I’m always looking for new vegetarian dishes. I made this tonight. It is from the Feb/Mar 2010 issue of Fine Cooking. It has a great article on Flex Your Meals – dishes that can easily be made meatless. This one is for Broccoli and shiitake mushrooms stir-fried with a black bean garlic sauce. It is a great vegetarian meal but if you have a couple of meat eaters around – just add a 1/2 pound of thin sliced flank steak marinated in soy sauce.

But here is the meat-less version I made. I added a bit of sliced onions. I think you could add a few other veggies. Serves 2 people.

3 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted in 1/2 cup boiling water for 20 minutes
2 TBS black bean garlic sauce (recommend Lee Kum Kee brand)
1 TBS dry sherry
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp Asian chile sauce or paste
1 TBS vegetable oil
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1/4 large onion diced
1 lb. broccoli, crowns cut into florets, steams peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup toasted cashews

Drain the mushrooms, reserving 1/3 cup of soaking liquid. Discard the stems and thinly slice the caps. In a small bowl, combine the reserved mushroom soaking liquid and the black bean sauce, wine, cornstarch and chile sauce. Stir to dissolve the cornstarch and set aside.

Heat 1 TBS vegetable oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Stir fry the onion for a minute. Add the ginger and stir-fry until fragrant – about 30 seconds. Add the broccoli and 2 TBS water, cover and steam until the broccoli is just tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the black bean sauce mixture and the mushrooms and cook until the sauce is thick and bubbly about 1 minute. Add the cashews and toss to combine.