Mu Shu Pork

Serves six.
ingredients
1/2 lb. lean pork, such as loin or tenderloin
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1/4 cup dried cloud ears
1/2 cup golden needles (also called dried lily buds)
3 Tbs. canola or vegetable oil
1 slice fresh ginger, about 1 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 lb. Savoy or white cabbage, shredded (about 2 cups)
1 scallion (white and green parts), cut lengthwise and then into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, rinsed, drained, and sliced into a 2-inch julienne
1 tsp. salt
Mandarin Pancakes
Mandarin Sauce
how to make

Cut the pork into 1/4-inch slices. Stack the slices and cut them into thin strips. In a medium bowl, mix the soy sauce, cornstarch, and rice wine. Add the sliced pork and toss to coat. In separate small bowls, soak the cloud ears and golden needles in warm water for about 10 min. Drain and rinse well. Cut off the stems from the cloud ears and golden needles. Cut the cloud ears into small pieces and the golden needles in half.

Heat 2 Tbs. of the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the ginger slice, cook it until sizzling and fragrant, and then remove and discard it. Add the eggs and scramble them, breaking them up into small pieces when just set. Remove the eggs from the wok and reserve. Heat another 1 Tbs. oil in the wok until very hot. Add the pork and cook, stirring, until about halfway cooked, about 45 seconds. Add the cabbage and cook, stirring, until transparent, about 1 min. Add the scallion, cloud ears, golden needles, bamboo shoots, and salt; cook, stirring constantly, about 3 min. Return the scrambled eggs to the wok to warm them. Mix well.

To serve, spread some sauce on a pancake, add some stir-fry, and then wrap and eat with your hands.

From Fine Cooking 31, pp. 54-57

photo: Sloan Howard

Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's Chicken and Pancakes

Chinese Pancakes: Bok Bang
Recipe adapted from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, The Chinese Chicken Cookbook, Simon and Schuster, 2004
There is nothing better than eating freshly made pancakes with hot mu shu chicken.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, enriched, bleached (recommended: Pillsbury Best) plus 1/2 cup for dusting
3/4 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
Hoisin Sauce, recipe follows
Cantonese Fried Chicken, recipe follows
White parts of 6 scallions, shredded into 2-inch lengths

Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the boiling water and stir in 1 direction with a wooden spoon. When the flour absorbs the water and cools, knead the dough into a ball and then place it on a work surface dusted with flour. Knead for about 2 minutes, until the dough is thoroughly smooth. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

On a flour-dusted work surface roll the dough into a 12-inch sausage and divide into 12 (1-inch) pieces. Flatten each piece with your palm, using more flour to dust if the dough is sticky. While working, cover the dough not in use with plastic wrap. Working with 2 pieces of dough at a time, wipe 1 side of each piece gently with sesame oil and place 1 flattened, oiled piece atop another. Roll them together into 7-inch rounds. The result is a 2-layer pancake. Repeat until 6 (2-layer) pancakes are made.

Heat a wok over low to medium heat for 1 minute. Place a double pancake in the dry wok and cook for a minute, until it begins to bubble up. (The heat in the dry wok must be carefully controlled. If it is too high, the pancakes will burn.) Turn the pancake over and cook until a few brown spots appear. Remove from the wok and separate into 2 layers. You will have 2 pancakes, each browned lightly on 1 side and white on the other. Repeat until all the dough is used and you have 12 pancakes.

Before serving, steam the pancakes in a stack for 5 to 7 minutes, until soft and hot. Brush the pancake with hoisin sauce, place the chicken slice in the pancake, add some scallion, and fold up the bottom to create an envelope closed on 3 sides but open at the top. Serve immediately.

Hoisin Sauce:
1/3 cup sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon Shao-Hsing wine or sherry

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Cantonese Fried Chicken

Poaching Liquid:
3 whole eight-star anise
1/4 dried tangerine skin (about 2 inches long)
3 cinnamon sticks
1 slice ginger, 1-inch long, lightly smashed
10 cups cold water
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup Chinese white rice wine or gin
1 whole nutmeg

1 whole chicken (3 1/2 pounds), cleaned thoroughly and dried

Coating:
1 1/2 tablespoons honey melted with 3 tablespoons boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons Shao-Hsing wine or sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons Chinese white rice vinegar
3/4 teaspoons cornstarch

6 cups peanut oil (for frying)

Combine the poaching ingredients in a large pot (preferably an oval Dutch oven) and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Raise the heat to high and return to a boil. Place the chicken in the pot, breast side-up. Cover. When the pot begins to boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken over and repeat the process.

Turn off the heat and allow the chicken to sit in the liquid, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken to a rack that has been set into a platter and allow to drain. Pierce the skin with a fork to help the draining. Discard all the ingredients from the pot. Reserve poaching liquid for later use.

Mix the coating ingredients, and with a pastry brush, coat the chicken thoroughly with the mixture. Allow the chicken to dry completely, about 6 hours. During this time, turn the chicken, taking care not to mar the coating. (An electric fan can reduce the drying time by half.)

Heat a wok over high heat for a minute. Add the peanut oil and heat it to 375 degrees F. Using a large Chinese strainer, lower the chicken into the oil, breast side up, and deep-fry for 3 minutes. Use a ladle to pour oil over the chicken to ensure uniformity in frying. Turn the chicken over by inserting a wooden spoon in its cavity, and deep-fry for another 3 minutes, ladling the oil as before. Repeat until the chicken is golden brown. Turn off the heat. Remove the chicken and allow it to drain. Place the chicken on a chopping board and slice the meat and skin together into pieces 1 by 2 inches.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Poached Pears in Ginger-Cinammon Syrup

Adapted from Nina Simmonds. The very best thing for a dry cough...

Sizzling Rice Soup

I loved this soup when I was a kid. Over the years it has completely and inexplicably disappeared from all but a few old-school NYC Chinese restaurant menus; but no matter, I've started making it at home. In fact, we've eaten it three times this week, in an effort to make up for lost time.

The loud sizzle is a special moment in my day. What can I say? I've always loved those little tableside flourishes. Plus, it's a kind of perfect duo: combining the guilty-pleasure-sensation of pop rocks, with the inarguable health benefits of chicken vegetable soup.

3-4 ounces frozen shrimp, thawed
2 tablespoon rice wine
2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 large skinless, boneless chicken breast
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped raw broccoli
½ can of sliced water chestnuts
¼ cup sliced scallions
handful of snow peas
4-6 rice cakes from 1 package Chinese rice cakes (or you can make your own, which I did the other day but would prefer to not ever have to do again in the future.)

In a bowl, mix together the shrimp, cornstarch, sherry and soy sauce and set aside. Poach the chicken breast in the chicken broth in a soup pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce the heat and allow it to simmer until the chicken is just barely cooked through. Remove the chicken breast and set aside too cool slightly.

Add the shrimp mixture, green onions, water chestnuts and broccoli to the pot over medium heat. Simmer for 3 minutes. While the shrimp is simmering, cut the reserved chicken breast into chunks and add the chicken back into the soup. Add the snow peas and adjust for seasoning.

Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan. Brown the rice cakes in the oil very briefly on each side. They should be very hot. Remove the rice cakes from the oil with a slotted spoon, and blot on paper towels.

Add the rice cakes to the soup at the table. If both are hot enough, the soup will sizzle loudly.

Scallion Oil

(Recipe by Eileen Yin Fei-Lo)
3 bunches of scallions, washed, dried, ends cut off, each scallion cut into 4 pieces
3 cups of peanut oil

Heat wok over medium heat. Add peanut oil, then add scallions. When the scallions turn brown, the oil is done. Strain the oil through a fine strainer into a bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature.

Pour the scallion oil into a glass jar and refrigerate until needed.

Chinese Baked Bun Dough

(From the Dim Sum Dumpling Cookbook by Eileen Yin Fei Lo)
1 ½ teaspoons dry yeast
5 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1 1/3 cups high-gluten flour (Pillsbury Best Bread flour, enriched, bromide preferred)
1 small egg, beaten
3 ¾ tablespoons peanut oil

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in hot water. Set in a warm place for 30 to 60 minutes, depending upon the outside temperature. (In winter the longer time will be required).

When yeast rises and a brownish foam forms on top, add flour, egg, and peanut oil, stirring continuously with your hand. Begin kneading. When the mass becomes cohesive, sprinkle a work surface with flour, place dough on it, and continue kneading. Knead for about 15 minutes, picking up dough with a scraper and sprinkling the work surface with flour to prevent sticking.

When smooth and elastic, place dough in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and put it in a warm place to rise. Dough will take from 2 to 4 hours to rise, depending upon temperature (it will take longer in cold weather). Dough will perform better if stored overnight and used the next day.

Char Siu Hum Bao (Chinese Baked Roast Pork Buns)

Were these just as savory as any char siu bao in Chinatown? As addictive as the taboo bao in The Untold Story? As traditional as the bao in Once Upon a Time in China? Well, I'd certainly like to think so, and I believe Bill will back me up on this point. (And really, after eating five bao in two days, he'd better back me up.) The recipe isn't complicated, it just takes a bit of time to complete all the steps. Well worth the effort, if you're far from a ready source of hot hum bao and need a fix.

Sauce Ingredients

2 teaspoons oyster sauce
¾ teaspoon dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 ½ teaspoon sugar
Pinch of white pepper
3 tablespoons chicken broth
½ teaspoon sesame oil

Combine the sauce ingredients. Reserve.

For buns:

2 teaspoons peanut oil
1/3 cup onions, cut into ¼-inch dice
½ cup Roast Pork
1 Baked Bun Dough recipe
1 small egg, beaten
2 tablespoons Scallion Oil

Prepare Filling: Heat wok for 30 seconds over high heat. Add peanut oil and coat wok with spatula. When a wisp of white smoke appears, add onions, lower heat to low, and cook, turning occasionally, until onions turn light brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add roast pork, raise heat, and stir-fry to combine the pork with the onions, about 1 minute. Add Shao-Hsing wine and mix well.

Lower heat, stir sauce mixture, and add to pork and onions. Stir until well mixed and sauce thickens and bubbles. Turn heat off. Remove mixture from wok and transfer to a shallow dish. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for 4 hours, uncovered, or overnight, covered.

Prepare Buns: Preheat oven to 350F. Cut 8 squares of waxed paper, 3 ½ inch on a side.

Remove dough from bowl, knead several times, then roll it out with your hands into a sausage shape 8 inches long. Divide into 8 one-inch pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping others under a damp cloth.

Roll each piece into a ball, then with your fingers, press to create a dome and a well.
Place 2 teaspoons of pork filling into well. Hold bun in one hand and with the other turn the bun, pinching it closed. Pressh firmly to seal. Place completed bun, sealed side down, on a square of waxed paper. Repeat until all buns are made.

Place all buns on a cookie sheet, at least 2 inches apart, to allow for expansion. Put buns in a warm place for about 1 hour to permit them to rise. Using an atomizer, spray each bun lightly with warm water. With a pastry brush, brush each bun with beaten egg.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Halfway through the baking time reverse the tray in oven. When buns are golden brown, remove them from the oven, and while still warm brush them with Scallion Oil. (As the buns cool, the crust tends to slightly harden. The brushing with Scallion Oil prevents hardening, as well as adding piquancy.) Serve immediately.

Char Shui

(Recipe adapted from Eileen Yin Fei Lo)
2 ¼ pounds moderately fatty pork shoulder or butt
1 ½ tbsp. dark soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp. light soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp. honey
1 ½ tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. shao Hsing wine
3 ½ tbsp. hoisin sauce
½ tsp. five spice powder (I like Penzey’s brand)
black pepper to taste
red food coloring (optional)

Cut meat into strips 1 inch thick and seven inches long. Using a fork, tenderize meat by piercing all over. This also allows the sauce to penetrate.

Mix marinade ingredients into a ziplock bag large enough to hold meat.

Place meat in bag, mush it all around in the marinade so it is all covered, then push out all of the air, seal bag and leave it in the refrigerator for twenty four hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place roasting rack on rimmed cookie sheet, and drape meat over it. Roast for 20 minutes, until the meat is done. Baste the meat as it cooks a couple of times with some of the marinade. Allow to cool after it is done, then cover and refrigerate until needed.

Shrimp and Broccoli Lo Mein with Cashews

A happy accident, this noodle dish. I went to re-create the shrimp and snow peas with cashews from a few weeks ago, but accidentally grabbed the oyster sauce instead of the hoisin when I reached into the fridge. The change resulted in a totally different dish, and, it turned out, a completely delicious quick dinner. Its light and full of good lean protein and vegetables without tasking "healthy." I ate it with shirataki noodles, and Bill had lo mein. Not a pretty dish per se, but totally satisfying and way better than Chinese take out.

2 T cooking oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 inch fresh ginger, minced or 1 t dried ground ginger
1/3 red onion, sliced into thin strips or 2 scallions, sliced into thin rings
1 cup raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 full head of broccoli, steamed briefly but not fully cooked
1 cup chicken stock
2-4 hefty glugs of oyster sauce, or to taste
1/4 cup soy sauce, or to taste
1/2 cup salted, roasted cashews
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 package shirataki noodles or lo mein noodles, cooked and heated through

Heat the oil in a saute pan or wok. Saute the garlic, ginger and onion or white scallion rings until they are fragrant. Add the shrimp and broccoli and toss to combine. Add 3/4 of the chicken stock and the hoisin sauce. Saute until the shrimp are cooked through. Add the cashews, green scallion rings and cook just until heated through. Add the cornstarch mixed with the remaining chicken stock and bring to a boil just until thickened. Serve hot over noodles. Garnish with green scallion rings.

Chinese Stir-Fried Shrimp with Snow Peas and Cashews

Oh, yum...
This weeknight experiment -- an amalgam of two stir fries I often crave: Cantonese Shrimp with Snow Peas and Ginger Chicken with Cashews -- came out even better than I expected. Full of gingery heat and sweet shrimp; crunchy snow peas and velvet cashews. Oh - and quick! And healthy!
Keepin' it.

2 T cooking oil
5 cloves garlic, sliced
ginger, minced
2 scallions, sliced into thin rings. White and green parts separated.
2 cups shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 1/2 cups snow peas, blanched
1 cup chicken stock
1 hefty glug of hoisin sauce
1/2 cup salted, roasted cashews
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Heat the oil in a saute pan or wok. Saute the garlic, ginger and white scallion rings until they are fragrant. Add the shrimp and snow peas and toss to combine. Add 3/4 of the chicken stock and the hoisin sauce. Saute until the shrimp are cooked through. Add the cashews, green scallion rings and cook just until heated through. Add the cornstarch mixed with the remaining chicken stock and bring to a boil just until thickened.
Serve over rice.