In its traditional Chinese version, moo shu pork consists of sliced or shredded pork chop meat and scrambled eggs, stir fried in oil together with thinly sliced wood ear mushrooms (black fungus) and day lily buds. Thinly sliced bamboo shoots may also be used. The dish is seasoned with minced ginger and garlic, scallions, soy sauce, and rice cooking wine. This was a fun project to work on, thank god for great local Asian markets. the recipe for the pancakes still needs some tweaking so I will keep you posted. ~GC
Ingredients
For stir fry:
- 12 ounces pork belly, trimmed and thinly sliced across grain
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons Shao sing rice wine
- 3 Green onions (sliced)
- 1 cup Sliced cabbage
- 1/4 cup dried day lily bulb
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/2 ounce dried Chinese black mushrooms (also known as black fungus or wood ear mushrooms)
- 3 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
For pancake dough:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Method:
Make pancake dough:
In large bowl, stir together flour and 1/2 cup boiling water until water is absorbed. Add 2-3 tablespoons cold water and knead until smooth dough forms.(8-10 min) Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rest 1 hour.
Prep stir-fry:
In large nonreactive bowl, toss together pork, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons rice wine and pepper. Let marinate 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in 2 small bowls, place dried black mushrooms and dried lily bulbs add boiling water to cover. Let stand until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, squeezing out excess liquid, rinse to remove any grit, and coarsely chop . Set aside.
In small bowl, stir together remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, remaining 1 tablespoon rice wine. Set aside.
In small sauté pan over moderate heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add eggs and scramble until softly set, about 1 minute. Transfer to small bowl and set aside.
Cook pancakes:
On lightly floured work surface, roll dough into long, even cylinder 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Using sharp knife, cut cylinder crosswise into about 30 (3/4- to 1-inch) slices. Using rolling pin, roll each slice out to 3 1/2-inch-diameter circle (about 1/8 inch thick). Brush 1 circle with sesame oil and top with 2nd circle. Repeat with remaining circles to form 15 “sandwiches.” Roll each “sandwich” out to 6-inch diameter. (Pancakes can be made ahead up to this point and frozen, layered between parchment or waxed paper, up to 1 month.)
Heat wok or heavy large sauté pan over moderate heat. Brush pan lightly with peanut oil and cook pancake until lightly golden, about 3 minutes per side, brushing pan with oil between each batch. Transfer each pancakes as done to large plate . Cover with moist towel while cooking remaining pancakes. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Cook stir-fry:
In wok or heavy large sauté pan over moderately high heat, heat peanut oil until hot but not smoking. Add ginger, garlic, half of scallions (reserve remainder for garnish), and pork and stir-fry until pork is cooked through and caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add black mushrooms, cabbage, day lily bulbs, and stir-fry until vegetables are tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs and soy sauce-rice wine mixture and stir-fry until heated through, about 1 minute.
Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with remaining scallions. To serve, divide pork mixture among pancakes and roll up to enclose mixture.
This was a fun dish to play with, thank god for great Asian markets. I am still working on a better pancake recipe trying a combo of rice flour and AP flour.
Regards G.C.
