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I was doing my regular grocery shopping at the Asian market and I happened to see the wood ear or black fungus.  It’s been a while since the last time I’ve cooked a dish with the wood ear. Perhaps it was a year ago or so.  So I just grabbed a pack of wood ears home.

Wood ear (木耳) is actually an edible fungus used mainly in Asian cuisine and they are sold in dried form.  Also known as tree ear, this fungus grows in masses on dead wood or elder tree and it resembles a human ear when it is fresh. As I know, the wood ear has no flavor of its own, but it will soak the flavors of the ingredients when it is cooked with.

I decided to stir-fry the chicken breast with the black fungus I have gotten. This is a simple and healthy dish that everyone can cook.

Ingredients:
1 skinless boneless chicken breast (cut into strips)
5~6 pieces of wood ears (soaked into hot water for 20 minutes to soften them, then cut into strips)
2 inches ginger (sliced)
1 stalk scallion (minced)
cilantro leaves for garnish (minced)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
½  tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp corn starch
1 tbsp ShaoHsing cooking wine (rice wine)
white pepper powder
8 tbsp water
* you may use chicken thighs and legs (de-skinned is an option) to replace the chicken breast.

Serve size: 2-3 people

Cooking Method:

1. Marinate the chicken meats with sesame oil, soy sauce, corn starch and little white pepper for 30 minutes.
2. Heat up the cooking oil in a wok and stir-fry the ginger strips for 3 minutes.
3. Put the marinated chicken meats into the wok and stir-fry them well until fully cooked.
4. Add in the wood ears and stir-fry for 5 minutes.
5. Add in oyster sauce, kecap manis, salt, cooking wine and water.
6. Finally, add the scallions and do a few quick stirs.
7. Dish up.

Serves well with steamed rice.