Vegetarian Fish Stir-fried with Cucumber — 香椿素魚炒大黃瓜

Golden mock fish and shiitake melt into sweet, silky Chinese cucumber under a fragrant veil of toon paste — Taiwanese home cooking at its most comforting. 香椿素魚炒大黃瓜，香椿的獨特香氣裹著軟嫩的大黃瓜與金黃素魚，是一道五分鐘上桌的夏日家常菜。

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Recipe by 芭樂媽的家 Qistin Wong TV

🥘 Why This Recipe Works

In Taiwan, 大黃瓜 (dà huáng guā) — the big, pale-green “yellow melon” of summer — almost always ends up in soup. But sliced into thick strips and braised in the wok, it turns translucent, tender and sweet, soaking up every drop of seasoning like a sponge. Here it meets 素魚 (sù yú), a wheat-gluten mock fish that sears to a golden, savory crisp, and 香椿 (xiāng chūn) toon paste — the fragrant, piney soul of Taiwanese Buddhist vegetarian cooking.

The method is a lesson in layering flavor: the vegetarian fish and shiitake are fried first until deeply golden, then the cucumber is added and the seasonings are bloomed over high heat before any liquid goes in. Two pours of water, two short simmers — one to soften the cucumber, one to let it drink up the sauce — and the whole pan comes together in about fifteen minutes.

This version: 10 ingredients, one pan, 15 minutes.

🛒 Ingredients

👨‍🍳 Instructions

Step 1: Prep the Vegetables

• Peel the cucumber and halve it lengthwise. Scoop out the mature center seeds with a spoon — they turn hard and woody when cooked.
• Cut the cucumber into thick, long strips (or half-moons if you prefer). Slice the vegetarian fish thinly and the shiitake into strips.

Step 2: Sear the Aromatics

• Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat until shimmering.
• Add the shiitake and vegetarian fish and fry for about 1 minute, then stir and continue until both turn golden and deeply fragrant, about 2 minutes total.

Step 3: Add the Cucumber and Bloom the Seasonings

• Toss in the cucumber strips and stir-fry briefly to coat them in the oil.
• Drop the heat to medium-low and add the toon paste, soy sauce, white pepper and salt.
• Turn the heat back up to high and stir-fry quickly until the seasonings smell toasted and aromatic — this step builds the sauce’s flavor base.

Step 4: Braise in Two Pours

• Pour in 60 ml of water, cover the wok, and simmer on medium-low for about 3 minutes.
• Flip the cucumber pieces so they cook evenly (stovetop heat is rarely uniform), then add the remaining 60 ml of water.
• Cover again and simmer on medium-high for about 5 minutes, until the cucumber is soft, glossy and fully seasoned and the liquid has nearly cooked away.

Step 5: Finish and Serve

• Turn off the heat and transfer everything to a serving plate.
• Scatter a pinch of goji berries on top for color, and serve hot with steamed rice.

💡 Tips & Substitutions

📊 Nutrition

Per serving (serves 3 as a side)

~130 cal · Protein: 7g · Carbs: 11g · Fat: 6g · Fiber: 3g

Dou Dou (豆豆)

Vegetarian Fish Stir-fried with Cucumber — 香椿素魚炒大黃瓜

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Servings: 3 servings

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Taiwanese

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 large (about 500g) Chinese cucumber (大黃瓜) peeled, seeded, cut into thick strips
• about 100g vegetarian fish slices (白帶素魚) thin-sliced wheat-gluten mock fish
• 3 fresh shiitake mushrooms (鮮香菇) sliced into strips
• 1 tsp toon paste (香椿醬) Chinese toon leaves pounded with oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce (醬油)
• 1/4 tsp white pepper (白胡椒粉)
• 1/4 tsp salt (鹽) adjust to taste
• 120 ml water (水) added in two 60 ml pours
• 2 tbsp cooking oil (食用油)
• a pinch goji berries (枸杞) for garnish
• to taste fresh chili (辣椒), optional sliced, for heat

Method

 

1. Peel the cucumber and halve it lengthwise. Scoop out the mature center seeds with a spoon — they turn hard and woody when cooked. Cut the cucumber into thick, long strips. Slice the vegetarian fish thinly and the shiitake into strips.
2. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the shiitake and vegetarian fish and fry for about 1 minute, then stir and continue until both turn golden and deeply fragrant, about 2 minutes total.
3. Toss in the cucumber strips and stir-fry briefly. Drop the heat to medium-low and add the toon paste, soy sauce, white pepper and salt. Turn the heat back up to high and stir-fry quickly until the seasonings smell toasted and aromatic.
4. Pour in 60 ml of water, cover, and simmer on medium-low for about 3 minutes. Flip the cucumber pieces so they cook evenly, then add the remaining 60 ml of water. Cover again and simmer on medium-high for about 5 minutes, until the cucumber is soft, glossy and seasoned and the liquid has nearly cooked away.
5. Turn off the heat and transfer everything to a serving plate. Scatter a pinch of goji berries on top for color, and serve hot with steamed rice.

Notes

A Taiwanese home classic: golden vegetarian fish and shiitake braised with soft summer cucumber in fragrant toon paste. Serve hot with steamed rice. Add fresh chili for heat.

🌱 Why This Dish

大黃瓜 (dà huáng guā) means “big yellow melon,” though the skin is pale green — it is simply the mature, fully grown fruit of the common cucumber vine. In Taiwan it is a summer vegetable through and through: cheap at the market (a single strip costs just a couple of dollars), cooling in the heat, and endlessly versatile. The star of this dish, though, is 香椿 (xiāng chūn) — “fragrant spring” — the young leaves of the Chinese toon tree, one of the most beloved spring vegetables in Chinese cooking. Pounded with oil into a paste, it becomes the signature condiment of Taiwanese Buddhist vegetarian (素) cuisine, most famously stirred into noodles.

The vegetarian fish (素魚) carries an even older story. For centuries, monastic cooks in China developed 素肉 (sù ròu) — mock meats of wheat gluten, soy and konjac — so that temple kitchens and lay Buddhists could keep the familiar textures of home cooking while honoring the precept of not taking life. Dishes like this one, where the mock fish mingles with seasonal vegetables, are the living heirs of that tradition: meatless in substance, but never short on flavor, memory, or comfort.

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