Fried Enoki Mushrooms

I love crispy vegetables, from oven-roasted kale and deep-fried lotus root chips to sweet potato fries and tempura-ed okra. Lately, my obsession lies with enoki mushrooms. These delicate, needle-like mushrooms popular in Japanese and Korean cooking are subtly sweet and comfortingly chewy when cooked in soups and stews—but when deep-fried, they take on a different disposition. After a brief bath in hot oil, the delicate tendrils of the mushroom will turn into crisp shards and its batter-coated stem will firm up. When bitten into, the crust will shatter, giving way to the tender mushroom-meat within. While deep-frying can sometimes be a daunting, laborious task at home—with the hot oil’s penchant to splatter and the more complex cleanup—these enokis fry within a couple minutes, with minimal mess. Stir up a quick batter, dunk in thinly sliced mushrooms, and drop them in hot oil. Within a minute or two, they’ll take on a golden hue, and the needle-like caps will get that craggy crunch you’re looking for. Once fried and showered with good old salt and pepper, I’d highly recommend giving the mushroom a touch more character with a light dusting of homemade mala spice powder. It gives it a fragrant piquancy that makes you yearn for more.

Good

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

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