Recipe: Thi Le’s Smoky Grilled Mushrooms With Crunchy Peanut Topping

Mushrooms soak up flavour like a sponge, and Thi Le’s buttery mushroom dish, nam rung nuong voi hanh, is no different. In this recipe, from her debut cookbook Viet Kieu, Le uses pine mushrooms (saffron milk caps) as a vessel for spring onion oil (mo hanh). The rich, earthy mushrooms are grilled until caramelised, then finished with a buttery gloss, a drizzle of that aromatic oil and a scattering of crushed roasted peanuts. If you can’t find pine mushrooms, field mushrooms or lion’s manes make excellent substitutes.

Trailblazing chef Thi Le co-owns Melbourne’s Anchovy and Ca Com, where she serves modern spins on Vietnamese staples and deep cuts.

Grilled wild mushrooms with spring onion oil

Serves 3–4 as part of a larger meal
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 8–10 minutes

Ingredients

Mushrooms
6 pine mushrooms (saffron milk caps)
15g unsalted butter
Pinch of sea salt
30ml spring onion oil
25g roasted peanuts, lightly crushed

Spring onion oil
100g spring onions (scallions)
100ml vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp caster (superfine) sugar

Method

Wash and clean your spring onions, then slice into thin rounds. Use both the green and white parts for this recipe. (For a gift that keeps on giving, do not discard the spring onion roots – stick them in some dirt and they will grow back again.)

Place the spring onion rounds in a thoroughly dry, heat-resistant vessel such as a metal mixing bowl. (Make sure it is totally dry, or the oil may spit.)

Heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan over medium–high heat until it starts to lightly smoke.

Pour the hot oil over the spring onion and stir well for about 10 seconds, until your spring onion rounds are coated and heated. Season to taste with the salt and sugar, then leave to cool.

Next, clean the mushrooms by brushing any debris off them, being careful not to damage the gills. Wipe off any persistent dirt with paper towel.

Melt the butter in a small pot and set aside.

Heat a chargrill pan over medium–high heat and place the mushrooms onto the grill. As they grill, lightly brush them with melted butter and season with a pinch of salt.

Cook for 2–3 minutes on each side, until the mushrooms slightly caramelise.

Transfer the mushrooms to a large serving plate and drizzle with the spring onion oil. Garnish with the nuts for texture and serve.

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Images and text from Viet Kieu by Thi Le with Jia-Yen Lee. Photography by Mark Chew. Available from Murdoch Books for $55.00.