1 lb asparagus, stiff ends
1 peeled
1/4 lb brown button mushrooms (or
1 mixed mushrooms)
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp fermented black soybeans
1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
1 tsp potato starch (or
1 cornstarch)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp sake or other rice wine
Directions
Cut asparagus on the diagonal into 1-2 inch pieces. Blanch for 5
minutes in boiling water. Drain and set aside.
Wash and slice mushrooms. Set aside.
Mince the garlic. Rinse the black beans well. Mix garlic and beans
together. Set aside.
Mix together the rice vinegar, tamari, starch, sugar, and sake. Set
aside.
Fill a glass with water and set handy next to the stove. Put a
skillet over high heat. When the pan is hot, dump the garlic mixture
into the pan. Stir fry for one minute, adding water as the mixture
begins to stick -- add just a little at time. Add the asparagus and
stir fry for 10 minutes (or until asparagus is just shy of being
crisp-done), again adding water just as needed. Add mushrooms and
stir fry for 2-5 more minutes. Add the vinegar mixture (giving it a
last stir to make sure starch is well mixed), stir until evenly
coated and sauce thickens. Serve immediately.
Comments:
Fermented black soybeans are available in Asian markets. Usually
labled "salted black beans". I find them in the preserved food
section in plastic bags.
Posted by Michelle Dick
Issue 8] Dec. 8, 1994.
FATFREE Recipe collections copyrighted by Michelle Dick 1994. Used
with permission. Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34,
TXFT40A@Prodigy.com using MMCONV.
1.80á
Servings: 1 servings
Asparagus & Mushrooms With Black Bean Sauce Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Mushroom; Sauce; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
Written cooking instructions as a concept can be found far back into ancient history, at least as far as the early Egyptians, and possibly even further. Having said that, in the main part, these ancient cookbooks were just primitive pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for preparing food.
Interestingly, the oldest recipe discovered so far, according to experts are a few stone tablets in the Sumerian language describing the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel `wonderful`. Progressing into The time of the romans around 25BC a man called Apicius compiled some scripts detailing recipes enjoyed by his fellow Romans. In his publication, he tells us how the meals were divided into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and afters, something we still use today. He also informs us how the Roman cooks were skilled in the use of many aromatic flavors, including a few that will be familiar to modern chefs like thyme, fennel and parsley. Moving on, we have two recipe books which appeared in the 14th Century ; a recipe book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another named `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are a little misleading though, these have no connection with the curry that is familiar to us all today, but instead descriptions of the types of food prepared for the rich and wealthy people of that period. Later, in the 15th century, knights returning from the crusades brought us a variety of foods and herbs from middle-east cuisine, including parsley and basil. The introduction of these new tastes prompted an outbreak in manuscripts on food, most of which are kept safe in academic collections. During the next few hundred years, the rich families of Europe competed to serve up the most exotic meals, and because of this the best cooks and their recipe collections became highly prized. Notwithstanding that, it wasn`t until the 1800s that formal cookery and recipe books reached a high level of popularity. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, devoted much of their lives to collecting, trying out, and publishing recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. By the advent of the 1900s, recipe books were highly popular mostly as a result of higher levels of literacy, more leisure time and disposable income. Like it or not, the introduction of TV brought us TV cooks and the recipe books that accompanied them. And that neatly brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting us all to access massive numbers of recipes like the ones you can find on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Asparagus & Mushrooms With Black Bean Sauce recipe.
