Bun Lai’s Crispy Fried Mushrooms

One of the paradoxes of modern dining is that many people who care about sustainability are eating sushi with little awareness that some of the most popular varieties — bluefin tuna, shrimp, eel, etc. — are also the least sustainable. As the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program explains, these species are either overfished, caught in ways that hurt other species, or come from poorly managed fisheries. On top of this, some seafood is high in mercury or contains antibiotics or other chemicals that are banned in the U.S.

At Miya’s Sushi in New Haven, the Lai family is leading the charge to make sushi healthy and sustainable. They eschew tuna in favor of locally farmed tilapia and incorporate plants, mushrooms, and sea vegetables in their dishes.

In episode one in season 3 of Weekends with Yankee, we spent a day with Bun Lai, the chef at Miya’s (and son of founder Yoshiko Lai). Bun grew up foraging ingredients with his mother, and as he learned more about the food system and its impact on the environment, he completely revamped the Miya’s menu. Lately, he’s taken a special interest in edible invasive species, such as European green crabs, Japanese knotweed, kudzu, and lionfish. He’s learned how to make them delicious, either on their own or alongside more familiar flavors like sweet potato, miso, sesame, and ramen noodles.

He also forages local mushrooms, and one of the most popular dishes at Miya’s is a vegan take on fried chicken that replaces the meat with wild hen of the woods mushrooms or farmed oyster mushrooms (the latter are available at most supermarkets). Like fried chicken, these mushrooms come out crunchy, golden brown, and rich with herbs and spices. “It’s a marriage between fried chicken and tempura but without the chicken or the tempura,” he says, “a finger-licking-good twist on Japanese ginger-fried chicken.” He calls them “Karma Virtue Chickenots” on the Miya’s menu, and we love them as an easy-to-make (and downright addictive) starter or snack.

Note: It’s very useful to test the temperature of your oil and try to keep it in the 350°–375° range. If the temperature is too low, the mushrooms will be oily; if it’s too high, they’ll burn.