Buddha's Delight (Lo Han Jai, Vegan Chinese Braised Vegetables)

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1. 1Step 1: Boil some water, and place all the dried ingredients in separate bowls. Pour the boiling water over each ingredient and leave all to soak for 30 minutes, apart from the cellophane noodles.
2. 2Step 2: Drain the cellophane noodles after just 1 minute, rinse in cold tap water, then toss with the 1 Tbsp of sesame oil. Set aside. This is the time to chop up all your aromatics and vegetables.
3. 3Step 3: At the end of 30 minutes, drain all the soaked ingredients, reserving the soaking liquid from the shiitake and lily flowers.
4. 4Step 4: Snip off the slightly harder ends of the lily flowers and discard.
5. 5Step 5: Slice the shiitake.
6. 6Step 6: With a pair of scissors, cut the wood ear fungus if you like. I prefer to leave them whole, even the larger ones.
7. 7Step 7: Slice the garlic, julienne the ginger and chop up the spring onions into 2.5cm (1") lengths.
8. 8Step 8: Slice the cabbage widthwise, about 2.5cm (1") wide.
9. 9Step 9: Cut off the ends of the pak choi, rinse, and leave them whole.
10. 10Step 10: Slice the carrot.
11. 11Step 11: Mix all the ingredients together, including 125ml (1/2 cup) of the soaking liquid from the shiitake and lily flowers.
12. 12Step 12: Heat the oil in a large wok on medium-high heat.
13. 13Step 13: Fry the garlic, ginger and spring onions for 30 seconds.
14. 14Step 14: Add the carrots and the drained lily flowers, shiitake, wood ear fungus, black moss, red dates, gingko nuts and fermented bean curd. In the video, I'm not using red dates not gingko nuts.
15. 15Step 15: Stir to mix, then pour in the braising liquid. In the video, you see me adding the soy sauces and wine mix, followed by the 2 soaking liquid.
16. 16Step 16: Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.
17. 17Step 17: Add pak choi and cabbage and cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on how soft you like your pak choi and cabbage.
18. 18Step 18: Add the tofu puffs and heat through for 1 minute.
19. 19Step 19: Then finally throw in the cellophane noodles, separating the strands slightly. Stir to heat through for 1 minute. Check seasoning and add more salt, if you think it needs it. Serve up immediately. The cellophane noodles will gradually absorb the liquid in the dish.