BETTER THAN TAKEOUT - Moo Shu Pork Recipe
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Moo shu pork is a simple, healthy and delicious stir fry. When I first ordered this dish from an American Chinese restaurant, I found it very different compared to what I ate growing up in China. So, I thought it would be nice to show you how it is done authentically.
Author:
Ingredients
- 227g / 8 oz pork loin
- 2.9g / 1/2 tsp salt
- 5.5g / 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1.3g / 1/4 tsp of baking soda
- 0.6g / 1/4 tsp white pepper or to taste
- 11.7g / 2.5 tsps cooking wine
- 15g dried daylily flower
- 8g dried wood ear mushrooms
- 71g / 2.5 oz carrot
- 71g / 2.5 oz cucumber
- 3 eggs
- 27.2g / 2 Tbsps oil to stir fry the egg
- 27.2g / 2 Tbsps oil to stir fry the pork
- 9g / 3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- 16.6g / 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 6.8g / 1.5 tsps sesame oil
To marinate the pork
To stir fry
Directions
Soak the wood ear mushroom and daylily flower in clean water for 20 minutes.
- Cut the pork into 1/4-inch thick slabs. Stack the slabs and julienne them into strips. I am using pork loin, but pork butt and pork belly will also work.
- Place the meat into a bowl and add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground white pepper or to taste, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, 1/4 tsp of baking soda, and 2.5 tsps cooking wine. Mix thoroughly and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Cut the carrot, cucumber, and garlic into thin slices. I do see lots of Chinese take out restaurants add napa cabbage to this dish, which doesn’t ruin the recipe but carrot and cucumber are more of the legit collocation.
- The wood ear mushroom and daylilies should be done soaking. Take them out and discard the soaking liquid. Tear the mushroom into bite-size pieces. Cut the daylily in halves.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add a big drizzle of oil, wood ear mushroom, daylily flowers, and carrot slices (reserve the cucumber on the side). Blanch the vegetables for 25 seconds. The oil will coat the surface of the vegetables and help to retain the vivid color. Remove everything from the water and let them drain on the side.
- Crack 3 medium size eggs into a bowl and beat them well. Moo Shu (Mù Xī/木樨 in Chinese) originally denotes sweet osmanthus, but now, it is an elegant name to depict the scrambled eggs because they resemble the yellow blossoms of sweet osmanthus trees.
- Heat a wok over high heat until it is lightly smoking. Add a big drizzle of oil and pour in the egg. Wait 10 seconds for the egg to set. Please give it a little help to let the uncooked egg run to the bottom. Break the egg into bite-size pieces. Then, remove it and set it aside.
- Turn the heat back on high and drizzle more oil to the same wok. Add the marinated pork. Carefully loosen the meat strips so they don’t tangle together and let it sear. Continue to stir for 2 minutes or until the pork is cooked through.
- Add the garlic slices and stir until fragrance, which will take 20 seconds.
- Toss in the blanched vegetables and the cucumber slices. Quickly mix for 1-2 minutes. I know a lot of people are used to eating fresh cucumber in a salad. It may look weird adding it to stir-fries, but give it a try. You will be surprised with its flavor and texture.
- Add 1 tbsp soy sauce from the side of the wok. You want to hear the sizzling sound. That means the soy sauce is camelizing and that is how you create beautiful complex flavors.
- Introduce the egg back into the wok along with a little touch of sesame oil. Give everything a final toss. Serve with white rice
Recipe Video
Recipe Note
One of the differences is that, this dish traditionally contains wood 木耳 and 黄花菜.
Muer is also known wood ear mushroom, sometimes you may see they translate it as fungus, which scares many people away. However, it doesn’t have a strong taste but you will love it’s crunchy texture. I am only using 8 grams for this dish because they increase a lot in volume after soaking.
Dried lily flower looks like a straw and has an earthy taste. I noticed this package says dried lily flour, which is not accurate because this is not the lily flower that you can get in the necesory. It should be daylily, which is a different plant.
Asian markets usually carry muer and huanghuacai in their dried produce section. If you don't have access, I will link them in the description so you can purchase them online.
For those of you who like to do the soaking one day ahead, - wood ear mushrooms only take 20 minutes to rehydrate. Look, as we speak, they have already increased so much in volume. So, there is no need to soak them overnight. If you do, please keep them in the fridge for safety.
If you leave them at room temperature, you risk cultivating pathogenic bacteria. (known as pseudomonas cocovenenans) that can produce a deadly toxin called "Bongkrekic acid”.
