Oyster Mushroom Corn Congee with XO Sauce

One of the easiest and tastiest ways to eat oyster mushrooms is as a crispy topping on a steaming bowl of ginger corn congee with a couple of generous spoonfuls of XO sauce. This delicious recipe is inspired by the incredible work of Shannon Martinez and Maureen Wyse from Smith and Deli. This corn congee recipe is full of all the good stuff, garlic, onion, ginger, chilli and most importantly MUSHROOMS!! Such a great one to cook up and share with loved ones who are in need of some comfort food!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1-2 onions or 4 large spring onions
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 20g ginger (but the more the better)
• 2 star anise
• 1 x 420g can creamed corn
• 150g jasmine rice
• 3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine/dry sherry/Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce/tamari
• 1 litre (4 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
• 250g fresh oyster mushrooms 
• Oyster mushroom XO sauce
• Boiled egg (optional)
• Wakame seaweed (optional)

(Serves 4-6)

Garnish with fried and crispy oyster mushrooms, a drizzle of sesame oil and our mushroom XO sauce, spring onion and a boiled egg if you feel so inclined! It’s also really yum with seaweed/nori, toasted sesame seeds and fresh chilli, the possibilities are endless!

Method:

1. Dice up your onion, peel and finely grate/slice ginger, then heat both oils in a large pot. Add onion, ginger and crushed garlic, sauté until soft. Throw in star anise and the creamed corn and give it a mix.

2. After a couple of minutes add rice, wine, soy sauce and stock and bring to a simmer before turning the heat down to low.

3. Cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour stirring frequently so the rice doesn’t stick.

4. While the congee is cooking chuck some oyster mushrooms into a hot pan and fry without oil for a couple of minutes to cook off the extra moisture. Then add oil and salt and fry until golden and crispy!

5. Sort out your other garnishes and then once the congee is super soft and the rice is cooked through you’re done and ready to plate up!