Buddha’s Delight, or ‘Lo Han Jai’ in Chinese, is a very well-known southern Chinese and Buddhist cusine. ‘Lo Han’ is short for ‘Arhat’, means Buddha (in pre-Buddhist India, the term arhat, denoting a saintly person in general). ‘Jai’ means vegetarian.
Traditionally, this veggie dish comes in different variations depending on the available ingredients in a particular region. However, what all the versions share in common is the prevailing usage of soy-based products, for both sauces such as dark, light soy, ‘furu’ (fermented bean curd) source, and for materials such as deep-fried tofu, dried tofu stick, and sometimes tofu skin.
During special occasions such as the Chinese New Year, families tend to add more variety to the dish, to make up 18 ingredients in total, in respect to the 18 disciples (Sādhanā) of Gautama Buddha.
HUA! Kitchen has adopted the following ingredients in its own version of Buddha’s Delight, from top to the bottom goes sugar snap peas, ‘furu’ cubes, tofu sticks, Chinese cabbage, lotus root, Chinese mushroom, deep-fried tofu, and finally centred by potato noodles.
As a vegetarian and gluten-free dish, Buddha’s delight contains high level of vitamin and protein and is a healthy light dish.
