resemblance to black hair when dehydrated. 

Culinary Use

Chinese families often cook using black moss during the New Year in recipes such as Buddha’s Delight because the name sounds very much like ‘fat choy’ in the popular Chinese New Year greeting ‘gung hei fat choy’. This saying wishes people prosperity, happiness and luck, which is loosely symbolised by black moss.

Taste

Black moss is only ever eaten after it’s rehydrated. You’ll find that the texture is slightly springy, similar to the seaweed found in Ching Bo Leung (清補涼). The only difference is that fat choy is much finer and thread-like so it feels more delicate in the mouth.

It will also take on the flavor of whatever sauce it’s cooked in. As it simmers, the liquid will be absorbed into the seaweed so you’ll have a touch of its original earthy aroma plus the liquid that it was cooking in.

How do you clean black moss?

Our family buys dehydrated black moss from the local Asian grocery store or Chinese medicinal shops. It’s fairly easy to clean, only requiring cold water and a bowl. 

Set the black moss in a large bowl and fill it with cold water to soak for 15-20 minutes.

After soaking, run your hand or chopsticks through the fat choy to free any dirt or dust particles. Pour the water out and repeat the gentle washing once more before setting the black moss in a colander to drain.

When the water has dripped out, it’s ready – perfect to cook with Grandma’s Braised Mushrooms with Fat Choy!

Why this recipe works

• Using chicken and pork as well as mushroom stock as a base means there’s deeper flavor in the sauce.
• Chinese cabbage is naturally sweet with both soft and crunchy textures, which complements the springy chew of each mushroom.
• Infusing ginger and garlic lets the dish pop with a subtle aromatic taste.

What you’ll need

About the ingredients

Braising liquid

We use two types of liquids for Grandma’s Braised Mushrooms with Fat Choy: (1) a homemade chicken and pork stock and (2) the water used to soak the dehydrated mushrooms in.

You can use water instead, but you’ll need to season it with more bouillon powder or stock cubes to get a richer flavor. Also, if you don’t have any homemade stock on hand, you can buy it instead.

Vegetables

For the leafy greens, there are a few options to choose from. Here’s a breakdown of some greens you might like to use:

• Iceberg lettuce: This is traditionally used in the recipe because of its crisp. Its texture and mild flavor complements the mushrooms.
• Chinese cabbage (siu choy): Grandma uses siu choy for this recipe. When cooked, Chinese cabbage will soften much faster than iceberg lettuce. However, it’s innately sweeter, giving the dish a naturally sweet dimension.
• Bok choy: A great all-rounder that provides crunch as well as sweetness. When using bok choy, it is usually blanched in water and presented around the plate’s rim.

How to make this recipe

Heat up the wok or pan on high heat. When hot, pour the cooking oil in. Turn the heat to medium and add the ginger and garlic to the oil to cook for 30 seconds or until aromatic.

Increase the heat to high and throw in the mushrooms. Stir for 1 minute and season with the sesame oil, oyster sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, light soy sauce, sugar and chicken powder. Mix in for another 30 seconds.

Pour in the chicken stock and mushroom water, then bring the liquid to a boil. Depending on the heat of your stove, it should take anywhere between 2-10 minutes.

As soon as it boils, layer the top with Chinese cabbage and lower the heat to low-medium for a simmer.

Add the black moss as the final layer and simmer for 30 minutes.

Optional: For a thicker sauce, bring the heat up to medium. Stir the starch slurry until well combined, then slowly pour it into the sauce while mixing. The sauce will thicken, so stop when it reaches your preferred consistency.

When ready, serve immediately as is!

Recipe FAQs

Tips for the best results

• Use good quality dried shiitake mushrooms. You’ll find that they’re more fragrant and the texture meatier.
• Opt for a dehydrated mushroom. You’ll get a more stronger flavor compared to using fresh ones, which means there’ll be more depth in the sauce.
• Try Chinese cabbage for the leafy green. There are many options for greens, but we love the natural sweetness Chinese cabbage brings to this dish.

What to eat it with

We love to serve this Cantonese-style dish as part of our Lunar New Year banquets, but it will really go with anything! Here’s another easy dinner menu you can try:

• Start off with Steamed Oysters with Ginger and Shallots.
• Cook up a pot of rice to serve with classics including Black Pepper Beef Stir Fry (黑椒牛柳), Fried Pork Ribs with Black Vinegar (鎭江排骨) and Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms and Dried Lily Flowers.
• Add an extra serving of veggies when you serve Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (蠔油芥籣).
• Lotus Root and Pork Soup (蓮藕汤) is the perfect way to bring all the dishes together.
• Keep the flavor profile simple by finishing off with Papaya and Snow Fungus Dessert Soup, served hot or cold!

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This post was originally published on 24/01/20 and updated with tips and FAQs in March 2022.

Join the family!