Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce and Shiitake Mushrooms

Chinese broccoli (aka gai lan) on it's own can be pretty bland. You'll find Chinese restaurants always serve this vegetable dish with oyster sauce. But if you take one simple extra step of adding shiitake mushrooms to the mix? The result is UNBELIEVABLE. Soooooo delicious. Packed with layers upon layers of flavours. You've got to try this dish!

This side dish pairs really well with pretty much any Asian dish. Serving suggestions: Pork wontons, Hargow (crystal prawn dumplings), homestyle soy sauce chicken (complete the meal with some rice!), Chinese sausage fried rice, etc.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• How to prepare shiitake mushrooms and Chinese broccoli
• Cooking instructions
• Let's talk oyster sauce
• Tips for making this dish awesome
• Good to know (FAQs)
• 📖 Recipe
• Other delicious side dishes

Ingredients

• Chinese broccoli (gai lan), also known as Chinese kale is a leafy vegetable with thick stems not the regular broccoli you see covered in green florets!
• Oyster sauce is a commonly used Chinese condiment that adds a savoury (or umami) flavour to dishes. You can find oyster sauce at Asian grocery stores. More on oyster sauce below.
• Soy sauce also adds the beloved umami flavour into this dish. It is much saltier than the oyster sauce, which adds another layer of flavour.
• Shaoxing wine is a Chinese cooking rice wine (really good quality ones can be consumed as a beverage) that is made with fermented rice. Similar to cooking with red or white wine, Shaoxing wine adds depth and aroma to a dish. Substitute: dry sherry.
• Dried shiitake mushrooms again, another mega umami bomb. I absolutely looooove these. They're so fragrant and tastes awesome with the sauce in this recipe.
• Brown sugar is used a lot in my recipes (instead of white sugar) due to its rich flavour. A little sugar helps balance and bring all the ingredients together.
• Cornstarch/cornflour is used to help thicken the sauce so that it catches onto the Chinese broccoli (gai lan), making every bite YUM.

How to prepare shiitake mushrooms and Chinese broccoli

Before anything, the first thing you've got to do is put the kettle on. Use the boiling water to soak the shiitake mushrooms. A trick I learnt from my grandma was to cover the bowl with a small plate. This will trap the heat in the bowl so the mushrooms rehydrate quicker.

More words of wisdom - whenever you use dried shiitake mushrooms, never throw out the soaking water. It has so much flavour, treat it like a stock. It'll make any dish taste amazing.

Now, wash the Chinese broccoli thoroughly. For this recipe, you'll want 1 large bunch or 2 medium-sized bunch. These leafy greens shrink so much so when in doubt, use extra!

Depending on the bunch that's available when shopping, sometimes the stems of Chinese broccoli can be quite thick. If they're about 1.5cm/half an inch (or thicker) in diameter, simply cut the stems in half, lengthways. This will help the vegetable cook evenly and make it easier to eat too!

Cooking instructions

Two parts. First, cook the Chinese broccoli. Then, make the tasty shiitake mushrooms oyster sauce and combine.

There are two ways to cook the Chinese broccoli:

• Quickly blanch in salted boiling water in a small saucepan - super quick and easy way of cooking gai lan. It won't need very long, about 1.5 minutes is all! Blanching green vegetables with salted water helps keep the vegetables bright green.
• By steaming - nutritionally, this is the best option as it'll help the veggies retain more of its good nutrients.

Then, in a small bowl, combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, shiitake soaking water, cornstarch, sesame oil, white pepper and brown sugar. Mix well.

In a pan or wok, gently fry soaked shiitake mushrooms on medium-high until golden then add the garlic (or ginger slices). Deglaze the pan with some shaoxing wine (or other clear rice wine).

Once aromatic, pour in the oyster sauce mixture and turn the heat down to low. Gently stir until the sauce thickens then add the Chinese broccoli.

Mix well for about 30 seconds then it's done! Super easy and super tasty.

Let's talk oyster sauce

Oyster sauces are typically made of oyster extract, salt, sugar, cornflour/starch (which helps thicken the sauce).

This condiment is available at all Asian grocery stores and major supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths (if you're in Australia). I like the brand Lee Kum Kee as they sell premium oyster sauces.

What is oyster sauce used for?

Not only does it add flavour, oyster sauces also enhances and brings out the umami flavour of foods. It works brilliantly with various meats such as beef, chicken, pork as well as vegetables. Here is a super yum ginger beef and chicken with black bean sauce stir fry that uses oyster sauce and other condiments to really help make humble ingredients sing.

I reckon this gai lan recipe is better than what you can get at yum cha (dim sum) restaurants. They don't add the secret ingredient: shiitake mushrooms!

Vegetarian oyster sauce

For non-meat eaters, there are vegetarian oyster sauces! Instead of oyster extracts, a variety of mushroom extracts (such as shiitake, oyster mushrooms) are used to make this umami-packed sauce. So this dish can easily become vegan-friendly. 🙂

Tips for making this dish awesome

• Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms until it's spongy and no longer hard. Don't do what I've done before where I got impatient (because hungryyy!) and decided to cook them when they're still a little dry and hard on the inside. In the hopes that they'll soften in the process of cooking. They don't. Wasn't the best chewing on dried bits. p.s. unless you're making a soup or a stew where the mushrooms will cook in liquid for a good while, definitely soak them until they're ready before cooking.
• Fry the shiitake mushrooms till golden. Very important. Colour = flavour in pretty much every case when it comes to cooking. Just like meats, you'll be amazed at how much richer the flavour becomes once you add some colour on the shiitake mushrooms.

Good to know (FAQs)

Thanks for checking out my recipes! Let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions, drop me a note in the comments section below. 🙂

Happy cooking!

Gen

📖 Recipe

Other delicious side dishes

• Vietnamese rice paper rolls - appetiser or a main, you decide.
• Sticky soy chicken wings - oven-baked to perfection, so good.