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Vegetarian Eight Treasures

A Chinese vegetarian stir-fry featuring eight ingredients including bean curd, mushrooms, and wheat gluten.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Water chestnut and beans share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Vegetarian Eight Treasures

Timeabout 2 minutes (boiling peanuts)

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the dried mushrooms until softened; optionally save soaking liquid for seasoning.

  2. Wash and dice the string beans, wheat gluten ball, and spicy pressed bean curd.

  3. Wash and dice the carrot, water chestnuts, and red chili.

  4. Peel the garlic and shallot, then chop finely.

  5. Mix the seasoning ingredients together in a bowl.

Fry and parboil

  1. Boil the peanuts in water for about 2 minutes, then cool and peel the skin.

  2. Heat the wok and add oil for deep-frying; deep-fry the peanuts on high heat until golden brown, then remove and set aside.

  3. Repeat the deep-frying step with the wheat gluten ball.

  4. Parboil the carrots and string beans for 1 minute, then drain.

Stir-fry and serve

  1. Heat the wok and add oil; when ready, add garlic, shallot, and hot bean paste.

  2. Add the remaining ingredients (except peanuts) and stir-fry until cooked.

  3. Add rice wine and seasoning; turn off the heat.

  4. Mix in the peanuts and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

761Calories
16 gProtein
43 gFat
79 gCarbs

Counts 15 of 20 ingredients. The other 5 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 15 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Peanut1 oz (28g)161
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Mushrooms1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Shallot1 tbsp minced (10g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Beannot in our table0
Wheatnot in our table0
Water Chestnutnot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Water chestnut + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Beans + peanuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together190 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Carrot + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Peanut + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together877 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Wheat gluten
Deep-frying gives it a golden, firm outside that holds its shape in the stir-fry.
Peanuts
Deep-frying browns them and adds a crunchy texture at the end.
Hot bean paste
Frying it with garlic and shallot builds a spicy, savoury base flavour.
Dried mushrooms
Soaking softens them and adds a deep, savoury umami flavour.
Spicy pressed bean curd
Its firm, dense texture holds up to stir-frying and adds savoury chew.

The step that matters

Deep-frying the peanuts and wheat gluten. Frying at high heat until just golden browns the surface and sets a crisp texture; overcooking leads to bitterness from scorched sugars and dry, hard pieces.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, carrot, wheat, water chestnut, beans, peanut, garlic):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Corianderfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, carrot, wheat, water chestnut, beans, peanut, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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