I recently grew some lion’s mane mushrooms from a kit. Having not used them before I’d no idea what to do with them.
Terry from Hearty Growers told me their texture was similar to lobster so this gave me a idea. On a previous holiday I was at a very fancy restaurant I had lobster tacos which were devine. This inspired me, I decided to cook the mushrooms in a super light tempura batter for a bit of crunch. If you like fish tacos you’ll love these.
If you haven’t made tempura batter before it’s really simple and suitable for vegans because there’s no egg in it. What makes it super light is the use of ice cold sparking water. The bubbles help makes the batter super light, so make this at the very last minute before frying the mushrooms
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 200 Grams Lion’s Mane Mushrooms (oyster mushrooms would also work well), cut into 2-3cm slices
- 6 Small tacos
- 150 Grams Canned black beans (drained)
- 1 Avocado (skin removed and cut into slices)
- 100 Grams Cherry tomatoes (halved)
- 50 Grams Red Onion (finely sliced)
- 2 Tbsp Mint or Coriander, or mix of both (finely chopped)
- 1/2 Lime
- Salt
- Finely chopped chilli or chilli powder
Method
- Heat vegetable oil, about 4-5cm deep on a pot, or use a deep fat fryer if you have one. I don’t have a thermometer, so I judge the heat to be OK if I can drop a small junk of bread and it starts to sizzle
- Assemble all your ingredients, and evenly distribute the beans, red onion, herbs, and avocado onto the tacos
- Add the flour and corn flour to a bowl and whisk in the ice cold sparkling water and whisk quickly (the tempura batter should be about the consistency of cream)
- Dip the mushroom in the batter and then add to the hot oil (don’t add too many at once)
- Fry the mushrooms until they are a light golden colour. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper before sprinkling with salt
- Top the tacos with the mushrooms and sprinkle with finely chopped red chillies or chilli powder depending on how spicy you enjoy your food, and a squeeze of lime
Seaneen's Sunnyside Kitchen 