Asian Glass Noodles with Tofu and Wood Ear Mushrooms

I went to the farmer's market today and found... FRESH WOOD EAR MUSHROOMS!

I had no idea what to use them with! But a generous basket for $3.50 was too great of a deal to pass up on a hard to find item.

I googled some recipes, and came up with mostly soups. I finally found this recipe on food.com, and liked the sound of a good stir fry for dinner!

Add on the fresh carrots, onion, garlic, and green onion from the farmer's market, homemade chili oil with garden-fresh hot peppers, homemade veggie stock, and we had a really awesome garden-fresh Asian stir fry!


-150g Glass Noodles
-1 package (14oz or so) of extra firm Tofu, pressed, and thinly sliced into roughly 2 inch long strips
-1/4 cup or so of thinly sliced green onion leaves
-1 - 2 carrots, julienned
-3 tbsp minced garlic
-1 large onion, thinly sliced in roughly 2 inch long strips
-1 loosely packed cup of wood ear mushrooms, thinly sliced in strips
-1 bay leaf
-2 tbsp annatto seeds
-2-4 cups veggie stock
-3 tbsp sesame oil
-2 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (I had a nice red pepper version, but regular is fine too!)
-4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vegan oyster sauce (I was out of the vegan type, but it exists!)
-1-2 tbsp hot chili oil (use more if it is weak stuff, less if it is strong)
-garlic salt, to taste
-fresh black pepper, to taste

Add sesame oil to wok on low-medium heat. Add annato seeds and cook until the color has left the seeds and gone into the oil. Remove the seeds with a slotted spoon.

Raise heat to medium-high and add tofu and garlic. Cook tofu until it is golden brown and crisp on outside. Reduce heat to medium and add onion. Cook until transparent. Add carrots, soy sauce, and oyster sauce, and fry about 1 minute.

Remove everything from pan and set aside. Add 2 cups of veggie stock and bring to a boil. Add noodles and bay leaf, reduce to a simmer, and cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Check often, stirring as needed, and adding more stock as needed to keep noodles wet.

Remove and discard bay leaf. Add veggies and tofu back in the pan, along with mushrooms, chili oil, garlic salt, and pepper (to taste). Cook on low heat about 5 minutes, adding more stock if noodles dry out. Deglaze with rice vinegar in the last minute. Remove from heat and immediately stir in green onion leaves. Serve hot and fresh!



M monster went gaga over this! He loved it! We had the nice vegan fudge for desert. :) Perfect!