Wood Ear Mushroom Salad

Wood ear mushrooms with some of the last fresh tomatoes and chilli peppers from the garden. You can buy dried wood ear mushrooms or forage them yourself. Deliciously simple, clean and healthy, this salad packs an acidic and savoury punch as a side dish or can be bulked out with fresh greens from the garden. Also called jelly ear, wood ear, cloud ear and black fungus, these distinct mushrooms grow in clusters on birch and hazel and are common from early spring to late autumn. The texture of this type of mushroom is distinctly different from regular, spongy mushrooms. It has a clean, jelly-like texture with a gentle crunch. If foraging wood ear fungus for yourself, get familiar with the edible varieties first and never pick something you aren’t 100% sure about. Auricularia auricula, Auricularia auricula-judae, and Auricularia polytricha are the three most commonly consumed varieties.

This salad was made by the first Farmer and Chef collaborator, Waiyan, who will be developing recipes for the blog from time to time. With a background in Cantonese home cooking, largely influenced by her grandmother, she will share recipes that use a mixture of simple techniques and home grown produce to incorporate her favourite elements of both Cantonese and Welsh cuisine for you to try for yourself.

So, without further ado, here is the first of her recipes.

The Recipe - Serves 3-4 - Ready in 10 minutes

• 3 medium sized tomatoes (or a handful of cherry / baby plum tomatoes)

• 25g dried wood ear mushroom

• 1 ghost chilli (or a less potent variety), finely sliced

• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tsp sherry vinegar

• 2 tbsp cider vinegar

• 1 tbsp fermented black beans in chilli oil

Step 1.

If using dried mushrooms, soak them in twice the volume of cold water for 2 hours. In a seperate bowl, mix together the oil, vinegars, soy sauce, black beans, crushed garlic and chilli and set aside to marinade.

Step 2.

Once the mushrooms have soaked, tear them by hand into bite sized pieces and wash them thoroughly. Add them to a pan of fresh water and bring them to the boil. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

Step 3.

Whilst they cook, cut the tomatoes into wedges and add them to the dressing. Toss the mushrooms around in the dressing too and serve the whole lot together as a side or addition to a broth.