Buddha’s delight, or luo han zhai 罗汉斋 (Mandarin), or lo han jai (Cantonese), is a vegetarian dish well-known in Chinese and Buddhist cuisine. The dish is traditionally consumed by Buddhist monks (who are vegetarians), but it has also grown in popularity throughout the world as a common dish available as a vegetarian or healthy option in Chinese restaurants.
The Buddha’s Delight versions you see outside of China (and even many restaurants within China) simply consist of a variety of common vegetables and maybe some tofu. Every place has its own spin on the dish, and you never know what you’ll get but trust me, this Buddhas delight is one of the most authentic Chinese recipes you will find and it’s actually falls into the easy Chinese recipes category as long as you find all of the ingredients.
The version I grew up with is very much Cantonese, to the point where Judy had never heard of or tasted our family’s version before joining our family’s Chinese New Year celebrations. To this day, my grandma on my mother’s side or in Chinese, Lǎo lao 姥姥 (who’s in her 90s, sharp as a tack, and still insists on living on her own) stays at home on Chinese New Year day and cooks a small pot of lo han jai for the traditional mid-morning vegetarian meal. If you visit her early enough, there may just be some left. Needless to say, I try to get there early.
My arrival always begins with Chinese New Year greetings and wishes of health, happiness and long life (and of course a red envelope of lucky money). Long gone are the days when I only used to get red packets from her when I was a kid. Once I married, the roles reversed, and it was the elderly’s turn to receive the lucky red envelopes from me and my sisters.
But some things never change, and heading over to the kitchen for a small bowl of rice with lo han jai still follows. Memories abound whenever I step into that apartment, where she’s lived for over 50 years.
The list of ingredients for Buddha’s Delight is long, and it’s totally up to personal preference which ingredients you choose to use. I figured it would be useful for you all to have a list of ingredients that are typically found in Buddha’s Delight (below). Our recipe only uses 8 of them, but extra ingredients can always be added or subtracted, depending upon availability and preference.
Common ingredients found in Buddha’s Delight:
- Arrowroot(慈菇; cí gū)
- Bamboo shoots (笋; sǔn)
- Bean curd sticks or bean threads (腐竹; fǔ zhú)
- Black mushrooms (冬菇; dōnggū)
- Cellophane or mung bean noodles (粉絲; fěn sī)
- Day lily buds (金针; jīnzhēn)
- Fat choy (Cantonese) or black moss (发菜; fà cài)
- Ginkgo nuts (白果; bái guǒ)
- Lotus seeds (蓮子; liánzǐ)
- Napa cabbage (大白菜; dà bái cài)
- Peanuts (花生; huā shēng)
- Fried tofu (炸豆腐; zhá dòu fǔ)
- Water chestnuts (荸荠; bí qí)
- Fried or braised wheat gluten (面筋; miàn jīn)
- Fried tofu puffs (油豆腐; yóu dòu fu)
- Wood ear or black fungus (木耳; mù ěr)
- Red dates or jujubes (红枣; hóng zǎo)
- Lotus root (藕; ǒu)
- chives (韭菜; jiǔ cài)
- snow pea (荷兰豆; hé lán dòu)
- soy bean sprout (豆芽; dòu yá)
- carrots (胡萝卜; hú luó bo)
- baby corn (玉米笋; yù mǐ sǔn)
- leek (蒜苗; suàn miáo)
Other vegetables often used include leeks, snow peas, bean sprouts, carrots, and baby corn. Let’s talk about how to make our version.
Buddha’s Delight: Recipe Instructions
Heat your wok over medium-high heat, and add the oil and ginger. Let the ginger caramelize for about 30 seconds without letting it burn. Add the red fermented bean curd and break it up with your spatula.
Add the garlic, the white portions of the leeks (reserve to green portion for later), mushrooms, wood ears, and lily flowers. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the Shaoxing wine and stir fry for another minute.
Next, add the Napa cabbage, fried tofu puffs, and bean threads, and crank up the heat as high as it will go. Stir-fry for 2 minutes.
Add the remaining green portion of the leeks, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and water or vegetable stock. Stir everything together, cover the wok, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Uncover the wok and turn the heat back up to high. Add the mung bean noodles, which should soak up most of the liquid. Keep stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Transfer your Buddha’s Delight to a large bowl and serve with steamed rice!
Buddha's Delight (Vegetarian Lo Han Jai)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 3 slices fresh ginger
- 3 tablespoons red fermented bean curd (hong fu ru)
- 3 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 1 medium leek (cut into 2 inch pieces)
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in warm water and sliced)
- ¼ cup dried wood ears (soaked in warm water; yields about 1 cup)
- ¼ cup dried lily flowers (soaked in warm water with the tips cut off)
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
- 3 cups Napa cabbage (cut into 2-inch pieces)
- 1 cup fried tofu puffs
- 2 sticks dried bean threads (soaked in warm water and cut into 2-inch pieces)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup water or vegetable stock
- 1 small bundle mung bean noodles (soaked in warm water, drained and cut into shorter pieces with kitchen shears)
Instructions
- Heat your wok over medium-high heat, and add the oil and ginger. Let the ginger caramelize for about 30 seconds without letting it burn. Add the red fermented bean curd and break it up with your spatula. Add the garlic, the white portions of the leeks (reserve to green portion for later), mushrooms, wood ears, and lily flowers. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add the Shaoxing wine and stir fry for another minute.
- Next, add the napa cabbage, fried tofu, and bean threads, and crank up the heat as high as it will go. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the remaining green portion of the leeks, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and water or vegetable stock. Stir everything together, cover the wok, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Uncover the wok and turn the heat back up to high. Add the mung bean noodles, which should soak up most of the liquid. Keep stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer to a large bowl and serve with steamed rice!
Thanks for the recipe! I made this a few months ago (my very first time) because I always found myself ordering it from restaurants and it is a bit pricey, so decided to do it myself! It turned out okay being my first time, and today I just prepped a bunch of ingredients for my 2nd attempt. I prepped 11 ingredients this time: carrots, shitake mushrooms, black fungus strips, napa cabbage, fried tofu, bean curd sticks, bamboo shoots, lotus root, water chestnuts, bean sprouts and fun see. Will let you know how it turns out! I moved out of home at a young age and did not learn many Chinese recipes from my family, so I am very grateful for your recipes that help remind me of my culture and my youth. Thank you!
Hi, I can only find Rose Bean Curd in my local store is this the same as Red Bean Curd, will it give the same results?
I thought I had the fried tofu puffs, but they seem to have disappeared! I used tofu knots and skins instead. So good, and thank you.
Hi Rosemary, I personally do prefer the tofu puffs, but maybe because that’s what I grew up eating. Tofu knots are great, and even fried wheat gluten also works. Happy cooking!
I loved the base recipe! I mixed and matched my proteins and greens in the meal, and it came out great! I used braised wheat gluten, and Yuba for my proteins, and baby bok choy for my greens. Also added a little arrowroot powder slurry to the miso mix, to give my dish a bit more of a sauce. Happy Lunar New Year!
Happy Lunar New year to you too TR and glad you enjoyed our Buddha’s Delight family recipe!
I am surprised that you cut the noodles – doesn’t that shorten your long life?
Hi Jane, strictly speaking, long noodles do represent long life and they shouldn’t be cut, but sometimes we can get a little practical too ;-)
Great job. This recipe is similar to the one I use every New Year. I do a few things differently. First, I like to make jai a couple of times after New Year because it’s so good. To do that, I fry the ginger, onion, red bean curd, lilly flowers, Shiitake mushrooms, and cloud ear mushrooms together and use a portion for the upcoming feast, reserving the rest for later. These ingredients do not have to be fresh in order to be good. Later, just add veggies, tofu sheets, bamboo shoots, bean threads, etc, to make jai again. The resultant dish will taste fresh like the first time, even if you freeze the initial batch. Another thing I do is I use chicken stock instead of vegetarian stock. I know, it’s not authentic, but it certainly elevates the taste. Some people also add dried oysters (soak for 24 hours before using). Again, not vegetarian but really adds to the taste. If you are not a vegetarian and don’t care if the dish is totally vegetarian, give the above a try.
Hi Steven, thanks for sharing your suggestions with us and our readers!
This is the first recipe I made from TWOL in January 2020. I made it again to celebrate New Year’s Day. Very delicious. I love the flexible ingredients.
Sounds great Carol, Happy anniversary lol. Hope you cooked lots of our recipes over this last year :)
I loved lo han zai made by Mr Shu from Shanghai… with braised gluten and lotus root , clouds ear fungus and more… he was Christian but had uncles who Buddhist monks… I learned great home style food from him
Hi Christine, happy to hear that our recipe brought back some lovely memories for you :)
It is inappropriate to use leeks and chives and even garlic and onions in Buddhist vegetarian food. This recipe is a hybrid and not authentic Buddhist version. It is necessary to omit to such ingredients otherwise it is misleading others.
Hi Aaron, you are right that the items you mentioned are frowned upon or not allowed in a strict Buddist diet for a variety of reasons I won’t get into here. That said, we do include them in our family version of Lo Han Jai since that is the way my parents and grandparents made this dish.
Your parents are probably non practicing Mahayana Buddhists. It will be alright if you call your dish as vegetarian dish. Since you are using the word Buddhist and Lohan, these two words have religious connotations and you will have to omit the offensive ingredients or change the name of the dish. If you do that then it will be alright. Muslims do not imbibe in alcohol. Unfortunately there are many Chinese dishes that employ alcohol in food preparation. Food with alcohol cannot be classified as Islamic cuisine. There are many Muslims out there who drinks and it is against their religious practice. We cannot therefore accept it is correct or true although there are people who are not following the rules. It may be good to do research in future the origin of famous recipes. When it comes to cooking Kosher food for Orthrodox Jews, we as Gentiles are not even allowed to be the cooks in their kitchen If we do, the food would be non Kosher. Jews separate all the cooking utensils into three categories such as meat, dairy and vegetables. One cannot use a spoon that was used previously for meat and later use it for making cakes. Regardless if you wash the spoon because ultimately that spoon is tainted. You will have to use a spoon that is only for dairy products.
Aaron, what are your favorite dishes, or do you even eat, and what planet are you from?
Karen — I mean, Aaron, if you don’t agree with or don’t like a recipe, move on. No need to chastise the author(s). Good grief, there is always a Karen on every recipe blog.
Thanks very much, Bill, for the clarification. BTW, I love your family version! Only one special recipe among many, many others!! :p
You’re welcome Richard and happy cooking!