Vegetable Ragout

Lagu or French ragout is a dish from France, but today, when it comes to Vietnam, it has been Vietnamesed and has become a familiar dish on the tables as well as the daily meal of Vietnamese families. For a vegetarian cuisine, lagu is like a love song of vegetables. It is a combination of many types of vegetables and depending on the taste of each family, use whichever vegetables are appropriate. This dish can be served with vermicelli or rice, but it is especially suitable for bread. For this recipe, because I like white beans, I added them here to give this veggie some extra protein.

Ingredients: 

12 oz  bls of combination of fresh mushrooms 

baby Portebela mushrooms, button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms

5 dry shiitake mushrooms

Vegetables:

2 carrots

1/2 chayote

1/2 cup sweet peas

1/2 white onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 taro or potatoes (optional) 

Broth ingredients:

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 cup tomato sauce

6 cups water or vegetable broth

2 cups cooked white beans

Seasonings:

Salt, sugar, mushroom seasoning, soy sauce, and black pepper

Garnish with chopped cilantro

Directions:

Soak dry mushrooms for 1 hour. Then drain. Cut into quarters.

Cut fresh mushrooms into quarters.

Peel carrots and chayote and cut into 1 inch thick chunks.

Peel potatoes, then cut into quarters and steam.

Put oil in the pan on the stove. Heat the pan for onions and garlic and fry until fragrant, then add the diced tomatoes and stir well.

When the tomatoes are soft, add the tomato sauce to the pan.  Start seasoning with adding 2 teaspoons of vegetarian seasoning + 2 teaspoons of soy sauce + 1.5 teaspoons of sugar to the pan.

Add 6 cups of water and some of the water that was used to cook the beans. Add carrots.

Bring to boil for 5 minutes and add the rest of vegetables and mushrooms. Bring back to boil; Adjust the seasoning to your liking.

Cook for 20 minutes, then add cooked beans and cooked potatoes or taro.

Turn off the heat.  The lagu is ready to serve. Ladle the ragu into a bowl and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Tips:

Carrots or any root vegetables can be cut to have the shape of flowers. Cut into pieces as you like. Sliced ​​​​potatoes can be cooked first.

If serving lagu with bread, then mix 1/4 cup cornstach with 1/4 cup water and add this thickening at the last minutes of cooking time.