King Oyster salad

I just love King Oysters; they are a staple in my kitchen. Also known as the king trumpet and eryngii, they have a dense, meaty texture and mild earthy, umami flavour. These amazing mushrooms are so versatile you can really get creative with them. They can be cooked or eaten raw. Today I wanted to share a super simple salad using raw King Oyster mushroom.

This salad is a vegan, guilt-free version of an octopus salad. Octopuses are such wonderful beings (did you watch My friend octopus?? I cried so much!) and belong in the sea, not our plates. Thankfully, the amazing King Oyster mushroom does a great job of imitating the octopus part; the texture and chewiness are so similar that you won't ever need to use anything else, even if not vegan. It is also packed with micronutrients. It contains riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, potassium, copper, thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, iron, magnesium, zinc and manganese. And, of course, it's very low in saturated fat and cholesterol. In Croatia, we would use parsley for this type of salad, but I had to go with the Portuguese and use fresh coriander. So, without further ado...

PREP TIME: 15 MIN
SERVES 2

Ingredients

1 King Oyster mushroom
1/2 red onion
1 small (or 1/2 large) red pepper
Fresh coriander (or parsley)
Olive oil (about 3 tbsp)
Vinegar (to taste)
Salt, pepper

Method

Dice the mushroom, onion and pepper, chop the coriander (or parsley). Mix it all together and season with good virgin olive oil and good quality vinegar (I use red wine vinegar or apple cider). Salt and pepper to taste. Leave it covered and refrigerated for an hour or so to marinate before serving.