I love my mushroom seasoning, it is a great lift for many dishes. I actually buy the Wagner Pilz variety from Amazon.de because it is the best I have found. Close second though is using dried mushrooms in dishes.
A 100g bag costs me about €5 from Asia Market, which is a short cycle from my home, and will last for ages.
You can quickly rehydrate these in warm water to add to sauces and stews, and then use the leftover water as a stock that is full of flavour.
You can also put them straight into dishes, either ground down as seasoning, or as chunks. In this dish I used them as chunks, which flavour the dish nicely, while leaving behind a meaty umami flavour bomb.
This is delish lunch plate for 1 person. You could add more stock to make it into a soup for two.
Ingredients:
2 small shallots, sliced
About 10 dried mushrooms, broken into small chunks
250ml water
250ml hot veggie stock
Rinse the lentils in fresh water and drain.
Heat some oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and add in the shallots. Add in a pinch of salt.
Stir fry the shallots for a few minutes until they go through the translucent stage and start to colour. Now add in the lentils, dried mushroom chunks and the 250ml water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes until a lot of the water has been absorbed.
Pour in the hot stock and bring back to the boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are to your liking - I like just al dente. Check the seasoning and add some salt if you think it needs it.
Serve with a little pepper in a wide bowl.