Prep time: 20 min + 1 ingredient needs to be soaked for 9 hours or more.

Cooking time: 40 min

Serves: The braised mushroom recipe is for 10 people. The picture above with the bokchoy is for 6 people.

• I usually make extra braised mushrooms (without the bokchoy) to give to my in-laws because they love this too!

BRAISED SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS:

1. Dried Shiitake mushrooms x 1 packet (200g)

   1. • You cannot use fresh mushrooms for this recipe. They will not taste the same.

      • Fresh mushrooms are too soft for this kind of braising, and they don't have the amazing umami that dried mushrooms have.

2. Ginger x 1 knob, sliced

3. Spring onions x 4-5 stalks, cut

4. Minced garlic x 1.5 tbsp

5. Mushroom water from soaking the mushroom

6. Water to top up to 750ml

7. Shaoxing wine x 2 tbsp

8. Oyster sauce x 4.5 tbsp

9. Sesame oil x 1 tbsp

10. Maple syrup x ¾ tbsp

11. Dark soy sauce x 2.5 tbsp (or to taste)

12. Corn starch x 4 tbsp

BOKCHOY:

1. Bokchoy x 3 packets (approx 750g)

2. Water

3. Salt x ¾ tsp

4. Sesame oil x 1.5 tbsp

1. Soak the mushrooms as follows:

• In hot water (boil water and pour over the mushrooms) for 1 hour. Pour the water away.

• In room temperature water for another 1 hour. Pour the water away.

• In hot water for at least 6h hours. The water will cool eventually and that's fine. Keep this water for cooking.

2. Cut away the stem of the mushrooms with a pair of kitchen scissors.

• Do not throw the stems away. They provide a good flavour to the broth, but they're not nice to eat.

• Cook them in the broth, but don't serve the stems.

3. Stir-fry garlic in 1 tbsp of sesame oil.

• I'm using my multi-cooker so I don't have to watch the mushrooms when they're braising, but you can use a normal pot as well.

4. When the garlic starts to brown, add in the ginger and spring onions and stir-fry until fragrant, around 1 minute.

5. Add in the soaked mushrooms and cut stems. Stir-fry until you can smell the mushrooms, around 1-2 minutes.

6. Add the mushroom water and water for a total volume of 750ml.

• I had 550ml of mushroom water this round, so I added another 200ml.

7. Add 4.5 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp shaoxing wine, and ¾ tsp maple syrup.

8. Close the lid and set the pressure cooker to the Chicken/Duck setting, 20 minutes.

• If you're using a normal pot over the stove, bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to low and braise until the mushrooms are tender and have soaked in the sauce.

9. Taste the sauce. Add dark soy sauce if necessary.

• This varies depending on the mushrooms for some reason, but when I do add, I usually add around 2.5 tbsp.

• Do NOT add dark soy sauce in from the get-go! It will turn your mushrooms black!

10. Set the pressure cooker to "Sauce thickening". Mix 4 tbsp corn flour and water to form a slurry. Add the slurry into the liquid once it starts boiling, and stir immediately.

• Skip this step if you prefer the sauce watery and not starchy.

11. If you're not serving this with bokchoy, dish it into a bowl and serve. Go on to Step 12 if you're serving it with bokchoy.

12. Add ¾ tsp of salt to water and drizzle around 1.5 tbsp of sesame oil on the water. Bring to a rolling boil, then blanch the bokchoy in it in batches. The bokchoy should turn a bright green colour.

13. Strain the blanched bokchoy in a sieve for around 10-15 minutes to get the excess water out.

14. Arrange the bokchoy on a deep plate.

• I need a deep plate because my family eats a ton of vegetables, but if your family isn't as veggie-crazy as mine is, you can use two packets of bokchoy (500g) and a normal plate.

15. Ladle out braised mushrooms and sauce generously into the centre of the bokchoy.

16. Admire the tastiness. The gleam. The shine. And then serve hot with rice on the side.

1. Buy good quality dried mushrooms! These will usually cost you around SGD $15 to $20. If you don't, the mushrooms may remain hard in the centre even after soaking forever, or have a weird grassy taste.

2. To reduce cooking time and increase ease of eating, cut the soaked mushrooms into small pieces (e.g. around 4-5 pieces per mushroom) before braising. This allows the flavours to enter more quickly, because the surface area is increased. It doesn't look very presentable this way though, so I only do this if I'm cooking for my family's consumption only.

3. When you eat this in a restaurant, the bokchoy is usually not cut up into individual leaves like this recipe. You can do this if you want. This looks nicer, but it's pretty hard to wash all the soil out of the base of the bokchoy (unless you bought aeroponically grown vegetables), and frankly, I'd give up aesthetics to not eat soil. I also find it hard to eat big stalks of bokchoy, and they're impossible to cut with a spoon!

4. The seasonings should be reduced relative to the liquid (the mushroom water and water), not the amount of mushrooms you use. For example, soaking 100g of mushrooms (half the amount of mushrooms in this recipe) might yield 500ml of mushroom water. If you use all 500ml of mushroom water to cook, then the seasonings should be reduced by ⅔, and not by half.