Moo Shu Pork

Here are some things that are delicious:

1. Pork
2. Sauteed vegetables
3. Mushrooms
4. Eggs
5. Hoi sin sauce

Conveniently enough, the items on this list can be combined to become something even more than the sum of its parts: Moo Shu Pork.  It's one of my dad's favorite dishes when we go for Chinese food, and for good reason.  When you take that pork mixture and wrap it up in a pancake with plenty of sweet-spicy Hoi Sin sauce...oh man.  Good things happen.  My Moo Shu may never quite stand up to the stuff we got from our favorite Chinese place growing up, but it's a pretty tasty alternative to make at home.  

Here's what you'll need: pork tenderloin, shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, green onions, eggs, hoi sin sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, cornstarch, garlic, sake or rice wine vinegar, and some pancakes.

Your local grocery store may or may not have exactly what you would like - in my case, my pancakes are just flour tortillas, but many stores do sell pancakes specifically meant for moo shu and peking duck in the Asian food section.  It's also perfectly effective to shred cabbage yourself rather than grabbing cole-slaw mix, but I was in a weeknight hurry and the shredded stuff worked just fine.

First, chop the tenderloin into small strips.  Throw it in a bowl or ziploc bag with some soy sauce, sesame oil, a bit of sake or rice wine vinegar, and some corn starch.  Give it a good mixing, and let it sit for at least a half-hour.

While the pork is marinating, you can start in on the other components.  First, heat up a bit of oil and add your lightly-beaten eggs to the pan once it's hot.  Let the eggs set over medium heat, then flip the whole sheet and cook for just another minute or so.  Pull the eggs out of the pan, chop the sheet into small pieces, and set the eggs aside for later.

Add a bit more oil to your pan, then add your minced garlic and chopped green onions.  Saute just for a minute or so - be careful not to overcook - then add the shredded cabbage and bean sprouts.  At this point, it should be clear why I'm using a dutch oven rather than just a skillet: I'm making a whole lot of moo shu, and all that cabbage takes up lots of space.

Throw in a bit of sake or rice wine vinegar, since cabbage loves a touch of acid.  Let the veggies cook over medium heat, stirring often, until they're slightly wilted but still plenty crunchy.  The volume in the pan should reduce by about half.  Pull out the veggies and set them aside for later.

Add a bit more oil to the pan and bring the heat back up to medium-high.  Chop up your mushrooms, and saute them with the pork, marinade and all, until the pork is just barely cooked.  Do this in batches to make sure that the pan isn't too overcrowded.

Once your last batch of pork is done, the bottom of your pan will be covered in deep brown, flavorful porky goodness.  Don't let it go to waste!  Deglaze with some sake and soy sauce, scraping the bottom of the pan to mix in the porky goodness.  This will have the pleasant side effect of smelling divine.  Inhale deeply.

When you've got the pan nicely deglazed, bring back all of the elements that have been sitting and waiting so patiently on the side - the eggs, the veggies, and the pork mixture.  Mix well, and sample to see what flavors need adjusting.  Add more soy, sesame, or salt as you see fit.  Don't forget, this mixture doesn't need to do all of the heavy flavor-lifting - there's delicious hoi sin sauce to come, as well.

When you're ready to assemble, smear the center of a pancake with a generous amount of hoi sin, then spoon on plenty of the filling.  The filling retains a lot of liquid, so be careful, these can get messy fast - it wouldn't hurt to assemble using a slotted spoon.  Fold up your moo shu like a burrito, and you're ready to eat!

After writing this post, so am I.  Good thing we still have plenty of moo shu leftovers in the fridge.

Recipe: Moo Shu Pork

Prep Time: 30 Minutes | Cook Time: 30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 12-16

Ingredients

• 2-3 pounds Pork Tenderloin
• 1 large bag (14 oz) Cole Slaw mix
• 1 bag (8 oz) shredded Red Cabbage
• 8 oz. Shiitake Mushrooms
• 3 Eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 bunch Green Onions
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 2 tsp Sesame Oil
• 3 tsp Cornstarch
• 1 cup Sake wine
• 4 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 jar Hoi Sin sauce
• Moo Shu pancakes (or tortillas)

Instructions

1. Cut pork into thin strips.  Add to large bowl or ziploc bag with 2-3 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, a splash of Sake, and 2 tsp cornstarch.  Mix well and let sit at least 30 minutes.
2. In a large pan or dutch oven over medium heat, cook lightly beaten eggs in a small amount of oil until barely set.  Flip and cook an additional minute.  Remove from pan and slice into small pieces.  Set aside.
3. Saute minced garlic and chopped green onions in a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat for about one minute.  Add cole slaw mix, red cabbage, bean sprouts, and sake. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are slightly wilted but still crispy.  Volume will reduce by about half.  Remove vegetables and set aside.
4. Saute pork and chopped mushrooms in small batches with marinade over medium-high heat until pork is just cooked.
5. After last batch of pork is finished, deglaze pan with sake and soy sauce.
6. Return all ingredients set aside to the pan and mix well.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
7. To assemble, spread a generous amount of hoi sin sauce onto a pancake, then add several spoonfuls of Moo Shu filling.  Roll burrito-style and serve warm.

Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

It is an undeniable truth in life that food on a stick is great.  Meat on a stick?  Great.  Vegetables on a stick?  Great.  Dessert on a stick?  Great.  Food and sticks just go so well together.  I took advantage of that fact for one of this week's meals - I made some really fantastic teriyaki chicken kabobs.  The same ingredients could have gone into a stir fry and been tasty, sure -- but really, why not put it on a stick?  

Kabobs are so tasty that Blogger's spell-check really wants to correct their name to "Kaboom!" The high-heat cooking method gives a great char to the vegetables that's hard to get from a pan while keeping the chicken tender and flavorful.  What are you waiting for?  Put some food on a stick!

Here's what I used: chicken breast, bell peppers, sweet onion, pineapple, fresh mushrooms, teriyaki sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, lime juice, and a bit of salt and pepper.

First, go ahead and chop the vegetables down to an appropriate bite-or-two size that will fit on your skewers.  I went ahead and left my mushrooms whole, but if yours are bigger feel free to chop them down, too.

Chop the chicken down into similar, bite-or-two sized pieces fit for skewering.  My chicken wasn't quite done thawing when I chopped it, but that actually worked to my advantage -- slightly frozen chicken is very, very easy to chop into just the right shape and size you're looking for.

The key to a good kabob is a good marinade.  I spiced up my bottle teriyaki sauce with some lime juice, rice vinegar, and sesame sesame oil to make sure that the chicken and vegetables would all be really packed with flavor.

I went ahead and marinated both the chicken and the vegetables (in separate bags) overnight - basically, everything but the pineapple.  Be especially certain not to leave pineapple in a marinade with meats for longer than an hour or so, as pineapple juice will break down meats and make them quite soft and unpleasant if they're in contact too long.

Give the chicken and vegetables plenty of time to marinate -- overnight if at all possible.

When it's time to cook, don't forget to chop your last ingredient - the pineapple!  Before you start chopping, get your skewers in to soak -- soak at least 30 minutes, lest they catch on fire.

Once your skewers have soaked at least a half-hour, assemble your kabobs.  I didn't really have a set pattern for my skewering - I just grabbed whatever seemed right to go next, and tried to make sure that each skewer got at least a few pieces of everything.  Pre-heat your grill or broiler while you assemble and it should be ready to go by the time you're done.

Broil the kebabs for 4-5 minutes per side, turning once, until the vegetables are slightly charred and the chicken is cooked through.  If you have some marinade leftover from the vegetables, feel free to give them an extra basting as you turn halfway through.

Serve hot over rice or your starch of choice.

Recipe: Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

Prep Time: 15 Minutes (Plus Marinade Time) | Cook Time: 10 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
• 1 whole Pineapple
• 1 large Sweet Onion
• 2 large Green Bell Peppers
• 12 oz. Fresh Mushrooms
• 1 cup Teriyaki Sauce
• 2 tablespoons Lime Juice
• 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
• 2 tsp Sesame Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Bamboo Skewers

Instructions

1. Chop chicken and vegetables into bite-sized pieces large enough to easily skewer.
2. Combine teriyaki sauce, rice vinegar, and lime juice.  Separate into two portions and marinate chicken and vegetables in separate containers overnight.
3. Soak bamboo skewers at least 30 minutes before assembling kabobs.
4. Chop pineapple into bite-sized pieces large enough to easily skewer.
5. Assemble kabobs by alternating all ingredients on bamboo skewers.
6. Broil kabobs 4-5 minutes per side until vegetables are lightly charred and chicken is cooked through.
7. Serve warm over rice or other starch.

Fried Rice

Fried rice is so often overlooked.  That's not to say that people don't like it, but in my experience, it's generally relegated to the position of side-dish to more exciting menu options when we order Chinese.  This is an injustice!  Fried rice is fully capable of being a meal all by itself, not just a side dish or vehicle for leftovers.  This is a home-made fried rice dish with plenty of stuff in it to keep it interesting, filling, and delicious.

The most important base ingredient is pre-cooked rice.  If you try to make fried rice out of freshly-cooked rice, you'll end up with a big pile of moosh - no good.  You need to give the rice at least a couple of hours to release all of its excess moisture, preferably overnight in the fridge.

I marinated my chicken in a simple mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, and lime juice, and the flavor was great.  Since you'll be cooking rice and throwing it in the fridge the night before, why not chop the chicken and marinate it at the same time?

As for the rest, you'll need some eggs, plenty of frozen vegetables, some pineapple, garlic, soy (or Tamari) sauce, and cooking oil.

I use a cast-iron skillet throughout this recipe - there are a number of reasons you might do otherwise.  First, if you have a good gas stove and own a wok, that's the ideal way to do fried rice.  My little electric stove just can't keep a wok hot enough to do it right, so I went for the cast iron.

Second, if your cast iron isn't sufficiently well-seasoned, eggs will stick to it like glue - you might consider a nonstick pan for the eggs.

Start by cooking your eggs.  Add lightly-beaten eggs to a skillet over medium heat, add a bit of salt and pepper, and let cook a minute or two undisturbed.  Set finished eggs aside for later.

Scramble the eggs and cook until done, taking care not to overcook.

Increase heat to medium-high, add a bit of cooking oil, and saute the chicken with some minced garlic until cooked through.  If you marinated it, there's no need to add anything more than a dash of salt and pepper at this stage.  If you're starting from plain chicken, you'll want to add some soy sauce at this point.

Set cooked chicken aside.

You probably still have plenty of oil in the pan from the chicken - if not, make sure there's 1-2 tablespoons in the bottom of the pan, then add just enough rice to form a single, thin layer.  Take care not to overcrowd the pan - you'll end up repeating this step and the next several times until you're out of rice.

Let cook 2-3 minutes, then stir and continue cooking an additional couple of minutes until the rice has crisped up somewhat and taken on some color.

Add some frozen vegetables and some soy sauce to the rice.  Continue cooking, stirring often, until the vegetables are hot and tender.  Remove everything from the pan into a serving dish, add fresh oil to the pan, and continue frying the rice and adding vegetables until you've used everything up.

Once all of the rice is fried, drain your pineapple well and add it to a hot pan.  Keep it moving to make sure it doesn't burn, and cook until you've put some color on it.  This will take care of some of that "canned" flavor.  You can use fresh pineapple, too, of course - but chances are there's some canned pineapple in your pantry right now, and that will work just fine.

Finally, mix everything together!  If things have been sitting for a while because you're making a lot, add things back to the pan to heat back up as you mix.

Serve hot - all by itself.  The dish can be a fine side or addition to another meal, but come on - isn't it time to give fried rice the spotlight for once?  It's tasty enough to do the job.

Recipe: Fried Rice
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 20-30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 lb Chicken Breast, chopped
• 6 cups Cooked Rice
• 1 bag Frozen Mixed Vegetables (Carrots, corn, green beans)
• 1 bag Frozen Broccoli
• 1 can Pineapple Tidbits, drained
• 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• Vegetable Oil for frying
• Soy Sauce to taste
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Optional: Marinate chicken overnight in soy sauce, sesame oil, and lime juice.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, scramble eggs.  Set aside.
3. Add 2 tbsp vegetable oil to pan and increase to medium-high heat.  Saute chicken with minced garlic until cooked through.  Set aside.
4. Add rice to oiled pan no more than 2 cups at a time in a single layer.  Cook 2-3 minutes, stir, and cook 2-3 more minutes.
5. Add 1-2 cups frozen vegetables to rice.  Add soy sauce to taste.  Continue to cook, stirring often, until vegetables are hot and tender.
6. Set aside finished rice.  Repeat steps 4-5 until all rice and vegetables are cooked.
7. Add pineapple to hot pan and saute 4-5 minutes until hot and slightly charred.  Set aside.
8. Combine rice mixture, cooked chicken, eggs, and pineapple.  Mix well and add additional soy sauce, salt, and pepper to taste.  Serve hot.

Soy-Honey Chicken

This meal began as an attempt to replicate one of my favorite elements of Chinese take-out: Sesame Chicken.  And then, well...I sort of forgot about the "sesame" bit and ended up just making some tasty chicken.  Next time I'll put those poor, neglected sesame seeds in my cabinet to good use, I swear!  In the meantime, I'll just have to content myself with a tasty dish of lightly fried chicken breast and broccoli in sweet, tangy, and slightly-hot sauce.  Gee, life is tough.

Marinating is good.  I highly recommend it.  So long as you're not making this dish completely last-minute, make a quick marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, white wine, sugar, salt, and pepper.

Marinade the chicken for at least an hour and you'll get extra-flavorful results.

Here's what you'll need for the sauce.  This is sort of a silly array of bottles, isn't it?  Clearly the sauce isn't exactly "from scratch."  However, this array of tasty, Asian ingredients (...and Ketchup) are all easy to find and mix into a really fantastic, sweet-tangy-hot sauce.

Mix together all of the sauce ingredients above with a bit of water in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer over low until the sauce has reduced a bit.  Later, we'll cover everything in saucy tastiness.

Now back to that chicken!  The "breading" we'll fry in is a mixture of flour and cornstarch.  The cornstarch crisps up nicely, and the flour gives that classic golden-brown color.  It's a good pairing.

Drain off the excess marinade from the chicken, then toss it in the flour/cornstarch until coated. Set aside for a few minutes to make sure the coating will stick around.

In the meantime, it's the perfect opportunity to steam some broccoli!

Once you've rested the chicken for a few minutes, heat some oil in a wok or other high-walled pan. Don't use too much - just about a quarter-inch is more than plenty.

Now fry that chicken!  Use nice small batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pan.  A couple of minutes per side will result in wonderful, golden-brown color.

Once the chicken is golden-brown, carefully (carefully!) remove from the pan and transfer onto a plate covered in paper towels to absorb excess oil.  Keep frying chicken in small batches until it's all cooked.

And now, the grand combination!  Combine the broccoli, chicken, and sauce and mix well until everything is covered in deliciousness.

Serve hot over rice.  Devour promptly.

Recipe: Soy-Honey Chicken
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 30 Minutes | Difficulty: Medium | Servings: 6-8

Ingredients
Chicken

• 1 1/2 lbs Chicken Breast
• 1/4 cup Flour
• 2 tbsp Cornstarch

Marinade

• 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp White Wine
• 2 tsp Sesame Oil
• 1 tbsp White Sugar
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

Sauce

• 3 crowns Broccoli
• 1/4 cup Chili Sauce
• 2 tbsp Honey
• 2 tbsp Ketchup
• 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
• 1-2 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce (to taste)
• 1/2 cup Water

Instructions

Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces.  

Combine all marinade ingredients in a gallon zip-loc bag.  Add chicken and marinade at least 1 hour.

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan.  Bring to boil, then simmer over low heat 10 minutes or until reduced slightly.

Dredge chicken in flour and cornstarch.  Set aside 2-3 minutes.

Chop broccoli into bite-sized florettes.  Steam until tender.

Heat 1/4 inch of frying oil in wok over medium-high heat.  Fry chicken approx. 2 minutes per side until golden brown.  Remove and pat dry on paper towels.

Combine chicken, broccoli, and sauce and mix thoroughly.

Serve hot over steamed rice.