Chinese Crab Salad
Servings: 4

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dried wood ear mushrooms
- 1 medium-sized cucumber, peeled
- Salt
- 1/2 cup fresh cooked crab meat, shredded
- Dressing:
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or Chinese red vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
- Cilantro sprigs

A snappy salad with the taste of the sea. The wood ears remain firm and chewy.

Directions
Soak the wood ears in hot water to cover until soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and slice.

Cut
the cucumber in half lengthwise. Slice very thin diagonally. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Allow to
stand for 5 minutes; drain well. Squeeze to remove the excess moisture. Place the cucumber slices
in a circle on a plate. Put the sliced wood ears in the center. Arrange the crab meat neatly on
top of the mushrooms.

Mix the dressing ingredients together and drizzle the dressing over the
salad. Garnish with cilantro.

--Kay Shimizu, from Cooking with Exotic Mushrooms ALTERNATE
MUSHROOM: Enoki