Cooking in
Salt Spring Island
Thai
Yam Hed Ruam (Mixed Mushroom Salad)
A warm salad of mixed mushrooms — briefly blanched or stir-fried — dressed with the standard yam dressing (fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, fresh chilli) and garnished with shallots, fresh mint, and coriander. Yam hed demonstrates the fundamental yam principle applied to a vegetarian protein base — the mushrooms' umami and textural range replacing the meat's richness, the dressing's acidity and heat providing the same aromatic framework. Thompson covers mushroom yam in the context of the central Thai vegetable preparations, noting that the mushroom varieties chosen determine the dish's character more than any other ingredient.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
One shipped · two elsewhere in British Columbia · one not yet within reach.
How the 4 are reached
- Shipped to you
- 1 · palm sugar
- Elsewhere in British Columbia
- 2 · fresh coriander, neutral oil
- Not yet within reach
- 1 · shiitake (hed hom)
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
Mushrooms
150 g
King oyster mushrooms (hed nang rom / pleurotus eryngii)
stems sliced into 1 cm rounds, caps halved
Your own market
100 g
Oyster mushrooms (hed nang fa)
torn into natural fronds along the grain
Your own market
100 g
Shiitake (hed hom)
caps only, stems discarded; caps halved or quartered depending on size
Not yet within reach of Salt Spring Island · each reach is counted
75 g
Enoki mushrooms
base trimmed, clusters separated; reserved and added last
Your own market
100 g
Straw mushrooms (hed fang)
halved if large
Your own market
For the yam dressing
30 ml
Fish sauce
Your own market
45 ml
Lime juice
freshly squeezed
Your own market
10 g
3
Fresh red or green chillies
thinly sliced on the bias
Your own market
Garnish
3
Shallots
peeled and sliced into thin rings
Your own market
1 small handful
Fresh mint leaves
picked, large leaves torn once
Your own market
1 small handful
Fresh coriander
leaves and fine stems only
1 tbsp
Within reach counts in town, delivered, shipped and the nearest city. A staple counts once it has a local seller. Charted from each shop's own pages; not yet vouched by a cook who shops here.
The larder of Salt Spring Island →Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Combine the fish sauce, lime juice, and palm sugar in a small bowl, stirring until the palm sugar is fully dissolved so the sweetness distributes evenly through the dressing rather than pooling in pockets that would make the balance unreadable. Add the sliced chilli and set the dressing aside. It should taste simultaneously sour, salty, and faintly sweet, with no single note dominating — adjust before use if the balance is wrong.
From the canon — Fish sauce — nam pla — is the universal salt of the Thai kitchen. Fish Sauce (Nam Pla): Selection and Use →
2
Bring a pan of salted water to a full boil. Blanch the oyster mushroom fronds, straw mushrooms, and enoki separately and in sequence — each variety for 30–60 seconds — lifting them out with a spider or slotted spoon and draining immediately, so the cooking stops at the right moment and each variety, which loses moisture and texture at a different rate, does not carry excess water into the bowl. The mushrooms should be just yielding with no raw resistance but should not have collapsed.
3
Heat a wok over maximum heat until a droplet of water vaporises on contact, then add the oil and, when it shimmers, lay the king oyster rounds in a single layer without moving them, so the cut faces stay in sustained contact with the metal and build a pale gold Maillard colour rather than steaming in their own released moisture. This is where the dish lives or dies: a wok that is insufficiently hot, or pieces placed too close together, will stew the mushroom and forfeit the depth the dressing depends upon — after approximately 2 minutes the underside should show that pale gold colour; turn each piece and repeat on the second side. Add the shiitake caps for the final minute, tossing briefly to colour the cut surfaces.
4
While the stir-fried mushrooms are still in the wok and the blanched mushrooms remain warm, combine all mushrooms in a wide bowl and pour the dressing over immediately, so the warm mushroom tissue draws the fish sauce and lime inward rather than letting the dressing sit on the surface as it would on cold flesh. Toss to coat every surface evenly.
5
Add the shallot rings, mint, and coriander, then toss once more, lightly. Taste a piece of king oyster and a piece of shiitake together with a little dressing: each mushroom should be clearly legible as its own variety — the deep umami of shiitake, the meatiness of king oyster, the delicacy of oyster — while the dressing makes each one more vivid rather than masking it. Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Fresh wild mushrooms — porcini, matsutake, or locally foraged varieties — substituted for or added to the cultivated selection; hand-pressed lime juice used within the hour; unrefined palm sugar from a solid cake, freshly shaved.
02
Estate — Full five-variety cultivated selection sourced from a specialist supplier; all mushrooms purchased on the day; palm sugar in solid cake form; fish sauce from a single-production Thai bottling (Tiparos or equivalent named by the cook's own pantry).
03
Market — Three or four of the five mushroom varieties, sourced from a good supermarket or Asian grocer; palm sugar from a tub rather than a cake; standard bottled Thai fish sauce; freshly squeezed lime.
04
House — Two mushroom varieties — king oyster and shiitake at minimum, as they carry the most distinct character; bottled lime juice acceptable only if no fresh fruit is available; granulated sugar as a last resort for palm sugar.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Smell. King oyster in the hot wok releases a complex, deeply savoury, nutty-umami smell as its proteins brown and its natural sugars caramelise — this smell confirms a true sear rather than mere warming.
◇Sight. Pale gold colour on both cut faces of each king oyster round, with the mushroom holding its structural integrity and no pooling of liquid in the wok.
◇Touch. Blanched delicate mushrooms (oyster, straw, enoki) yield cleanly under light pressure — neither crunching with rawness nor collapsing into softness.
◇Sight. The finished salad glistens with dressing at the surface of each mushroom piece; no puddle of dressing sits at the base of the bowl, which would indicate under-absorption caused by dressing applied too cold.
◇Where it lives or dies. The king oyster slices must achieve pale gold Maillard colour on both cut faces in a dry-hot wok without releasing their moisture into steam — this sear provides the umami depth on which the entire dressing is calibrated.
Pillar V
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The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Sake
From British Columbia
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Without alcohol
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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The working kitchen
Sourced through Provenance