I am not vegetarian or vegan, but my friends are. I made vegetarian/vegan dishes sometimes so that my friends can comfortably enjoy them when they visit me. So to celebrate World Vegan Day, let’s make this easy vegan unagi bowl.
Vegan unagi bowl with king oyster mushrooms
Regular unagi bowl is grilled eel marinated in a sweet soy sauce, served with hot rice. In other vegan versions, thin slices of squash are used. I’m not a big fan of squash so I used king oyster mushrooms instead. And it still gave a nice visual that really resembled the eel unagi bowl (my vegan/vegetarian friends confirmed that). So let’s dive in.
Ingredients: (for 3 servings)
- King oyster mushroom: 3 whole mushrooms
- Cooked rice: 3 cups
- Unagi sauce: (for 1 cup)
- Soy sauce: 1/2 cup
- White wine: 1/2 cup
- Brown sugar: 5 tablespoons
- Ground black pepper to taste
- Garlic powder, onion powder to taste
- Cilantro as garnish
Preparation:
- Making the unagi sauce: combine soy sauce, white wine and brown sugar in a small saucepan, bring to gentle boil on medium heat then reduce the heat to simmer for 10 minutes. After that, turn off the heat, let it cool down and store in a closed-cap glass jar for future use.
- Slice the king oyster mushrooms into long, thin slices.
- Sprinkle garlic powder and onion powder on both sides of the mushroom slices, then pour the unagi sauce over so that the mushrooms could be fully immersed (about 1/3 cup). Marinate them in the unagi sauce for 15 minutes.
- Preheat a frying pan with a touch of oil on medium heat then sear both sides of the mushrooms slices for 6 minutes. Set aside the cooked mushrooms.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low. In the same frying pan, add the mushrooms back to the pan, then add the marinade unagi sauce till it cover the mushrooms slices. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and the mushrooms are done. Serve with hot rice, and top with some cilantro as garnish.
Total time: 45 minutes (excluded the time of making the unagi sauce)
Visually, it looks exactly like real unagi bowl with eel. I’ve tricked a lot of my friends with it. And the taste is amazing. Try it and experience it yourself 😉😊!
Again, happy World Vegan Day to my vegan friends!
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Easy-peasy-yummy vegan unagi bowl
Ingredients
- 3 whole King oyster mushrooms
- 3 cups Cooked rice
- Ground black pepper to taste
- Garlic powder, onion powder to taste
- Cilantro as garnish
Unagi sauce (for 1 cup):
- ½ cup Soy sauce
- ½ cup White wine
- 5 tbsp Brown sugar
Instructions
- Making the unagi sauce: combine soy sauce, white wine and brown sugar in a small saucepan, bring to gentle boil on medium heat then reduce the heat to simmer for 10 minutes. After that, turn off the heat, let it cool down and store in a closed-cap glass jar for future use.
- Slice the king oyster mushrooms into long, thin slices.
- Sprinkle garlic powder and onion powder on both sides of the mushroom slices, then pour the unagi sauce over so that the mushrooms could be fully immersed (about 1/3 cup). Marinate them in the unagi sauce for 15 minutes.
- Preheat a frying pan with a touch of oil on medium heat then sear both sides of the mushrooms slices for 6 minutes. Set aside the cooked mushrooms.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low. In the same frying pan, add the mushrooms back to the pan, then add the marinade unagi sauce till it cover the mushrooms slices. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and the mushrooms are done. Serve with hot rice, and top with some cilantro as garnish.
