Deep Fried Oyster Mushrooms

I saw this recipe emerged during the Chinese New Year period.  Deep-fried oyster mushrooms, how interesting and said to be delicious.  I seldom do deep-frying so it has taken me a while to revisit this idea of deep-frying oyster mushrooms.  Speaking of which, I wonder why people only do this during Chinese New Year?  Since I have tried this, I got to say it is very delicious when just out of the deep-fryer, it is hot and crispy on the outside and slightly soft inside.  I was trying a new batter here and it turned soft when cold, so you got to eat this hot!  Or use your trusted batter recipe for this.

This is the fresh oyster mushrooms.  You can buy it at the Asian grocery store.  It is said to be able to lower the cholesterol levels because it is naturally contain lovastatin.  Asian eat this mushrooms a lot, we used it in soup and stir-fry.  I prefer the fresh one when comes to oyster mushrooms, the canned oyster mushroom has a smell that I dislike.

Ingredients:

• Fresh oyster mushrooms, you can cut the bigger piece into half

Batter:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1 cup water
• Salt to taste
• White pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. chicken stock granules
• 1 Tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
• 1/2 tsp.5 spice powder

Method:

1.  Quickly rinse the oyster mushrooms under water to clean.  Pad it dry with paper towel. Or you can brush or clean it with towel if you believe mushrooms are not supposed to be wash under water.

2.  Mix the batter in a bowl.  Whisk well until smooth. Heat up your wok or deep-fryer with cooking oil, when hot, turn to medium heat.

3.  Take one mushroom, dip in batter and slowly put into the wok to deep-fry, put 4-5 and deep-fry until golden brown.  Dish out and drain on paper towel before serving.  Best to eat it hot and crispy.  Turn soft when cold.

4.  You can serve this baby with Thai's sweet chili sauce or Maggi's sweet chili sauce or as is.