Haute Coconut Chicken’ Played By Mr. Maitake Mushroom

March 8, 2017
Wicked
Recipes

Updated: February 23, 2022

1 hour 20 minutes
2-4 servings
0.0

Maitakes! What are we going to do with you? We’ve put you in tacos, smothered you in BBQ sauce, grilled and blackened ya. We’ve also breaded ya, which were gonna do again today, except this time we’re gonna turn you into a delicious burger! Keep reading on to find out how to make this fungus among us wicked crispy and HAUTE!

Plant-based burgers do not = boring and tasteless! This one definitely breaks the stereotype that plant-based burgers look and taste like wet cardboard on a bun. This pressed Maitake is full of flavor, bathed in a coconut milk+haute sauce marinade to add even more flavor and then fried to perfection in a seasoned chickpea and rice flour coating that’s crispy, savory and bursting with umami.

Ingredients

2 TB grapeseed oil, plus extra, for frying
1 lb whole maitake mushroom clusters
1 T salt, coarse grind
1 T black pepper, fine grind
2 C coconut milk, divided
1 C Habanero Carrot Curry, by Marshall’s Haute Sauce, divided
3 C chickpea flour
3 C rice flour
1 T poultry seasoning
1 t granulated onion
2 C cold water

serving suggestions

mandolined red onion
sliced jalepenoes
fresh spinach and or raddichio
sriracha-mayo (we like our very own Ninja Squirrel brand and Hampton Creek’s Just Mayo)

Instructions

Heat a large cast iron pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the grapeseed oil.

To prepare the maitakes, use our Wicked Healthy pressing technique:

Add the whole maitake clusters to the heated cast iron pan.
Cook for 1 minute, weighing it down with additional pan or tinfoil wrapped brick to create a press. Cook for 2 minutes.
Flip over, repeating this process a few times, lightly seasoning with salt and pepper, until mushrooms are condensed into golden brown steaks with minimal liquid in the pan.

Note: Depending on the mushroom size (because they’re all different), liquid will leach out at different rates.

Once fully pressed, remove the maitakes from the pan, allow to cool, then marinate in 1 cup of the coconut milk and 1/2 cup of the Marshall’s Haute Sauce until ready to fry.

To fry the maitakes once pressed:

In a deep fryer or a medium cast iron pan, (if using a cast iron pan, add just enough oil so that it is 2 inches deep from the bottom).
Heat the oil to 350-375 degrees.
While the oil is heating up, create your breading station with two separate bowls.
Add the chickpea flour to one bowl, and combine the rice flour, poultry seasoning, granulated onion, remaining Haute Sauce and coconut milk and 2 cups of cold water to the other bowl to create a thick tempura batter.
Dip each pressed and cooled maitake into the first bowl of chickpea flour, tapping off any excess, then dip into the second bowl of tempura batter, allowing any excess batter to drip off before adding it to the hot oil.
Fry each piece for several minutes on each side until golden brown, then transfer to paper towels. Salt lightly immediately so it adheres well the batter.
Serve immediately with any sauce you’d like to create a killer shroom sandwich!

Coined by a Japanese chemist named Kikunae Ikeda, umami is a term used to describe foods that have high levels of glutamate, a naturally occurring amino acid that gives savory and fermented foods a complex depth of flavor. Umami can have a slightly different definition depending on who you ask, but we like to describe it as that intensely delicious taste that makes you go back for just one more bite—and then another and another—because it’s so good. In addition to mushrooms, think kimchi, olives, miso and seaweed, to name a few plant-based examples.

We guarantee that this plant-forward burger will appease all of your umami desires and more. Serve it between two fluffy steamed buns with your favorite burger fixins and, if you omit the bun, this recipe is gluten-free! That’s sriracha-mayo on the side that you can make with your favorite egg-free mayo and sriracha or other hot sauce of your choice.

We’re also wicked excited that this recipe is in the current issue of Thrive Magazine, on newsstands now! We’re so happy to be included in this awesome publication, alongside other folks we really admire. Thanks to Thrive Magazine for spreading sexy, plant-based goodness around … subscribe here or check out your local newsstand or grocer to get a copy!