I got the idea for these Chinese braised mushrooms and carrots from this black satin chicken recipe which is sweet and soy saucy.  To make this dish vegetarian, I omitted the chicken, and used more mushrooms and carrots and added a little black bean paste. We enjoyed these braised mushrooms and carrots with brown rice and Trader Joe’s Chickenless Mandarin Orange Morsels.

1/2 tablespoon oil
2 carrots chopped
1 onion chopped in big pieces
1 teaspoon ginger chopped
3-4 cups fresh shitake mushrooms
1 teaspoon black bean paste (optional)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons brown sugar
Salt
2 green onions chopped

1. Heat oil in a wok and heat on high.
2. Add carrots and stirfry until semi tender (I added a little water and covered them to steam them a little).
3. Add onions and cook for a couple of minutes stirring often.
4. Add ginger and mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are soft and juicy.
5. Add the black bean paste, soy sauce, rice wine, a little water, sugar and salt and cook until all the flavors meld.
6. Top with green onions.