Coming from a Chinese immigrant household, my family didn’t start celebrating Thanksgiving until I was about sixteen years old. I remember running around grocery stores and checking recipes online and in magainzes, in desperate efforts to create the perfect dinner. It took a long time to find the best recipes and to be honest, even now, we’re still in the works of perfecting some dishes. But this stuffing recipe I’m about to share is as good as it gets!
Once a team of us started in the kitchen – my aunts, cousins and sister – the chopping of vegetables and clanging of pots and pans became the rhythm to which we moved for hours at a time. The smells of aromatic nutmeg, buttery mashed potatoes and roasting turkey meat in the kitchen were so foreign to me; never before had I cooked such North American dishes in this household!
As we laid out the table to our first of many Thanksgiving dinners, my relatives started questioning one dish in particular: the stuffing.
“What is this dish?”
“Did you actually put it inside the turkey?!”*
“How am I supposed to eat this?”
Indeed, the Chinese food critiques had found their prey! Curious, my aunts, uncles and cousins all took their first bites of this strange foreign dish. The table was amidst with soft chewing and the scraping of forks against ceramic plates. It stayed that way for quite some time – everyone was too busy enjoying their stuffing to speak! The entire plateful of stuffing was nearly devoured by the end of the night. And what was left was gratefully taken by relatives, eager for post-holiday leftovers.
I’ve changed the recipe several times since then, and I’m really excited to share it with you! It’s so easy and simple to make, and can be modified to your tastes. If there is a vegetable you’re not a big fan of, then feel free to replace it with another. So, do I have a Chinese twist to this North American classic? Yes: I only ever make my stuffing with the huge wok and a long Chinese cooking spatula! (Psst, it actually works really well.)
The bread is all warm and toasted.
Chopped up all the vegetables; prepared for cooking.
Ready to devour!
Ingredients
100g/ 1 loaf of bread (toasted or day old)4 celery stalks4 button mushrooms1 large onion (I prefer a yellow onion for this recipe)2 carrots1/3 cup butter2 tbsp vegetable oil800mL chicken broth
Directions
1. Cut the bread into one inch cubes and toast. Set aside.2. Roughly dice celery, onion, and carrots into half inch cubes. Then slice mushrooms very finely.3. Set a large pan to high low heat. When it’s warm, add oil and butter. Then add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes.4. Add all the chicken broth. When the broth starts bubbling, add all of the bread. Lower the temperature to medium heat. With a spatula, mix all the ingredients together until the bread has soaked up all of the broth.5. Put stuffing into a large dish. Cool for at least 15 minutes before it’s ready to serve. Or, cool for 1 hour and set aside in the fridge. Can last for up to 3 days. You can reheat it in the oven or you can microwave it. Enjoy!
*I don’t actually put my stuffing in the turkey cavity. Cooking stuffing separately is actually faster and safer. You can definitely do that, if you like, but the temperature and time with which it needs to cook will vary.