Buddha's Delight smothered over Crispy Noodles

Buddha's Delight, a.k.a. Luo Han Zhai! This is a classic dish with a ton of different variants - in this video, we wanted to teach you a bit about the history, the context of the dish within the overarching category of Chinese vegetarian food, as well as teach you a Cantonese restaurant version which's smothered over fried noodles.
0:00 - Introduction
0:29 - The three Chinese vegetarian traditions
1:35 - History of Buddha's delight
3:16 - Ingredient Prep
6:45 - Frying the Buddha's Delight
8:41 - Frying the Crispy Noodles
9:45 - Can you make this dish easier?
SOURCING
Wood ear is available on both Amazon and Weee:
www.amazon.com/Mushroom-House...
www.sayweee.com/en/product/Bl...
Ditto with Snow Fungus:
www.amazon.com/Dried-White-Fu...
www.sayweee.com/en/product/Dr...
INGREDIENTS
For the quick stock:
* Dried Shiitakes (冬菇), 15g
* Dried Kelp (海带), ~8g
* Water, 1L; plus the shiitake soaking liquid
Buddha's Delight Components:
* Snow fungus (雪耳), 5g
* Wood ear (木耳), 5g
* Dried shiitake mushroom (冬菇), 20g
* Button mushrooms (白蘑菇), 60g
* Carrot, 60g
* Baby corn (玉米笋), 60g
* Baby bok choy (上海青), 60g
To fry:
* Ginger, ~1 inch, minced
* Liaojiu, a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 1 tbsp
* Quick stock from above, ~2 cups
* Oyster sauce (蚝油) or vegetarian oyster sauce, 2 tbsp
* Sugar, 1/2 tsp
* Seasoning: salt, 1/4 tsp; MSG (味精), 1/8 tsp; white pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/8 tsp
* Slurry of 1 tbsp cornstarch (生粉) - or preferably potato or tapioca starch - mixed with 2 tbsp of the shiitake soaking liquid
* Toasted sesame oil (麻油), 1 tsp
For the noodles:
* Dried noodles, 60g
* Oil for frying, ~1.5 cups (for a round bottomed wok, you will likely need a good bit more if using a pot)
PROCESS:
For the quick 'stock':
Soak the shiitake mushrooms and the kelp in cool water, in the fridge overnight (for reference, the kelp actually only needs 30 minutes, but longer is no problem).
Thoroughly rinse the kelp, and give the mushrooms a quick rinse as well. Add the mushrooms, kelp, the mushroom soaking liquid, and the water to a pot. Get up to a boil then down to a simmer, quickly skim, and cook at a heavy simmer - covered - for 30 minutes.
Strain, reserve.
For the Buddha's Delight:
Soak the snow fungus, wood ear, and shiitake in the fridge overnight.
Squeeze and rinse the shiitake, reserving the soaking liquid, and cut into 1/2 cm sheets. Slice off the hard 'root' of the snow fungus, and cut into ~8 pieces. Slice off the hard 'root' of the wood ear, and cut each ear into 2-3 pieces. Slice the button mushrooms into 1/2 cm sheets. Slice the carrot into 3mm sheets. Slice the corn into ~1cm sections along a biased wedge. Chop the bok choy into ~1.5 inch sections.
Blanch the ingredients: 30 seconds for bok choy, 1 minute for the carrot and corn, 1 minute for button mushrooms, 2 minutes for snow fungus and wood ear.
Add about 2 tbsp of peanut oil to a pot, and fry the ginger over a medium low flame. Once fragrant, ~30 seconds, add in the shiitake mushrooms and the button mushrooms. Up the flame to high. Stir fry for ~1 minute, the swirl in the wine. Add in the snow fungus and the wood ear, and ~30 second fry. Add in the stock, the oyster sauce, and the sugar. Get up to a boil and down to a simmer, and let that simmer - covered - for 15 minutes.
Add in the carrot and the corn. Simmer for ~5 minutes, covered.
Add in the bok choy and the seasoning and mix. Over a medium low flame, add in the slurry bit by bit, until it's reached a thickness that's just before a spoon coating consistency. Drizzle in the sesame oil, out.
TO FRY THE NOODLES:
Boil your noodles until they're done. To cool them down, transfer to a strainer and pull/jostle the noodles until they're no longer hot to the touch. Arrange the noodles in a 'cake' on a plate.
Heat up your oil until it hit ~180C. Slide in the noodles, and fry each side for ~2 minutes, or until good and golden brown.
____
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/ chinesecookingdemystified
Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): • Live Stream: Favourite...

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, a few notes: 1. Something that I’m kicking myself for not making clearer in the video - while Buddha’s Delight was *descended* from Temple Vegetarian food, this current restaurant incarnation would probably be more of a minjian dish. 2. A clearer delineation might be this: in Chinese, both the ‘people’s vegetarian’ and the ‘court vegetarian’ traditions are labelled “su/sou” (素), while the temple vegetarian is labelled “zhai/jai” (斋). For the non-religious, generally speaking it’s the ‘su’ that we’re more interested in, as zhai food avoids aromatics and has a number of similar ‘no fun’ rules (garlic and such is supposed to ‘inflame the passions’, which’s… kind of our goal lol). 3. Another thing that you can add to the quick ‘stock’ if you like - some soaked soybeans. Adds a nice layer of complexity. A bit of soybean sprouts and/or daikon would also be nice additions. As an aside, eventually we should probably circle back to that old vegetarian stock video of ours… we called for fresh shelled chestnuts in that recipe, which apparently like nobody can actually find. 4. If you aren’t vegetarian, a small handful dried shrimp would be a nice addition to the stock as well. 5. As Steph said in the outro, if you’re looking for a route to simplify the dish, skip the quick stock - simply use that shiitake mushroom soaking liquid and water in its stead. If you want something sort of in-between, together with that you could also add a bit of dried kelp in with the stir fry during those ~20 minutes when all the vegetables are cooking, and (optionally) remove at the end. We actually were pretty close to going that route for this recipe, but decided that a quick veg ‘stock’ would be a bit clearer to communicate. 6. Copying something that I wrote under the “why Cantonese Buddhists (traditionally) ate Oyster sauce” video: “Random PSA that I don’t think any of you actually need, but just in case… DO NOT use this video as ‘evidence’ that you can just… slide in oyster sauce into vegetarian dishes when cooking for Cantonese (or any!) vegetarians - without explicitly asking them first, of course. Always default to a vegetarian oyster sauce unless you’re 110% sure that they’re ok with oyster. As Steph said in the video, the vast majority of Cantonese vegetarians these days do NOT eat oysters. This video was mostly for fun: to take a little look at an interesting, under-discussed aspect of traditional Cantonese cookery.” 7. One random thing - soak your ingredients in the fridge if at all possible. Shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but wood ear can potentially have some problems if left out too long in a hot (like, tropical) climate. 8. If you have those wood ear that’re packed tightly in their box, those are instant wood ear and only need 20-30 minutes to reconstitute. Would completely work well for this dish. 9. Similarly, kelp only needs like 30 minutes to reconstitute. The reason we called for the overnight soak of the kelp was solely to slightly simplify the logistics (and the communication) of the dish. 10. The primary purpose of all of those rare mushrooms and fungi in the old school Buddha’s Delight was… to show off. Like, I’m sure that they tasted great, but this sort of dish was obviously a status/financial flex more than anything. 11. Oddly, when researching those components, I kind of got a new appreciation for gold leaf as an ingredient. Like, these days we don’t have to purchase rare ingredients - that’re foraged/fished to the point of near extinction - to make a dish expensive! All you need to do to up the price tag is add shavings of gold. There’s something beautiful about feeding showboaty rich fucks literal rocks with no nutritional value. Way better than huajiao fish maw (花胶). That’s all for now, might edit a few more notes in in a bit. Apologies that this video was a little slow in coming out, ended up being a little more intense of an edit than originally anticipated.

[@AntoniusTyas]

Thanks for pointing out about fish maw on point 11. Thanks to showboaty richfucks eating totoaba's swimbladder, vaquita is now facing a certain extinction. Though it may be is way too late for vaquita, it's not too late for other porpoises and dolphins, as well as sharks. Also, thanks for giving me an idea for my dad's birthday dinner.

[@adriennefloreen]

If you ever come to California I'll make you the same dish with 3 wild mushrooms and numerous wild foraged roots and leaves you have never heard of, some collected off of a cliff. I would love to see you make the original recipe at the beginning with all of the hard to source, wild foraged ingredients, even if people watching couldn't get the ingredients it would be fun to watch, and some people would re-create it using their own ingredients, or actually go to great lengths to order them online.

[@AntoniusTyas]

@@tama3442 ga dulu thx

[@Earthling3996]

I found the info on the types of vegetarian and the history of the dish very fascinating! Thank you for sharing!

[@cutebunny0078]

Stateside I have found fresh chestnuts in asian markets..but they're only seasonally available in the fall!

[@johnpenwell6402]

My disappointment is immeasurable that you didn’t forage those button mushrooms from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, but I am excited to try out this recipe.

[@brandonlee4175]

I'm really disappointed he didn't hand-pick lichens from high cliffs. That would have made a very entertaining video.

[@adis.g6569]

This is a stupid comment

[@skore9975]

It's always a good idea to go mushroom foraging when you don't have experience with it!

[@armoredcoreenjoyer]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣the "inner" always gets me.

[@lindaminaga2649]

L O V E. I T!!!!

[@violetbasil]

probably not the only one saying this, but i really appreciate whenever y'all drop a vegetarian recipe. it is really difficult to find good recipe videos for vegetarian or vegan food that aren't some kind of asmr or asking for really unusual ingredients you'd use for that recipe and never again. it's especially nice with how y'all are so consistently mentioning what factors of ingredient choice are necessary, since the only asian grocer here is... rather small tbh. it's easy to get seasonings/preserved foods, but trying to get a lot of fresh vegetables that aren't common here is much more difficult.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Yeah, I'd say the only 'mandatory' ingredient in this dish is the dried shiitake (though a root vegetable starch like potato starch would also help the sauce hold better if serving over noodles). Everything else you can play around with based on your local produce :)

[@aidanwarren4980]

It's also nice that they can present a vegetarian recipe without the whole "You won't miss the meat!" or "Even carnivores will love this dish!" tagline that always accompanies vegetarian recipes from mainstream sources.

[@ramencurry6672]

If you’re going to eat vegetarian skip most foods and go for Indian

[@none941]

I saw the video on Buddhist vegetarian tradition before watching this video and found Steph's explanations interesting but unconvincing. There is a lot of confusion about meat and Buddhism, understandably so. There have been a lot of confusing statements about this subject broadcast about. Whatever your preference it, please stick to it, without apology as the choice is exclusively YOURS. This video excellently portrays a dish about which there should be no confusion. Thanks to Steph and Chris for unraveling the essence of the dish without taking anything away from its many valid forms. This is why I love Asian food of all kinds. It can be startlingly humble or excruciatingly fancy and both are correct. You guys are the best! I wish you peace, love, safety and contentment in your adopted home! 😊

[@faithnelson6069]

i'm no longer vegetarian, but i recall the 'meats' you mentioned. i would still gladly eat those, if i could find good recipes in how to make them. also; love your video's. you never talk down to your audience and i learn new things with each one.

[@hollish196]

Thank you for not doing the rich-folk's version. I really like the explanation of the different fungi.

[@jingizu149]

Buddha's Delight was one of the first dishes that taught me that I like vegetarian cuisine. Great recipe as always and much appreciated.

[@ljubokocovic1632]

I’d like if you guys did a series on chinese vegetarian food. With a couple of episodes on the people’s, court and temple chinese vegetarian cuisine each!

[@maxpowr90]

The "brown sauce" is so ubiquitous in American Chinese restaurants. Amusing to see it on this dish.

[@tama3442]

Have faith in JESUS CHRIST as LORD and SAVIOR for HE SAVES from the wrath of GOD which is spending an eternity in hell❗️ *What is the Gospel?* The true gospel is the good news that God saves sinners. Man is by nature sinful and separated from God with no hope of remedying that situation. But God, by His power, provided the means of man’s redemption in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of GOD, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Romans 10:9 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. JESUS CHRIST can come anytime! Just Believe ❤️ Love you and GOD BLESS

[@ABurgess]

@@tama3442 so.. no brown sauce?

[@aliceewing9417]

@@tama3442 are you just leaving all these comments because . . . the video title had the word Buddha in it?

[@hultonclint]

Wait... where did you see brown sauce?

[@fundlemander]

@@ABurgess I guess brown sauce wasn't in the Bible 😔

[@crabmansteve6844]

I'm glad to see the "brown sauce", I never realized there was an authentic version. It's one of the most common sauces in Americanized Chinese food, it's in so many dishes.

[@Jimmy-McPerson]

Love slipping in that God of Cookery clip there!

[@Miiabooish]

Thanks for making vegetarian/vegan content from time to time! :3 I've been a long time fan of the channel and y'all have greately influenced the way I cook food in general. I love hearing things about historical vegetarian/vegan food, as a lot of folks seem to think plant based food is somehow a new thing or a fad. So yea, thanks for making this! c:

[@nozee77]

Agreed!

[@CalebCalixFernandez]

Almond milk can be tracked back to the middle ages, so, no, people looking for options to animal-derived products isn't something new.

[@poloecrazie]

This is really interesting since this dish with almost same vegetables is called "sapo" in Indonesia, but since we don't serve this to Buddhist monks most cooks incorporated some meat or seafood into one. Some even put a fish head into one and it's my family's favorite menu in Chinese restaurant

[@alanmurdoch70]

This looks great. Would love to see more chinese vegetarian food. It is so healthy

[@JuanMartinez-xf3uz]

I had something very similar to this at a Cantonese restaurant years ago. The earthiness and texture all the dry mushrooms bring make it nearly indistinguishable from a beef stirfry.

[@stephen129]

This channel is always so educational and interesting. Thanks for all your hard work.

[@IngaHicks]

I haven't seen this dish in ages!!! Very nice to see this

[@ChenYisang888]

This is one of my faves! I never thought Buddha's Delight had such a history. I thought it was something concocted in a diasporic fast food kitchen. Very interesting and well-researched.

[@chocomental]

I LOVE this dish, so excited to try it out! Thank you for sharing this recipe!

[@Bitlox]

Thanks for getting back to the content we crave. Like I crave this dish!

[@retrigger_]

Thanks for the whole history before. Love you guys! keep it up!

[@merton6639]

Thank you for making a vegetarian themed video!

[@humanbeing2796]

YES, thank you for this. I haven't even watched yet, you guys just hit one of my favorite things to eat from any culture!

[@Asummersdaydreamer14]

New to this dish, but sounds interesting. Always appreciate how thorough you two explain your reasonings and methods along with decent substitutions. The history in this one was fun too.

[@jrcplus_]

Impressive historical research (and video footage).

[@TheSmokey1523]

i love the rich taste of the gravy on the crunchy noodles

[@michaelburr8780]

Always wanted to know how they made that unique dish and thank you for the background history of the dish. I shall attempt same Soon . Wok ~ on !

[@camishomecooking9467]

Thanks for sharing so many details of Chinese food. Your videos are very knowledgeable.👍👍

[@luke125]

This soup is anything but quick. Good lord.

[@tennisgame40love]

Wow, I certainly have learned a lot of history of Chinese vegetarian food from this vedio. Thanks for sharing!

[@noahhill4023]

I'm obsessed with Chinese food and culture I love how informative your videos are as well as making me a much better cook

[@Lord_Malkior]

The effort and attention to detail put into these videos is much appreciated. As an American who mostly prefers to cook French/Italian/Korean food, this channel has always been helpful and insightful for branching out and learning about real Chinese food and not the stuff I'm used to ordering on a lazy day. Thanks for uploading~

[@AineTaiki]

Thank you! I tried this dish at a Chinese restaurant once and I loved it, I believed it was a lot harder to make, but I'm glad to see is a relatively easy dish.

[@Akideoni]

7:27 worth noting a lot of oyster sauce are actually made from mushrooms and or yeast extracts nowadays with no actual oysters content. And somehow it was actually cheaper to mass produce that way?

[@belac48621]

Between Chris' very pleasing (almost asmr-esk) voice, and Stephs wonderfuly described second companion video.... I just love these two!

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

> very pleasing (almost asmr-esk) voice lol, you sure about that? KZbin comments have convinced me that I'm apparently a dead ringer for Ben Shapiro, which isn't exactly a compliment ;)

[@guilhermescroccaro3803]

I had this dish at a Chinese restaurant in London and it was the best meal I've ever had

[@akaony]

That looks insanely delicious

[@haileybalmer9722]

I've made this two or three times now. I love it. It feels luxurious, but it cooks up for pennies.

[@jacquesc0usteau]

Looks incredible! I might have to visit the Asian grocer and splurge on some of those dried fungus. Yum! Always love seeing your vids come up on my feed ❤

[@noob19087]

Lol will you be making "Buddha jumps over the wall" for your 1 million subscriber special?

[@berniecelee5062]

😮…thank you !!! I am soooo happy you created a video on this dish !! It is such a delicious dish . Now, I can make it for my family. I love snow fungus , wood ear fungus and shiitake mushrooms. For sure this is going on my Christmas menu when my family comes over. 😊

[@tejalvashi4155]

This is really impressive and helpful to a longtime vegetarian who enjoys your recipes! Do you happen to know any english language cookbooks (or other resources) that go into detail about the "Court vegetarian" cooking mentioned in your "Three Chinese vegetarian traditions" section? I've been trying to learn how to make "mock meats" at home but can't find good guides

[@GokiCai]

I don't know any cooking books, just have been to some "mock meats" style restaurants, and the secret ingredients are always some kind of mushroom, likely rare to find and expensive and so delicious. The mushroom kingdom is just amazing.

[@alanmurdoch70]

Mock meats are (basically) seitan with different flavourings. Skye Michael Conroy's The Gentle Chef has a really good Chik'n recipe and a nice one for Beaf. We have successfully made and used these in Chinese cookery in the past with delicious results.

[@kristaj0]

"Land of Fish and Rice" by Fuchsia Dunlop is not a vegetarian book but it has some recipes for vegetarian crab and eel and also how to make wheat gluten (the building block of many a fake meat). I would not recommend that you buy it as a vegetarian but maybe your local library has a copy.

[@tejalvashi4155]

@@kristaj0 Thank you so much, that's really helpful!

[@WantonSoup192]

I find that wei-chuan publishing has pretty good very traditional cookbooks their “Very Very Vegetarian” has some mock meat recipes. Plus recipes are bilingual so you can test your reading comprehension of Chinese characters. All their books are great. Fewer pictures than a modern gastroporn cookbook but also fewer stories. Cut to the chase here is the recipe. A few techniques and one picture of the final product.

[@clee5653]

This dish tastes much better with fermented tofu instead of oyster sauce. And if you consider oyster is vegartarian, try to add some pre soaked dried oyster.

[@septicflesh17]

idk if i commented before but i just to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being such a huge inspiration to start cooking authentic chinese food. Even tho im no longer vegan, i greatly appreciate when you add substitutions or vegan recipes. Replying to your comment about garlic, very cool to hear after being so interested into the vedas and the whole sattva, rajas, and tamas idea in diet. Thanks again, derek

[@MotoM0nk]

Yay VEGETARIAN recipe! Thank you so much

[@onocoffee]

As always, Long - wait - I mean, great video. BUT, those vegetarian abalone and other "better than impossible" would make for additional videos. I'm intrigued!

[@ElliotShayle]

Yaaaas! An unashamedly vegetarian and wholesomely easy recipe

[@jessost1788]

Please make some of the mock meats! I'd love to make those

[@chloesnyder9618]

As a long-time subscriber who is also a long-time vegan, many thanks for veg recipes, and for the awesome lesson in the history of the dish. You guys take it to another level that no one else does. ✨ Buddhist cuisine is why it’s so easy to be vegan and eat at hawker centers here where I live in Singapore.

[@farhanaliqureshi3908]

Thank you very much for sharing the insightful knowledge and vegetarian recipe. Being a vegan these vegetarian Chinese recipes really fascinate me. May I please request to make a series on this topic and explore more traditional vegetarian Chinese recipes from three categories that you have mentioned, along with the contemporary vegetarian Chinese recipes. Thank you. 🙏

[@blendedchaitea645]

Oh man, we just came back from a trip to New Orleans that was delicious, but low on green food. Great timing, can't wait to try this!

[@MrGunfunfun]

Love the veggie/vegan videos. Thanks very much! :)

[@otterspotter]

I used to make Buddha's Delight a lot when I was vegan. I didn't have access to the mushrooms here, but I would use portabella to great effect. And also, I would use corn. Cheap, accessible and easy it was right there. Tastes really good in this.

[@joshvon8495]

I always switch snow ear with bamboo pith, I just really really love bamboo pith lol

[@teucer915]

I would also love a court vegetarian recipe or three sometime.

[@poleun9]

The balcony is looking great! And the dish for vegetarian!

[@anuphoria]

great video, would love more vegetarian and vegan recipes! the info on it is super interesting as well!

[@williamaitken7533]

I've gotten into growing culinary mushrooms and I was actually wondering to myself what to do with them! This is exactly what I wanted to see recommended :)

[@amritasrinivasan2929]

Love your recipes. As a vegetarian myself, this recipe video means so much to me. Please do make more such videos for vegetarian and vegan recipes from the Chinese cuisine. Also, please do specify the various vegetarian alternatives or substitutes for ingredients which are meat, egg (meat or egg based) that are usually used for certain recipes in your videos. P.S. I'm a Lacto Vegetarian. But I also consume eggs (occasionally indirectly, rarely directly).

[@Burger_pants]

if you are vegetarian I would avoid chinese products and recipes, their culture almost endorses animal abuse, and many aspects of their meat industry involve EXTREME abuse, skinning animals alive, forc-feeding pigs chemicals that make their muscle tissue absorb water (yes the chemical is toxic) until their STOMACHS EXPLODE and the pigs usually die of internal bleeding and shock long before being killed.

[@TerrorTerros]

1:00 Have you already done a video on the these "mock meats"? otherwise I´d be very much interested in more on the topic :)

[@zippo718]

One of my favorite dishes growing up, mom made em on special occasions and it was always truly a delight. But man the seafood version is leagues better.

[@aaronsirkman8375]

Was already thinking about God of Cookery; when you threw up the 18 Bronze Men of Shaolin, I burst out laughing. Great video, and recipe, as usual.

[@sammygyupsal]

This is more of a request than anything, but I was wondering if there were any egg heavy dishes from the sichuan/similar food culture areas of china? I was looking for something since I feel like so many cultures have well known egg dishes but couldn't find one or think of one from that part of the world. Also, wanted to say that I love how you include so much history and culture behind each dish!

[@noob19087]

There's egg and tomato stir fry, steamed egg custard, tea eggs, egg fried rice, century eggs, cantonese omelette, egg drop soup, egg tarts, and probably a bunch more. (The word egg lost all meaning to me writing this comment, by the way.)

[@sammygyupsal]

Big fan of all of these, but afaik none of these are either from or exclusive to Sichuan! Thanks for reminding me to pick up some century eggs from the market though :P

[@noob19087]

@@sammygyupsal Oh, ok. I thought you meant China in general with the "similar food culture areas" part. But no, can't think of any off the top of my head that would be Sichuanese in specific. I'm no expert but I think it could be similar to how every state in the US has its own style of pizza, meaning that maybe _the_ egg dish Sichuan is known for is their specific variety of steamed egg custard or something, rather than an original dish. Again, I know literally nothing about the topic, though.

[@sammygyupsal]

Yeah, I was just surprised since it does feel like so many other parts of China have famous egg based dishes!

[@cd-zw2tt]

D24 pan fried crispy noodles at Dumpling Cafe in Boston Chinatown. Great xiaolongbao there as well.

[@TeraAFK]

Fried tofu puff would be a great addition to this dish

[@therandomizer7187]

I was reading a novel a few months ago, it was about cooking and he made a dish called buddha jumps over the wall and to be honest the only reason I was able to remember it was because at the latter end of the chapter the T/L note says '' and bangs his bald head '' ....

[@katayakisan]

nice crispy!!!⚡

[@heliumbanana]

Subbing in different types of gluten and tofu also can give a variety of textures

[@BatPotatoes]

Way too many steps for me to attempt making in this form, but fascinating to watch for the cooking & history lesson

[@Evenape]

I've just gotten around to view this, and would love to see the ultra-incredible vegetarian meats!

[@akindofmagick]

Yum!

[@Dz73zxxx]

in Indonesia we call this "I Fu Mie" and usually sold in local chinese food venues...with a twist adding fishballs and bakso (beef meatballs), and i like it a lot. Or is it a different thing from buddhist delight?

[@nemo6686]

I'm so hungry after watching that!

[@SerendipityJongleur]

You mentioned that the mock meats put impossible to shame. I would LOVE it and would be so appreciative if you could do some videos on how to make some of them. I saw the washed flour seitan one you more recently added and it made the process look so much easier (and less water wasteful) than a lot of other videos I've seen on how to make it and I thank you for that, too!

[@msmichi4718]

I already loved this channel but the Brass Monks @ 2:00 really cemented it 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@dandanthedandan7558]

I'd love to see a Tasting History with Max Miller style breakdown on this recipe

[@WantonSoup192]

I find a good 2nd place for those averse to deep frying at home is to pan fry the noodles in a Tbspn oil in a small cast iron oven proof skillet then put the pan under the broiler (watching carefully). This can be done while the sauce is thickening up. Great recipe. Like the use of fungus in addition to mushrooms which keeps it close to the dish’s origins.

[@VashGames]

A forage episode sounds interesting.

[@brianhu6277]

2:07 - you have encountered the Shiitake Man. May you have good fortunes for the rest of this week

[@rhicrtr]

Do some court vegetarian ones! I need the vegie abalone recipe!

[@blarfroer8066]

Sparassis crispa is growing like crazy in parts of Europe right now. I'll definitely try to substitute the almost unobtainable snow fungus with that.

[@archiekleung]

Wonderful info. Tks. As a relationship reject the dish Buddha's Delight provide ample dirty thoughts. There is another dish called Buddha Jump Wall. 40 something would love to try it. Because of the price all men claimed afterwards it had worked. Well, at least it tasted good.

[@davidlitzelswope6670]

I feel like this is an award winning video. I miss the hand drawn graphics but appreciate all the work!

[@aleksandrrakowski4953]

love the way you speak english and chinese altogether, it's like a puzzle for me. is this english? oh, no, chinese. chinese? what is it? :D

[@delyar]

Totally need to see Steph and chris sourcing all of those weird fungi

[@piratodactyl1522]

While watching this video I thought "hey, let's see if someone made a guide on the most common used mushrooms in chinese cuisine and how to use them"...I couldn't find one, so there's a gap to fill *wink wink*

[@jimmyyu2184]

I am soooooooooo disappointed that y'all didn't go out and forage for truffles and the ultra rare Artic Ice Berg Tundra Tree Ears for this vegetarian delight. 🤣😂😝🤪🖖🤦‍♂🤷‍♂❤

[@Carloshache]

Request: can you make the original Taishanese Chop suey? It was supposedly similar to a meat version of Buddha's Delight. The Americanized chop suey is famous world wide, but the original was a dish from Taishan that was very popular in the 19th century but now seems pretty forgotten (even though the Americanized version basically conquered the world). The original might have contained offal, lots of veggies and maybe quail eggs, all in a thick sauce. Filipino chop suey and the Chinese-Japanese dish Happusai (also called Chukadon) are derivatives of the original and not from the Americanized version.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

> Request: can you make the original Taishanese Chop suey? We've looked extensively for anything remotely similar in the Toishan area, but this appears to have been a (sort of) American concoction. "Chop Suey" in the Toishanese dialect is basically just... stir fried whatever. One story that I've heard (IIRC from Iris Chang's "Chinese American") goes like this: in the 1800s a group of whites in San Francisco were eating in a Chinese restaurant around closing time, and - being a bit of whiskey in - drunkenly ordered a dish while the kitchen was closing up. The cook whipped up a random mixed stir fry, and the group loved it so much that they asked what it was called - "chop suey" (杂碎), of course - and they ordered it each time they went to the restaurant. Others mimicked it, chop suey followed the railroads... making it the very first Chinese food obsession in America. This story could be wrong, of course. Generally speaking, I've grown to be extremely skeptical of claims of American origins for [XYZ Chinese dish], because on closer inspection often these are simply local and/or traditional dishes unique to a specific time and place, preserved in amber in the diaspora gastronomic tradition... and with enough research you can find an equivalent. So it's entirely possible that Steph could find some dusty old cookbook, or some interviews with people in Toishan culinary world, that could break things open and provide a 'missing link', of sorts. Or the American story could be correct. Or maybe it's just lost to time. Anyway, it's something we've kept a keen eye on. But even more than egg rolls (the other Americanized dish that we haven't been able to find anything overly solid on), I think that Chop Suey might just be a dead end. We'll see.

[@Carloshache]

​@@ChineseCookingDemystified Great analysis. I kinda agree. The Chop Suey Wikipedia article is good because it has two original sources talking about Chop Suey as a specific popular dish in Toishan in the 19th century. As a food historian I think it's pretty undoubtly so. I believe the Filipino version comes from the original (and not the American) because it contains distinctly Chinese style combinations and ingredients (like liver and quail eggs). Also the Chinese-Japanese dish Happusai seems to be another derivative. The original Chinese dish however is probably lost in time - its not uncommon for dishes to emigrate but then die out in the old country. Spaghetti and meatballs is unheard of in most of Italy today (except a few small corners like the Abruzze). Many other dishes from the 19th century are also very dead and forgotten- like the original mayonnaise which was made by making a hot stock and roux sauce with egg yolks, and then letting it cool and adding gelatine and oil to it. It actually sounds nuts today. I think the original Chinese Chop Suey might have had a similar fate . if I have to guess it wasn't that much of a standardized recipe but a "mixed stir fry" - quite similar to a "Buddha's delight" with some small cuts of meat, quail eggs, seafood and offal added. Simply lost to time, maybe it lost status or became seen as a lowly food. I'm a food historian and there are SO many wrong American food origin claims that it's annoying. Every state has these weird food invention claims, it seems to be more about identity than truth. If you look in to them they are without exception always wrong. Even the legendary NY restaurant Delmonico's claim of serving the first hamburger is wrong because what they served was not a burger but - salt meat - that was also called "hamburger steak" back then. The term wasn't standardized back then. In many places in Europe salt meat can still be refered to as "Hamburger meat". Food history is actually kind of messy, and not easy at all.

[@Carloshache]

​@@ChineseCookingDemystified As for egg rolls, I believe it is definitely derived from older Fujianese traditions. Making wheat rolls has historically been a big thing in Fujianese cuisine. The Filipino Lumpia rolls should be derived from a Fujianese recipe and there's definitely a big similarity to egg rolls.

[@josephmarciano4761]

Any issues soaking shiitakes and the Kombu in same container overnight? ...saves space.

[@efrenchen293]

What species are the "button mushrooms"? The pictures shown at 2:12 aren't the usual Agaricus we find in stores nowadays

[@globalcitizenn]

Please do a vegetarian recipe series 🙏

[@azoe6764]

I had no idea the "Buddha" in Buddha's delight had an actual philosophical reason for being there other than American Chinese Food marketing. thanks so much for your thorough videos.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I mean, a more direct translation would be something like "Arhat Vegetarian Stir Fry" (Arhat being *sort of* akin to a Bodhisattva), but 'Buddha's Delight' definitely has a better ring to it in a western restaurant context :)

[@stevekemble8911]

I have not had this dish in a while now, but when I got it at a restaurant I am sure it had garlic in it. I always asked for lots more garlic.

[@cd-zw2tt]

you should use the brown sauce itself as poutine gravy

[@PoeLemic]

Thank you for showing us how to do this. I'd love to eat at Chinese restaurants, but it's just got too expensive. We went last week, and we only got 2 entrees, 6 egg rolls, 8 dumplings (half-fried and half-pan), 1 large house won ton soup, and 1 smaller won ton soup. And, it was $ 62 bucks on 10-16-2022. That is way too much for us. I didn't think it'd cost that much. Granted, we have left-overs, but that's more than we ever spent on chinese for the family. But, my Mom came over and wanted chinese, so I was stuck. If it was $30 bucks-ish, then that'd be fine. But it was not worth double that.

[@mtbalot]

Woah my favorite. I'm so far north in Canada i cant get ingredients or even a carbon steel wok. Enjoy yourself while you can 👍

[@kristaj0]

LMK if I can send you anything from Vancouver ...

[@marcob1729]

I would never argue strongly about it, but oysters are just meat plants, and I have no hesitancy eating them when compared to basically any other animal

[@BaconPraline]

Neat

[@Anesthesia069]

As someone very interested in mycology and who loves eating mushrooms, I am looking forward to making this! What kind of noodles were they? Regular wheat noodles or alkaline?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Those were regular wheat noodles :)

[@Anesthesia069]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Thanks 😁

[@uli11]

Totally random question: was the clip of the buddhist monks at 2:04 from God of Cookery?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

haha 100%

[@uli11]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified that is one of my favorite movies and I make faux sorrowful rice whenever I need a fast cheap meal. (Would be a fun video actually to see you all make!)