Now that Lunar New Year has come and gone (it was 2 weeks
ago if you weren’t paying attention) everyone is back to the reality of life as
the holiday season is now a distant memory for all cultures. However the
Tatsumoto household still indulges in that traditional Lunar New Year dish, Lo Han Jai also known as Buddha’s
Delight both during the season and the rest of the year… though that wasn’t
always the case for yours truly.
Romancin’ the Mrs
Because the Tatsumoto Clan celebrates New Year’s like
most other Japanese American families on January 1st, by the time
the Lunar New Year rolls around in February, I’m well out of that festive
holiday spirit simply looking for that next 3 day weekend. Therefore when most
Chinese restaurants are offering Jai,
I usually overlook this traditional vegetarian “stew”. However during graduate
school while I was courting the Mrs, I knew that she enjoyed the classic Lunar
New Year’s dish so while she was away during Christmas break, I decided to
create it upon her return to the Bay Area. And like any budding chef, turned to
that reliable culinary bible… the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin cookbook
series. So after writing down the full ingredient list, headed to the nearest Chinese
Mom-n-Pop store in the Sunset District in The City to procure the ingredients
for Lo Han Jai.
Not Your Typical Safeway
list
The first two ingredients on the list looked pretty
harmless, kam choi or salted and
dried lily flower and chien gee or
dried black fungus. While I never consumed lily flowers before, I had sampled
other edible flowers so consuming lily flowers didn’t seem threatening at all
and black fungus also goes by pepe’au (ear)
in the 50th and is frequently harvested fresh in the hiking trails
in Nuuanu Valley. The next ethnic ingredient was foo chuck or the dried, rolled soy milk skin that forms on the
surface during tofu production.
Again, not threatening at all. Then came the nam yoy or fermented preserved bean curd. Hmm… the glass bottle on
the shelf contained what appeared to be small rectangles of tofu with a pronounced red tinge and
when I gently jiggled the bottle, there seemed to be a pronounced mucilaginous
quality to the tofu. The plastic cap
on the bottle wasn’t even covered with the usual hermetic plastic seal and the cap
could easily be opened. I thought back to my undergraduate food safety class.
This product didn’t seem safe by any measure! Of course the shop proprietor
noticed my examination of the bottle so he walked up to me, muttered something
in broken English and placed the bottle in my basket. I grabbed the bottle
attempted to place it back on the shelf but the proprietor intercepted it again
and placed it back in my basket stating “need jai” and “make gravy”. I pleaded with him and asked if I could use
regular tofu for the gravy. He
proceeded to point out the other items in my basket, carrots “no need”, canned
baby corn “no need”, won bok “no
need” then went back to the red tofu
“need for gravy”. So I reluctantly returned home with my purchases including
that fermented red tofu.
Cookin’ Jai
Because of my hesitancy for even purchasing the bottle of
fermented ref tofu, I first heated
the vegetable oil just before it started smoking then smashed several cubes of
the tofu and quickly mixed it with
the oil along with a large piece of fresh ginger. You see, removing the tofu from the bottle confirmed its
mucilaginous texture and the aroma was akin to that first aromatic sensation
you experience when entering these Mom-n-Pop Chinese “delis” in the Bay Area.
It’s a mixture of dried seafood, fermented vegetable aromas and old cooking
oil. I thought that the fresh ginger might temper the aromas wafting from my
Dutch oven. And though the Honpa Hongwanji cookbook said to fry it for one-half
minute, I’m pretty sure I fried it for at least 15 minutes. If there was any
living organism hibernating in that bottle, it would be reduced to a ginger
flavored paste. From that point on, making the jai was the same as creating any type of stew by adding liquid then
the rest of the soaked and chopped ingredients from gingko nuts to baby corn to
fresh carrots (cut decoratively like flowers mimicking jai from these Chinese delis) to fresh Chinese pea pods (also cut
decoratively like the deli versions) and simmering until the flavors melded.
The only issue I encountered was adding the soaked black moss. You see, the
rehydrated moss was like a huge clump of hair – adding it straight to the pot
would result a huge black mass simply clumped on its own. So I had to
laboriously pull several strands at a time stirring the pot before the next
addition. Just this step alone took me a good 30 minutes. But in the end, the
future Mrs loved it and we’ve been enjoying it annually every February. Though
I’ve adjusted the amount of fermented red tofu and now use half red, half white
preserved tofu for my gravy. And the nutritionist in me knows it’s a very
healthy dish with vegetable based protein, low in fat and a good serving of
dietary fiber.
Honpa Hongwanji Jai
Vegetable oil
About 5 pieces fermented, preserved red tofu
About 5 pieces fermented, preserved white tofu
One large piece of peeled fresh ginger
5 cups of water
2 tbsp xiaoshin wine or dark sherry
1 tbsp sugar
About ½ cup black fungus , soaked then cut into bit sixed
pieces
About 1 cup dried lily flower tied into a knot and soaked
About 4 stalks dried bean curd, soaked then cut into bite
sized pieces
About 10 dried shiitake, soaked then quartered
About ½ cup dried black moss soaked
1 can bamboo shoots, cut into bite sized pieces
1 can whole water chestnut, halved
1 can gingko nuts
About 1 cup fried tofu cut into bite sized pieces
About 3 large carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
About 1 & ½ cup Chinese peas
About 2 cups chopped Chinese cabbage
1 cup long rice soaked
3 tbsp regular or vegetarian oyster sauce
About 1 cup rice sticks
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