If you’re looking for a way to enhance the flavor of your food, you won’t go wrong by adding a bit of mushroom powder. Mushrooms are an excellent natural source of glutamates, the compound responsible for the umami flavor. If you are hesitant to use MSG in your food (and you shouldn’t be…), you can use some mushroom powder, instead.
I make my own mushroom powder from dried shiitake, wood ear and black mushrooms. You should be able to find these in Asian markets, typically on the same aisle as the dried seaweed and kombu.
Shredded Black Fungus
Whole Black Fungus
Sliced Shiitake
Black and wood ear mushrooms are sometimes packaged as “black fungus” and “wood ear fungus”, but it’s the same thing. You might recognize the shredded black fungus from Chinese hot & sour soup.
To make the powder, you’ll need a really nice blender or, my preference, a coffee grinder. A cheap coffee grinder is super handy for grinding whole spices, making your own bread crumbs from stale bread or for grinding mushrooms into powder. I typically go with a blend of mushrooms, but not according to any specific ratio. Just chuck some into the grinder and pulse until they’re broken down into a powder. Store in a sealed container and, if kept dry, it should keep for as long as it takes you to use it all.
Forgot to mention that you’re making powder from dehydrated vegetables, so their natural tendency will be to rehydrate. When you add this powder to liquid, it will absorb some of that liquid to rehydrate. The more powder you add, the more liquid it will absorb. If using a lot of this powder in a dish, you might need to add some more liquid to compensate.