Mushrooms with bean curd skins

The shiitake mushrooms used in this recipe, known as black mushrooms, are the premium variety with large fissures in their caps. These are called ‘winter mushrooms’ in China and are eaten for their symbolism of longevity as well as for their rich, husky flavour and meaty texture. Beancurd skins are factory-produced. The film that forms on top of boiling soya milk is lifted off and dried flat to form wrinkly sheets. The kind used here are the slightly glossy, translucent brown skins, rather