mushrooms!

A mother's (or father's) cooked meals are the best. Here's some of my favorite that include chinese shiitake mushrooms. I very much prefer fresh ones rather than the dried ones. Fresh mushrooms are juicy and chewy and I love the smell earthy of them. The dried ones are mostly used to boil Chinese soups.

Eggplant with minced beef and mushrooms & Fried tofu topped with mushrooms

This Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce (middle) is my definition of Chinese food. So many memories and good dishes with this sauce. 

Eggplant takes a while to cook thoroughly so boil them halfway beforehand. Then set aside.

In a clean wok or pan, throw in a few pieces of diced garlic and heat it up with oil. Then stir-fry the mushrooms and add oyster sauce for flavor. Also add in some chicken stock and simmer til done. Set aside.

 Cook the beef thoroughly and add the eggplant half-way. Later throw in the mushrooms that were set aside and continue to let it simmer until eggplant is well cooked.

Doesn't look pretty, but pretty damn good with white rice.

This tofu dish is the closest my mother comes to frying food. Slice tofu equally and then coat them in corn starch mixture (lightly seasoned with salt and I added bonito flakes). At the same time, cover a frying pan with a thin cover of oil and heat it up. It's best to have someone to help you because it gets messy and hot oil is extremely dangerous.

 Fry tofu and flip over when golden brown. The oil will evaporate as it fries so if needed add more. Place tofu pieces onto a plate and lastly top it with mushrooms.