Buddha's Delight

Trim the ends off of the seafood mushrooms (2 oz), and soak them quickly or run them through some water to clean any debris off.

Cut the king oyster mushrooms (4 oz) in half, and then into slices.

Cut the celery (3 oz) into sections of more manageable lengths, about 2 inches long, and then thinly cut lengthwise to create thin strips.

Cut napa cabbage (10 oz) into bite-sized pieces, separating the stem parts, which take longer to cook, and the leafy parts, which cook more quickly. Alternatively, the leafy parts can be torn by hand instead of cut by knife for a different texture.

Cut the carrot (2 oz) into slices, either in a nice flower pattern by notching the sides before slicing, or in simple circles.

Remove the stems from the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms. If the mushrooms are rather big and too unwieldy to eat as is, cut them in half at an angle.

Peel, smash, and mince the garlic (3 clove).

Slice the ginger (1 tbsp) into larger pieces. They'll be easier to fish out, or eat around, at the end.

Squeeze the excess water out of the bamboo fungus and trim off the ends. Dunk and wash the bamboo fungus in cold water until it's clean and the water runs clear. Then, cut it into bite-sized pieces, about 1-2 inches.

Cut the dried beancurd sheet (1 oz) into smaller pieces, about 1-2 square inch pieces, so it'll be easier to fry later.

The baby corn and snow peas don't need any particular preparation as long as they're clean and ready to cook.

To fry the dried beancurd sheets, heat up a wok or a pan with oil (4 oz) on high heat. When the oil reaches 160°C (320°F), it's hot enough to start frying the beancurd sheets.

In small batches so they don't crowd together, fry the cut-up beancurd sheets until they float to the surface, which should take about 8 seconds. When they're done, you can set aside the frying oil to use in your other cooking. We'll need some for the next stir-frying step.

If you'd rather not fry them, then you can soak them in warm water for 10 minutes.

Next, we'll heat up a pot of water on high heat. When it's at a rolling boil, add the cloud ear fungus and the baby corn (3 oz).

After 20-30 seconds, add the bamboo fungus. After another 30-40 seconds, scoop them all out with a spider or slotted spoon.

Then, blanch the celery and carrot pieces for about 90 seconds. Take them out of the water when they're done, too.

Add water (8 oz), which includes the water that the shiitake mushrooms were soaking in, so we can take advantage of their fragrant mushroom flavor and make the dish even tastier.

Next, toss in all of the ingredients that we blanched earlier: cloud ear fungus, baby corn, bamboo fungus, carrot, and celery. Add the napa cabbage leaves and the fried beancurd sheets.

Cover with a lid, and let it continue to cook for 4-5 minutes, until you see steam coming out, which will signal that the beancurd sheets have softened up. Then, add the seafood mushrooms.

Prepare a thickening cornstarch slurry by mixing cornstarch (1 tbsp) and water (1 tbsp) in a small bowl. To save a dish, use the now-empty sauce bowl!

Add the sugar snap peas (2 oz) to the wok.

Add the slurry a little bit at a time, checking to see if it's thick enough to your preference before adding more. You may not need to use all of it, but if you feel like the dish is still too wet, you can keep adding more.

Finally, add sesame oil (1 tbsp) and turn the heat off.