Vegetarian scallop with chargrilled broccoli

With Vouvray Domaine Des Lauriers, 2021

This is an umami vegetarian dish that combines the earthy mushroom flavour with the salty umami vegetarian oyster sauce.

I love mushroom, all kinds of mushroom. To me, the best combination of mushroom in Western-style cooking is garlic and butter and garlic; whilst in Asian cooking it is garlic and oyster sauce. This is a vegetarian dish that uses king oyster mushroom to mimic the taste of scallop with a dash of vegetarian oyster sauce which does the trick equally well.

Vegetarian scallop with chargrilled broccoli

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 3 king oyster mushrooms. Slice the stems into approximately 2cm thick; finely chop the brown top part

• 1 broccoli, cut into small, long florets. You can also use broccolini as an alternative

• 3 cloves of garlic; finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon of vegetarian oyster sauce

• 1 teaspoon of corn starch flour

• 3 tablespoons of cold water

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

• A generous knob of unsalted butter

• Salt and peppers

Methods:

1. Add a generous pinch of salt and peppers to each side of the mushroom slices and let it sit for approximately 10 mins. Pat them dry with kitchen paper if they start to release water

2. Make the chargrilled broccoli in the meantime. Spread out the broccoli florets into a medium size, cold and dry non-stick pan. Sprinkle a generous pinch of sea salt and peppers and turn into high heat. Turn the broccoli when they start to caramelise

3. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt and peppers to the other side and add a knob of butter. Mix and fry for 5 minutes until the broccoli is thoroughly covered by butter. Set aside for serving

4. Heat up another non-stick pan to high heat. Add a knob of butter when the pan is hot. After the butter starts to turn brown, add the mushrooms, sprinkle some salt and peppers on the top. Pan fry for 4 – 5 mins or until they turn golden. Turn and do the same on the other side. Push the stems to one side of the pan and turn to medium heat

5. In the same pan, add the chopped garlic and chopped mushroom top and start frying. Blend the cold water and corn starch flour and add to the garlic and chopped mushroom top. Keep stirring when adding the corn starch liquid to avoid lumps

6. Blend in the mushroom stems with the sauce and mix gently until the sauce is thickened and the mushrooms have absorbed the sauce. Add more water if it becomes too thick

7. To serve, put the mushroom scallops on top of the broccoli and pour the sauce on the top

Tips:

For better presentation, you can score one side of the mushroom slices so that it looks like a net on the top

Wine pairing:

This is an umami vegetarian dish. It combines the earthy mushroom flavour with the salty umami vegetarian oyster sauce. However, even with the umami taste, it is still a relatively light flavour dish. I have used the matching approach when choosing a wine to pair with it – a young bottle of Domaine des Lauriers Vouvray 2021. This wine has earthy mushroom and honeysuckle notes as well as the classic pear, citrus and green apple flavours. It matches perfectly with the earthy umami flavour of the mushroom. The pear, citrus and green apple flavours enhance the bittersweet flavour of the chargrill broccoli. The high acidity of the wine balances the saltiness of the vegetarian oyster sauce.