Lo han jai recipe - vegetarian stew with shiitake and se-oen

Lo han jai

Lo han jai (羅漢齋) is a Cantonese vegetarian dish made with dried mushrooms, bean sprouts, vegetables, tofu, and se-oen, braised in a sauce of fermented white tofu. In Cantonese families, it is often eaten on the first day of Chinese New Year, as the day begins without meat.

The flavour comes mainly from the dried goods. Shiitake and wood ear mushrooms add depth and bite, the fermented tofu makes the sauce creamy and savoury, and the se-oen is added only at the very end, so that it absorbs all the moisture instead of becoming mushy.

There are many versions, with more or fewer ingredients. This is an accessible home-cooked version that you can also make on a regular weekday, with a bowl of rice on the side, and which tastes at least as good when reheated the next day.