Once in a while, my family had Chinese barbeque night. Unlike barbeque night in the West, we didn't light fires in the backyard like cavemen. I tease!

It was when mom would bring home usually 2 of the following from the Chinese barbeque shop (the type with the ducks hanging in the front window): Barbeque duck, roast pig, sausage, soy sauce chicken or char siu (barbeque pork loin) -- the last 2 being my favourites.

On a side note, there was a mall I used to hang out at while in secondary school that had the most unfortunate mall planning. They placed a pet store right beside a Chinese barbeque shop. I still giggle when I imagine the pet store window filled with cute fluffy bunnies and kittens juxtaposed with the barbeque shop window filled with barbeque ducks hanging from metal hooks. I know, I have a sick sense of humour.

Sorry for another interruption, but this has to be the most beautiful star anise I've ever seen.

There was generally 2 reasons mom would bring home Chinese barbeque:

• As a special treat for the family.
• She worked late and didn't have time to cook a full 5 dishes for the family, so the barbeque dishes were to supplement. We never only ate the barbeque dishes. There was always also at least soup and a vegetable dish.

The thing with Chinese roast pork is that when it's fresh, the skin is crispy and delicious. When left overnight, it becomes tooth-chippingly hard. So the night after barbeque night would always be braised medley night. Barbeque pork skin after being braised has a chewy texture and absorbs a lot of flavour. "Medley" makes this sound kind of fancy. It might be more aptly named "everything thrown into a pot".

I haven't found any Chinese barbeque shops in Warsaw, so we'll be doing a slightly different version today.

Ingredients

• 1 pkg fried tofu -- Deep fried tofu is a common thing to find in tofu shops and Asian supermarkets. The fried skin has a great texture and absorbs flavours. I wouldn't freshly fry tofu just for this dish, but you can add any leftovers you've already fried.
• 1 block freeze-thawed tofu -- Here's a neat trick. If you freeze, then thaw tofu, it becomes spongey. It's kind of fun to squeeze and absorbs a lot of sauce which is perfect for this dish.
• 1 can mock chicken -- Made from fried gluten, it even has a pattern pressed into it to make it look like chicken skin. It's a favourite amongst Chinese Buddhists, although IMHO, it's not very Buddhist -- not only are you still fantasizing about eating chickens, you're also making fun of them.

• 3 Chinese mushrooms -- a.k.a. dried shiitake
• 1 can straw mushrooms -- Not only are straw mushrooms delicious, they provide the ultimate chopstick challenge. They are the most difficult thing to pick up with chopsticks, especially when cooked in a viscous sauce. You might be able to manage with wooden chopsticks, but only when you can do it with the plastic chopsticks they typically give you in Chinese restaurants can you truly call yourself a Chopstick Master.

• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 3 slices of ginger
• 3 tbsp oyster sauce -- I'm using a mushroom based "oyster" sauce that has become popular in recent years. It tastes mostly the same with a bit less fishiness, which may be good or bad depending on your preference.
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 lumps rock sugar -- Yep, it's the "sugar on a string" science experiment you did in primary school and it tastes better than refined sugar.

• 1 star anise
• sesame oil
• 3 tsp corn starch
• chopped green onion

Method

• Soak the Chinese mushrooms for at least 1 hour.
• Once rehydrated, cut them in half and remove the stems.

• Peel and slice the carrot and onion into large-ish pieces.

• Cut the freeze-thawed tofu into 1.5-2 cm cubes.
• If the fried tofu came in bigger pieces, do the same.
• Add some sesame oil to a pot and cook the carrots an onions on medium heat until the onions are soft. Sesame oil has a low smoking point, so keep the heat low enough. It may also dry quickly. If so, just add some more oil.

• If you are using leftover barbeque (or any other meat), add it now to render some of the fat.
• Add all the mushrooms and cook them for 1 minute in the oil.

• Add enough braising liquid to not quite cover everything. I used the water from soaking the mushrooms and the water from the can of straw mushrooms for extra flavour. You can also add water to supplement or just water if you prefer.
• Adjust heat to simmer and add oyster sauce, soy sauce, rock sugar and star anise.
• Let simmer for 2 minutes while mixing, then taste it to see if it needs adjustment.

• Add the fried tofu, freeze-thawed tofu and mock chicken.
• If there isn't enough liquid, you can add some water. It doesn't need to cover everything completely, as the ingredients will shrink into the sauce.
• Give it a mix so the ingredients are evenly distributed, then let it simmer covered on low heat for 1 hour.

• After an hour, give it a final taste for any adjustments.
• In a small bowl, dissolve the corn starch in cold water. (If you add corn starch directly to a hot pot, it will form permanent clumps.)
• Add the dissolved corn starch to the pot and give it a stir. It will take about 1 minute for the heat to activate the corn starch and thicken the sauce.

• Once that's done, you can turn off the heat and garnish with chopped green onions.

This is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day, so you could prepare this ahead of time and have a cooking-free binge watching night the next day!