Buddha’s Delight
Buddha’s Delight or Luóhàn zhāi 罗汉菜 (Mixed Vegetables Delight) is a dish often eaten by Buddhist Monks and during the first day of Chinese New Year. This dish consists of various vegetables, usually made with at least 10 vegetables-although there are more elaborate versions comprising of 18 or vegetables. Vegetables such as: Bean curd sticks, Cellophane noodles, Lily buds, Gingko nuts, Lotus seeds, Bamboo fungus, Arrowhead, Lotus roots, Enoki mushrooms, Shimeji mushrooms, and Oyster mushrooms. This dish varies from restaurant to restaurant and family to family, not everyone uses the same ingredients to make this dish.

Ingredients: (1-2 servings)
- Dried Red Chillies : 1
- Chopped Garlic : 1 clove
- Broccoli cut into bite size piece: 3 oz or 85 g
- Carrot Sliced: 1 oz or 28 g
- Mushroom Sliced: 1.6 oz or 45 g
- Firm Tofu: 6.5 oz or 185 g
- Capsicum squared: 1 oz or 28 g
- Baby Corn: 2.18 oz or 62 g
- Water Chestnuts: 1 oz or 28 g
- Snow Peas or French beans: .7 oz or 20 g
- Nappa Cabbage : 2.3 oz or 65.32 g
- Brown Sauce: 1 cup or 254 mL (recipe below )
- Water: 1 tbsp + 1/2 cup or 125 mL
- Corn Starch Slurry: 1 tbsp
- Sesame Oil: 1 tsp
Ingredients fopr Brown Sauce : (1 cups)
- Soy Sauce: 1 tbsp
- Sugar: 1/2 tbsp
- Chinese rice wine vinegar : 1 tbsp
- Oyster Sauce: 1 tbsp
- Hoisin Sauce:1/2 tbsp
- Dark Soy Sauce: 1/2 tbsp
- Sesame Oil: 1/2 tsp
- Spring Onion greens : 1 piece
- Ginger: 1 tsp (minced)
- Garlic: 1 tsp (minced)
- White Pepper: a sprinkle (optional)
Directions
- Rinse tofu in cold running water and dry it with cotton or paper towel. Cut it into ¼ inch thick bite size pieces.
- Add the cooking oil 1 tsp to a non-stick pan and heat it up over high heat. Lower the heat and gently set the tofu onto the pan and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Rotate the pan to cook the tofu evenly. When the bottoms get a little crunchy, flip them over one by one with a spatula. Let cook another 7 to 8 minutes until both sides of each tofu piece are a little crispy and golden brown.
- Blanch all vegetables (except cabbage) in boiling water for 2-3 minutes
- In a wok add 1 tsp vegetable oil, add the dried red chilli and chopped garlic, stir fry for few seconds and add the blanched vegetables stir fry on high heat for a minute, add one cup brown sauce, once it comes to a boil add the corn starch slurry and continue to stir fry for 15 – 20 sec or until sauce thickens finally add 1 tsp of sesame oil and your buddhas delight is ready