One of the things I love in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, are its markets. Bishkek is home to the famous Osh Bazaar and and has many more markets to stock up on fresh food.
Bigger or smaller in size, the bazaars offer an extensive choice in fresh vegetables, legumes and grains, delicious types of bread, and an absolutely amazing choice in dried fruits and nuts.
I am no fan of shopping by any means, but I love a stroll through Bishkek’s bazaar for sure.
On one of these shopping trips, my eye fell on the rich selection of mushrooms, among which oyster mushrooms. Gorgeous, beautiful, inviting, they lay waiting in large quantities to be bought and prepared in anyone’s kitchen.
We ate a lot of oyster-mushroom stir-fry dishes!
A fun detail: in 2017, the Kyrgyz Express Post (KEP) issued 4 postage stamps featuring mushrooms.
This current issue of KEP postage stamps is dedicated to the wonderful world of mushrooms – special organisms that combine the features of both plants and animals. About 2,100 species of mushrooms are known in Kyrgyzstan, of which 98 species are edible.
~ Kyrgyz Express Post Newsletter
We were in Bishkek for a large part of the summer to get the Land Cruiser fixed. As we were staying in an Airbnb we had plenty of space to receive fellow overlanders and we invited them through our social media network.
Among the messages was one from a hitchhiking couple, Kiki and Sebastiaan. They were hitchhiking to China but thinking about staying in Bishkek for a while. As it turned out, on arrival they announced they had bought a Lada Zhiguli and would drive it back to the Netherlands. How’s that for a travelers’ spirit!
Read More: Busy in Bishkek – Overhaul & Overlanders
The newbie overlanders stayed for several nights. We are missing the moments they knocked on our door once again in the evening, with faces like thunder when things at the workshop had gone wrong or with exuberant smiles when the Lada was making progress in its repairs to get ready for the road.
And yes, we miss the good talks we had, too!
Kiki and Sebastian, enjoy the road and the world of overlanding. We hope our roads will cross again.
Read More: From Hitchhiking to Overlanding – Meet Kiki & Sebastiaan and their Kyrgyz Lada
An Oyster Mushroom Stir-fry, Asian Style
Kiki and Sebastiaan cooked this delicious Asian Wok dish for us, an oyster mushrooms stir-fry. While prepared in our Airbnb, this stir-fry is a good meal while overlanding as well, requiring only one big frying pan and a pan to cook noodles.
Here they share their recipe. Enjoy and let us know if you liked the oyster mushroom stir-fry in the comment section!
Asian Wok Recipe: Oyster Mushrooms Stir-fry
by Kiki & Sebastiaan
One thing we like about traveling east is that it’s more likely to find oyster mushrooms instead of the commonly-found champignons. These oyster mushrooms are great and are a perfect fit for this Asian wok recipe.
Ingredients
- Oyster mushrooms, sliced, 500 gram
- 1/2 Chinese cabbage, sliced
- 2 Carrots, grated
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 Bell peppers, sliced
- Soy sauce, 60ml (4 spoons)
- Honey, 1 spoon
- Sereh (lemongrass powder), 1 spoon
- Cumin powder, 1 spoon
- Coriander powder, 1/2 spoon
- Coconut oil, 3 spoons
- Salt & pepper
- Noodles, 400 gram
Preparation
- Cut all vegetables as mentioned in the ingredient list.
- Boil water for noodles.
- Make sure the wok pan gets a little preheated before you put anything in it. By preheating the vegetables will be heated more evenly.
- Add the coconut oil and ensure it covers the bottom of the pan.
- Start with frying the chopped onion with the garlic, cumin, coriander, and sereh.
- The flavor of onion and garlic is enhanced by the coconut oil.
- The flavors of cumin, coriander, and sereh are enriched by the onion.
- After 1-2 minutes, add the oyster mushrooms, which will shrink rapidly. Keep stirring until they are shrunk.
- Add the Chinese cabbage and bell peppers.
- Wait until the cabbage also shrunk a bit and then add the grated carrot together with soy sauce and honey.
Aside from preparing the stir-fry, make sure the noodles get cooked.
When finished, you either mix the noodles together with the vegetables or serve them separately.
Add salt and pepper for flavor.
Enjoy our oyster mushroom stir-fry dish!
Happy travels from a Lada,
Sebastiaan & Kiki
Follow Sebastiaan & Kiki on Saigaslife
Read More: An Easy Stir Fry Vegetable Dish for on the Road
Overland Cooking Equipment
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Tips, Suggestions, Feedback?
Do you have a favorite stir-fry dish you’d like to share? We’d love to hear about it in the comment section below!
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