Serves 2
Leaving strips of oyster mushrooms in a marinade allows them to soak up all the flavour, creating a deliciously smokey umami blast when slow fried.
Ingredients
400g oyster mushrooms
To accompany: greek style yoghurt, tahini sauce, seasoned cous cous or tabbouleh
For the marinade:
4 minced garlic cloves
Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp neutral oil
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Method
Discard the dense stems at the base of the mushroom clusters and tear each individual mushroom into rough chunky strips.
Coat the mushroom strips in the marinade, leaving to asborb for 30 mins, or overnight in the fridge.
Place a pan on medium heat with an additional generous splash of oil, placing the strips in the pan with plenty of space to breathe.
To get the best texture, as the mushrooms fry, compress them using a heavy pan. Cast iron is perfect for this, but placing a lining of baking paper below another type of pan before crushing the strips underneath it also works. If you don't have access to another pan or don't want the faff, enthusiastically squishing the mushrooms down with a spatula or large spoon will help them caramalise nicely.
Depending on your pan, oil and cooking temps, the mushrooms can take up to 15 minutes to achieve the perfect meaty texture using this method. They should be left undisturbed for as long as possible, as the more time they spend compressed, the more delicious they'll be!
Once the strips are starting to develop a nice char, they're ready! Remove and serve alongside something creamy (garlic yoghurt or tahini sauce would be great) and something fresh (lemony cous cous or a leafy tabbouleh are both perfect).
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