Last weekend, my wife and I were hiking, and at one point, she excitedly stopped and yelled out, “BRAINS!” while pointing towards the ground. Sure enough, she’d found Shrimp of the Woods (in addition to a Chicken of the Woods, a Lion’s Mane, and a bunch of Acorns…yeah, a successful Foraging trip for sure!).
Anyway, with our haul of Shrimp of the Woods, we had to figure out what to make. My Ants (not a typo) have a phrase they love to use as a subject changer, and that phrase is, “Please pass the sweet and sour shrimp.” We decided to build upon that saying for fun…and because like them when they say it, we weren’t going to have any sweet and sour shrimp in front of us either. To make it happen, we whipped up some tempura batter, coated our mushrooms, and fried them to dip in sweet and sour sauce!
Since we didn’t have a ton of the mushrooms, we served them as an appetizer for our Garlicky Pork Fried Rice…but if you have an abundance, these would be great served tossed in the sauce with some Sesame Broccoli or Sesame Blistered Peppers over rice.
Time: 15 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Shrimp of the Woods Mushrooms (Aborted Entoloma)
- Tempura Batter. We bought a box and mixed in cold water in a 1:3/4 ratio.
- Sweet and Sour Sauce.
Method:
- Do your shrimp of the woods research and make sure you have what you think you have.
- Cut off the stem ends/bottoms of your mushrooms, and wash the dirt off the brainy masses that are left.
- Pat your mushrooms dry, and cut each of your mushrooms in half.
- Mix your tempura batter and cold water together in a bowl. to form a gloopy mixture that will adhere to your mushrooms.
- Begin heating some oil in a deep pan (we used a Cast Iron Dutch Oven).
- When your oil is hot, pick your biggest mushroom halves, and coat them in your tempura batter. Then, place them carefully in your oil.
- Coat your medium sized mushrooms next, and place them in the oil next….followed by the smaller. Doing it this way helps ensure complete and even cooking.
- Fry for about 3 minutes on one side, and then flip your mushrooms to cook and get your batter golden brown on the other side too.
- Pour some sweet and sour sauce into a little dish.
- When your mushrooms are done cooking, remove from the frying vessel.
- Plate, dip, devour, and enjoy!
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