Lo Hon Jai, also known as Buddha’s Delight, is a famous vegetarian dish belonging to the category of monastery vegetarian cuisine. Its origin is closely related to Buddhist culture. Legend has it that Lo Hon Jai was created by monks in temples to ensure they could obtain sufficient nutrition during their vegetarian periods. This dish brings together a variety of vegetables and mushrooms, is rich in nutrients, tastes delicious, and symbolizes purity, peace, and health. Lo Hon Jai has gradually spread from temples to the folk, becoming a popular festive dish and a good choice for banquets.
Features：
Lo Hon Jai is characterized by its rich and diverse ingredients, distinct layers of taste, high nutritional value, and auspicious meaning.
- Rich and diverse ingredients: It usually contains more than a dozen vegetables, mushrooms, and soy products, such as shiitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms, wood ear fungus, white fungus, dried bean curd sticks, gluten, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, snow peas, etc.
- Distinct layers of taste: The textures and tastes of different ingredients vary, making the whole dish rich in taste, with multiple layers such as crisp, tender, smooth, and chewy.
- High nutritional value: It brings together a variety of plant-based ingredients, rich in vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and plant protein, providing a balanced nutrition.
- Auspicious meaning: “Lo Hon” represents enlightened saints in Buddhism, while “Jai” means pure vegetarianism. This dish symbolizes purity, health, and auspiciousness.
Ingredients:
- The amount of the following ingredients can be adjusted according to personal preference.
- Dried shiitake mushrooms: 50g
- Dried straw mushrooms: 50g
- Wood ear fungus: 30g
- White fungus: 30g
- Dried bean curd sticks: 50g
- Fried gluten puffs: 100g
- Carrot: 1
- Napa cabbage: 200g
- Broccoli: 1/2
- Snow peas: 50g
- Ginger: appropriate amount
- Vegetarian oyster sauce: 2 tbsp
- Light soy sauce: 1 tbsp
- Dark soy sauce: 1 tsp
- Sugar: 1 tsp
- Salt: appropriate amount
- Sesame oil: a little
- Cornstarch: 1 tbsp
Instructions：
- Soak dried shiitake mushrooms, dried straw mushrooms, wood ear fungus, white fungus, and dried bean curd sticks in warm water until soft.
- Cut the soaked shiitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms, wood ear fungus, and white fungus into appropriate sizes. Cut dried bean curd sticks into sections.
- Peel and slice the carrot, cut the napa cabbage into sections, divide the broccoli into florets, and remove the strings from the snow peas.
- Blanch the fried gluten puffs with boiling water to remove excess oil.
- Heat oil in a wok, add ginger slices and stir-fry until fragrant.
- First add shiitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms, and wood ear fungus and stir-fry, then add carrots, napa cabbage, broccoli, snow peas, and dried bean curd sticks and stir-fry evenly.
- Add vegetarian oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and salt to taste, and stir-fry evenly.
- Add enough water to cover half of the ingredients.
- Add fried gluten puffs, cover the lid, and simmer over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
- Thicken the sauce with cornstarch slurry, drizzle with a little sesame oil, and it’s ready to serve.
Precautions：
- Soak all kinds of dried ingredients in advance to ensure they absorb water and become soft.
- The types and amounts of vegetables can be adjusted according to personal preference.
- The heat should be moderate when stir-frying to avoid burning.
- Simmer over medium-low heat to avoid the sauce from drying out.
- Adjust the seasoning according to personal taste. Vegetarian oyster sauce and light soy sauce are both salty, so pay attention to the amount.
- Thickening the sauce with cornstarch slurry can make the sauce thicker and enhance the taste of the dish.
