Southern Fried Oyster Mushrooms

Method

Southern Fried Oyster Mushroom

1. Combine all the ingredients well and divide between two bowls. Set one bowl aside.
2. In the remaining bowl, add 150 ml of plant-based milk and whisk well. The mix should be slightly thick, similar to pancake batter.
3. Carefully divide the Oyster mushroom clusters, trying to keep them clustered up as much as possible. 
4. Add these to the wet batter and allow to soak in to the mushrooms for around 20 minutes.
5. Fill a large deep pan with vegetable or sunflower oil (or you can use a deep fryer) and heat it to 200°C.
6. Carefully take the mushroom clusters from the wet batter, coat well in the dry batter. Carefully shake off any excess and drop them into the hot oil. You may need to do this in two batches to keep the temperature consistent.
7. Turn over after a few minutes and repeat until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and rest them on some kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil.

French Fries

1. Peel the potatoes and keep them in a bowl of cold water to help stop the inner flesh from going brown.
2. Once peeled, chop them into 1cm thick steaks and then 1cm thick fingers. Rinse them well in plenty of cold water and keep them in this until ready to cook. The colder the potatoes, the crisper the chips.
3. When you’re ready to fry, drain the potatoes and dry them completely using a clean, dry tea towel or a muslin cloth.
4. Make sure the oil in your fryer is at 150°C and fry the chips for just over 5 minutes.
5. Remove from the oil and turn the oil up to 200°C for a second fry. Once its up to temperature, give them another few minutes until golden and crisp.
6. Put them in a bowl lined with kitchen towel to soak up excess oil.
7. Season with salt whilst they’re still hot.

Southern Style Gravy

1. Finely chop the onion and celery, then add to a saucepan on a medium heat with a few tablespoons of oil.
2. Let them soften up for 5 minutes before adding your herbs and spices.
3. After a few more minutes, add the Henderson’s Relish, Marmite and mustard, and mix through well and cook for another couple of minutes.
4. Now add the flour and turn to a low heat to make a brown roux. If the contents of the pan seem dry then add a little extra oil. Stir and cook this for a couple of minutes before gradually whisking in the soy milk. Based on the thickness, you can then work out how much of the vegetable stock to add to get the right consistency to your liking. 
5. Once the gravy is just right, use an immersion blender to blitz up the gravy and get it looking nice and smooth. A paler colour can be achieved through adding extra soy milk and to make it darker you can add extra marmite. 

Corn on the cob

1. If you have fresh corn, remove the husks and cut them into 10cm long pieces. Boil these in salted water for around 7 minutes, remove and then set aside.
2. Melt the plant-based butter in a small saucepan on a low heat with the garlic pepper and parsley, then set aside.
3. If using a griddle pan to finish off, then set to a high heat and brush with oil. Add the cobs to the pan until they’ve chargrilled slightly and then remove. (This step is optional to simply receive those chargrill lines on your cob).
4. Then toss your corn into your melted herb butter.

Thanks for the lovely recipe Tom!

Click this link to watch Tom creating this dish in the Forrist Kitchen!
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CSuc2MzqZw5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link