Braised Sea Cucumber with Mushrooms

Ring in the Lunar New Year with a Chinese delicacy – Braised Sea Cucumber with Mushrooms! Cooked low and slow in a garlic oyster sauce, this dish is melt-your-mouth tender. It’s easy enough for a weeknight dinner yet impressive for a family banquet!

If you love this style of cooking, try it with chicken, mushrooms, abalone or tofu!

A Chinese New Year Delicacy

Our family saves the best dishes for special occasions, and Braised Sea Cucumber with Mushrooms is one of them. It’s a beloved Cantonese way to welcome the new year, filled with gorgeous savory mushrooms and velvety soft cabbage.

It always amazes me how the simplest of recipes can have such depth and be the heroes of a Chinese feast. This is one of them!

Perhaps it’s because it’s made by Grandma (whose cooking I will adore for the rest of my life), or because a pot of Braised Sea Cucumber with Mushrooms means family time around the dinner table.

Regardless of what the reason is, there’s one thing that I know for sure: it’s DELICIOUS.

Slow cooking it gives the oyster sauce a chance to infuse into the ingredients and become a savory sticky glaze. This creates a melt-in-your-mouth experience that is worth waiting 365 days for!

Everything you need to know about sea cucumber

What it is

Sea cucumbers are classified in the same group as starfish and sea urchins, making them a type of echinoderm. They have a long and tube-like body (similar to a cucumber) and have retractable tentacles all around the mouth.

There are different colors, shapes and sizes for this echinoderm and you’ll generally find them living along the ocean floor.

Taste

This ingredient has the trait of most Chinese delicacies – there is barely any taste and the texture is highly gelatinous. These qualities can be found in other ingredients like snow fungus, hashima and fish maw.

At first, sea cucumbers might have a faint smell of the sea, but will eventually take on the flavor of the sauces that it’s cooked in. When you bite into it, you’ll find that it is rather springy but it can also melt in your mouth depending on how long it was cooked for.

Health Benefits

The marine animal is potent with vitamins, antioxidants and nutrients, including magnesium, riboflavin and protein while being low in fat. This potentially translates to better heart and liver health.

According to some Chinese people, its helfty price tag is partly because of the fact that the ingredient is considered an aphrodisiac!

However, it is also said that it has blood thinning properties, which is not recommended for people already on blood-thinning medication.

So unless your health doesn’t allow you to eat this Braised Sea Cucumber dish, I say go for it. Especially when you’re getting some fall apart tender goodness!

Why this recipe works

• Using shiitake gives the Braised Sea Cucumber and Mushrooms dish a deep earthy flavor full of umami.
• Oyster sauce is perfect for a rich savory taste that complements the braising technique.
• Adding Chinese cabbage keeps the sweetness subtle from natural ingredients.

What you’ll need

About the ingredients

We get all of the sauces and dehydrated ingredients from Asian supermarkets. The sea cucumbers can be found fresh in seafood markets or from Chinese specialty dried goods stores. They’re sold dehydrated or pre-prepared in the frozen area.

For this recipe, we used the pre-prepared frozen ones that have already been cleaned. They come in a variety of sizes and prices, so pick the ones that suit your preference.

How to make this recipe

Soak then Chinese cabbage in cool salted water, then rinse and repeat 3 times until the impurities have been washed away. Let it dry while you use a small knife to gently scrape the sea cucumber under running cold tap water.

Cut the cabbage into 4cm (1.6″) segments along its height.

Do the same with the sea cucumbers.

Lay the cabbage on the bottom of a large pot and add 2 US cup (470mL) mushroom water in. Let it simmer on a low-medium heat for 10 minutes.

Turn the heat up to high, then add the shiitake mushrooms, sea cucumbers and remaining mushroom water into the pot.

Season with the sugar, chicken bouillon powder and oyster sauce. Stir well and bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.

Meanwhile, heat up the oil on high and cook the garlic cloves for 20 seconds or until lightly brown.

Pour the cooked garlic, oil and Shaoxing rice wine into the pot and stir to combine.

Lay the black moss on top and cook on a low-medium heat for another 30 minutes or until everything is soft.

Serve immediately as is with rice!

Recipe FAQs

Tips for the best results

• Braise it low and slow. Keep the simmering to just a bubble and let it cook for longer for a more tender and infused meal.
• Don’t cut the sea cucumber too small. When overcooked, they can become incredibly soft to the point where you’d be best off eating it with a spoon. Keep them larger so they can withstand the heat and hold their shape better.
• Use abalone sauce. If you want to take the flavor up a notch, substitute the oyster sauce with abalone sauce.

Make it a Lunar New Year banquet!

• Start the party with Steamed Oysters with Ginger and Shallots and Seafood Rolls.
• A bowl of Fish Maw Soup or Buddha Jumps Over The Wall Soup (佛跳墙) will warm the body up.
• Every new year is welcomed with Chinese Steamed Fish with Ginger and Shallots for prosperity.
• E-Fu Noodles with Roast Duck is served for longevity.
• Stir Fried Pea Shoots with Garlic adds some green on the menu.
• Our family loves having noodles or rice with crispy Salted Egg Prawns (牛油黃金虾).
• Finish it all off with a light Snow Fungus Dessert Soup (雪耳糖水) or Silky Egg Pudding (冰花燉蛋)!

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