Japanese Style Eryngii Mushroom Fajita

There are some tortillas left after our last fajitas meal and we wished to have some light lunch. Suddenly a light bulb lit up above my head! Eryingii mushrooms! I want to use this meaty and juicy mushroom to create a fried chicken alike flavour which might work well with the mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce. I used the simplest seasoning and lightly floured the mushrooms and used the least oil to fry it. The tangy okonomiyaki sauce works perfectly well with the mayonnaise, mushroom and tortillas. The seaweed is an extra bonus to the flavour. We love it to the bits and wished to make again when there is a chance!

Ingredients: (makes 3 fajita wraps)

3 Tortillas

3 medium Eryngii mushroom/ king oyster mushroom

1/2tsp salt

some freshly cracked black pepper

1tbsp Plain flour

1tbsp Vegetable oil

1 slice Roasted sushi seaweed (cut into 0.5m x 10mm strips)

Some Japanese Mayonnaise

Some Okonomiyaki sauce

Steps:

1. Wash and slightly trim off the ends of Eryngii musrooms.

2. Slice the mushroom into small chunks about 3cm long x 1cm thick (I cut them into long strips at first but found it hard to bite off so I cut them into smaller pieces at the end).

3. In a bowl, add the mushroom chunks, salt, black pepper and plain flour. Toss and press the mushrooms to make sure they are evenly coated with the seasoning and flour.

4. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and add vegetable oil, add the floured mushroom chunks. Turn the mushrooms with chopsticks when one side turns golden brown. 

5. Turn to lower medium heat when every side is golden, put the lid on and wait for about 1 minute. This will soften the mushroom and it is fully cooked. Set aside.

6. In another pan over medium low heat, heat a slice of tortilla for 30 seconds and turn to the other side and heat for another 30 seconds. Remove the tortilla from the pan and lay it on a plate. Add some fried mushrooms, squeeze some mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce and topped with some sliced seaweed. 

7. Roll the tortilla with the ingredients and fold in the ends, cut the fajita in the middle and ready to serve! Enjoy!

Quick 'BBQ' Pork Fajita

It was a lazy evening and we could not be bothered to go out for dinner so I looked in the fridge to find something I can make for dinner. We were lucky there was a small piece of pork belly in the freezer, some tortillas and red pepper! I came up with this mix and match of the recipes in my head and it turned out really nice. The flavours of the caramelised onion, pan fried pepper and the honey coated pork strips just bond together very well. The honey coated pork strips give a marvellous fragrant and it tasted fairly close to Chinese BBQ pork (char siew)!.The sweet and juicy pan fried red pepper added a twist to the whole thing and we could not really bothered to add any dressing or sauce to it. Very simple, very quick (like 20 minutes from scratch), and taste good. Nevertheless, I would eat this than a greasy takeaway.

Ingredients: (makes 3 fajitas)
150g Pork belly (cut into 3-4 strips)
1 Red pepper (sliced)
1 Onion (sliced)
3 Tortillas/ corn wrap
1tbsp Sake/ cooking wine
1tbsp Light soy sauce
1tsp Honey
1tbsp Vegetable oil

Marinade
1/2 inch Ginger (grated and juiced)
1tsp Light soy sauce
a pinch of salt
a dash of white pepper




Steps:
1. Marinate the pork strips with the ginger juice, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Set aside. Heat a non-stick pan at medium heat, add the cooking oil and stir fry the onion for 1 minute until fragrant.
2,3. Add the red pepper and stir fry together with the onion until the onion becomes caramelised and the pepper is soften (this may take 4-5 minutes). Transfer onto a plate and set aside.
4. In the same pan (do not add any oil) at medium heat, add the pork strips and fry both sides until golden.
5. Pour sake (or wine) from sides, stir the meat until the wine is evaporated and disappeared.
6. Pour the light soy sauce from sides, stir to let the meat coated with soy sauce.
7. Off heat, add the honey over the meat and stir quickly to let the meat coated with the honey. Set aside.

8. Heat a clean non-stick pan at low heat, add a slice of tortilla and count 20 seconds. Flip the tortilla over and heat the other side for 20 seconds (this helps in making the wrapping becomes easier and taste better), remove from heat.
9,10,11. Add some caramelised onion, pepper and a strip (or two) of the 'BBQ' pork in the middle, and wrap it up and your fajita is ready to serve! Alternatively, wrap up both ends and cut it in the middle to make two portions, now you can share it!

Tips:

• At step 5, wait until the wine is all dried up before adding soy sauce to avoid the bitter taste of alcohol.
• The burnt parts of the pork is created in step 6 when the light soy sauce meet the dry hot pan but do not allow too much burnt signs on your pork it will taste bitter and not a healthy option at all.
• Step 7 has to be done fairly quickly and the meat has to be transferred off heat as soon as possible to avoid the heat of the pan burn the honey and create bitterness.