Last Sunday I went mushrooming alone because Rolf was working and it was sad. Not sad because I was alone, but because the mushroom season is pretty much over here in Oslo. Even the prolific winter chanterelles were nowhere to be seen..
But then! Walking back to the subway, I spotted these (not so) little puffballs in the grass.
Brown giant puffballs? At first I wasn't sure what to make of them. All the ones I'd seen before in pictures from North American friends and on the Internet were pure white. After squatting in the rain with a phone in one hand and a mushroom knife in the other for at least ten minutes, internally debating, they ended up coming home with me. Their seductive spongy white flesh was irresistible.
At home the mushrooms dried off a bit and their shells were more beige in the light. After consulting multiple Norwegian field guides and the web, I came to the conclusion that they were actually examples of the Purple Spored Puffball (Calvatia cyathiformis), a near cousin of the Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea). Both of these mushrooms are edible so long as the inside flesh is uniformly white and squishy inside. Lucky us! That night we had a wild rice pilaf with roasted garden pumpkin, chard, and foraged puffball pan-fried in butter. Yum. These puffballs had more taste than we expected and were almost nutty, like extra good button mushrooms. The texture was very soft, almost like marshmallows or silken tofu..
Naturally, Mapo Puffball is Mapo Tofu (one of my favorite Chinese dishes ever) sans tofu. Those white chunks in the photo above are none other than our foraged friends.
Over the last year this dish has become one of my go-to quick lunches. This means I almost never measure anything anymore and often mix up the combination of chili sauces and oils depending on what's on-hand in our kitchen. But! For the sake of how delicious this turned out, I must share. Apologies in advance for the mixed up measurements. I still have US measuring cups and spoons but think in grams.
Ingredients
1 large giant puffball (circa 500g), chopped into approx. 1cm slices
150g ground pork
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tablespoons chili oil *
1 tablespoon chili flakes *
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fermented bean paste
1 tablespoon Sichuan chili paste
1 tablespoon ground Sichuan peppercorns **
1/2 cup water
2-3 stalks spring onion or scallion, chopped medium-fine
Directions
Heat up a skillet on medium heat, add chili oil, chili flakes, and garlic. Stir in ground pork, when it starts to turn brown add: soy sauce, fermented bean paste, and Sichuan chili paste. Let the meat cook through. Add water, Sichuan peppercorns, and puffball. Let everything simmer until the mushrooms cook through (and shrink a bit) and the chili pork sauce thickens, approximately 5-10 minutes.
* To promote a more organized and minimal kitchen (ours is anything but) I suggest buying chili flakes in oil if you don't already have both on-hand. My personal favorite is a Vietnamese brand also with garlic.
** To increase the heat, roast your Sichuan peppercorns in a pan before grinding them and/or double the quantity. I like my Mapo pretty spicy but not numbing. If you want that numbing heat, up all the chili quantities at will, especially the Sichuan peppercorns.
Enjoy over white rice or noodles.
But then! Walking back to the subway, I spotted these (not so) little puffballs in the grass.
Brown giant puffballs? At first I wasn't sure what to make of them. All the ones I'd seen before in pictures from North American friends and on the Internet were pure white. After squatting in the rain with a phone in one hand and a mushroom knife in the other for at least ten minutes, internally debating, they ended up coming home with me. Their seductive spongy white flesh was irresistible.
At home the mushrooms dried off a bit and their shells were more beige in the light. After consulting multiple Norwegian field guides and the web, I came to the conclusion that they were actually examples of the Purple Spored Puffball (Calvatia cyathiformis), a near cousin of the Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea). Both of these mushrooms are edible so long as the inside flesh is uniformly white and squishy inside. Lucky us! That night we had a wild rice pilaf with roasted garden pumpkin, chard, and foraged puffball pan-fried in butter. Yum. These puffballs had more taste than we expected and were almost nutty, like extra good button mushrooms. The texture was very soft, almost like marshmallows or silken tofu..
Mapo Puffball
Over the last year this dish has become one of my go-to quick lunches. This means I almost never measure anything anymore and often mix up the combination of chili sauces and oils depending on what's on-hand in our kitchen. But! For the sake of how delicious this turned out, I must share. Apologies in advance for the mixed up measurements. I still have US measuring cups and spoons but think in grams.
Ingredients
1 large giant puffball (circa 500g), chopped into approx. 1cm slices
150g ground pork
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tablespoons chili oil *
1 tablespoon chili flakes *
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fermented bean paste
1 tablespoon Sichuan chili paste
1 tablespoon ground Sichuan peppercorns **
1/2 cup water
2-3 stalks spring onion or scallion, chopped medium-fine
Directions
Heat up a skillet on medium heat, add chili oil, chili flakes, and garlic. Stir in ground pork, when it starts to turn brown add: soy sauce, fermented bean paste, and Sichuan chili paste. Let the meat cook through. Add water, Sichuan peppercorns, and puffball. Let everything simmer until the mushrooms cook through (and shrink a bit) and the chili pork sauce thickens, approximately 5-10 minutes.
* To promote a more organized and minimal kitchen (ours is anything but) I suggest buying chili flakes in oil if you don't already have both on-hand. My personal favorite is a Vietnamese brand also with garlic.
** To increase the heat, roast your Sichuan peppercorns in a pan before grinding them and/or double the quantity. I like my Mapo pretty spicy but not numbing. If you want that numbing heat, up all the chili quantities at will, especially the Sichuan peppercorns.
Enjoy over white rice or noodles.
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