Brilio.net - Wood ear mushroom is a food ingredient that is often used in various dishes. This mushroom can be processed into an additional ingredient for soup or stir-fried as a side dish. Its unique texture, which is chewy with a little crunch, provides an interesting eating experience.
In the market, wood ear mushrooms are available in two main forms. Consumers can choose between fresh wood ear mushrooms that have a chewy texture or dried wood ear mushrooms. Dried wood ear mushrooms are more commonly found in the market because they have a longer shelf life compared to fresh wood ear mushrooms.
Although it lasts longer, dried wood ear mushrooms cannot be cooked immediately because of their hard texture. To process them, a special process is needed first. Mba Iya Channel on YouTube has shared a tutorial on how to process dried wood ear mushrooms so that they are ready to be cooked easily.
"This makes the wood ear mushroom become soft and chewy. If it is cooked, it has to be chewy. Whereas if you buy it in supermarkets and markets, it is still dry and stiff," said YouTube Mba Iya Channel, as reported by BrilioFood on Thursday (17/10).
How to process dried wood ear mushrooms is quite simple. You just put it in a glass bowl, then pour it with one glass of water. But not ordinary water, he uses hot water that has just boiled.
photo: YouTube/Mba Iya Channel
After all the wood ear mushrooms are completely submerged, stir the spoon. This process will make all parts of the wood ear mushrooms evenly exposed to hot water. Stir while pressing so that the texture of the mushrooms softens.
photo: YouTube/Mba Iya Channel
In the video, the mushrooms appear to immediately soften and become chewy. After further investigation, it turns out that using hot water can speed up the softening of the wood ear mushrooms. This process only takes two minutes, you know.
It's different if the mushrooms are soaked in plain water. In general, this soaking takes about 30 minutes. It can make the cooking time longer, right?
photo: YouTube/Mba Iya Channel
Well, the wood ear mushrooms that are already soft can be drained immediately. After that, wash them clean to remove any remaining dirt on the wood ear mushrooms. If you want to remove the unpleasant odor typical of these wood ear mushrooms, you can soak them again in salt water for a few minutes. Then drain and wash them clean again.
If you want to process it into a stir-fry menu, it is better to boil the wood ear mushroom first. Simply boil the wood ear mushroom for three minutes in boiling water. After that, remove and drain. That way, the stir-frying process becomes faster because the texture is already chewier.
This video on how to process wood ear mushrooms has received more than 62 thousand viewers. Looking at the comments column, there are many other YouTube users who have responded. Some of these netizens admit that the video is very useful and easy to copy.
"I like tips with a safe duration like this the most. Just 2 minutes. For me, I usually ignore anything longer than 5 minutes. It just so happens that this morning I want to cook fried rice with wood ear mushrooms. So this recipe is really useful," said YouTuber Putri Kayana.
"Cool sis, the recipe... very helpful...," said YouTube Iva Feli.
"Wow, so this is how the wood ear mushroom is made. I just found out," said YouTuber Febri Dwi Cahya Gumilar.
"Simple and awesome," said YouTube Isniwati M.
"Thanks, sis, for your advice," said YouTube Rini Safitri.