Egg Foo Yung

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This lacy golden omelette with a filling of ground pork, shrimp, bean sprouts, and scallions was originally created as a special occasion dish.

The chefs at Shun Lee West in Manhattan have a great trick for forming egg foo yung: They use a wok ladle to place the egg mixture into the oil so that it sets in the shape of the ladle’s bowl to get that perfect dome shape.

Basically, scrounging around in my fridge, I actually has green bell pepper, bean sprouts, carrots and onions on hand, along with a bunch of eggs, so during this COVID-19 quarantine, the ingredients on hand made for an easy substitution.

Makes 8 Omelettes

INGREDIENTS:

For the Sauce:

1 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 1⁄2 inch pieces ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

For the Egg Foo Yung:
1⁄2 pound ground pork
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1⁄2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dry sherry
1 teaspoon plus 1 tbsp. sesame oil
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon canola oil, plus more for frying
6 ounces raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and finely chopped
1⁄2 cup water chestnuts, finely chopped, drained and squeezed dry
1⁄3 cup fresh bean sprouts
1⁄3 cup sliced scallions, plus more for serving
6 eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS:

To make the sauce: Bring stock, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, the oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon sherry, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, the garlic, and ginger to a boil in a 1-quart saucepan over high heat. Cook, whisking, until thickened, 2-3 minutes; strain sauce and keep warm.

To make the Egg Foo Yung: Mix pork, 2 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, the vinegar, 1 teaspoon sherry, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl; set aside for 10 minutes. Heat 1 teaspoon canola oil in an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture; cook, stirring and breaking up meat, until it is no longer pink, 3-4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer pork to a bowl; set aside.

Pour canola oil into a 6-quart saucepan to a depth of 2 inches. Heat until a deep-fry thermometer reads 350°F. Combine remaining soy sauce, cornstarch, and sesame oil, plus reserved pork, the shrimp, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, scallions, eggs, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Using a ladle and working in batches, gently lower 1⁄2-cup amounts of egg mixture into oil; cook, flipping once, until omelettes are puffed and brown, 1 1⁄2-2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer omelettes to paper towels.

Serve drizzled with reserved sauce; garnish with scallions.

COOK’S NOTES:

For a healthier version of this dish, omit the pork and the shrimp.

A variety of vegetables can be used in the recipe, which can include green bell pepper, julienned carrots, shredded cabbage and mushrooms,

Feel free to substitute a vegetable broth for the chicken broth, in making the sauce.

 

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Stir Fried Chicken with Asian Vegetables

IMG_0132 stiry fry chicken with vegetables and ginger and honey
This Asian inspired chicken  stir-fry dish has the taste of  syrupy honey and spicy ginger  paired with savory-sweet oyster sauce and aromatic Chinese five-spice.The addition of snow peas brightens the color of the dish and adds a little snap and makes this a one-skillet meal.  Just note that in preparation, the chicken marinates for 15 minutes before cooking, making it is a good time to prep the snow peas. For a complete meal, serve this dish with steamed rice.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
For the Chicken:
¼ cup oyster sauce
3 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey, plus more to serve
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut crosswise into thin slices
5 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil
4 ounces snow peas, trimmed
2 ounces baby corn
2 ounces julienned carrots
For Serving:
Steamed Rice
DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oyster sauce, sherry, soy sauce, honey, five-spice and ½ teaspoon pepper. Stir in the chicken and ginger. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
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In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high, heat the oil until barely smoking. Using a slotted spoon, add the chicken and ginger to the skillet in an even layer; reserve the marinade. Cook without stirring until lightly browned and the drippings at the edges of the pan are deeply caramelized, about 3 minutes.
Add the snow peas, corn, carrots and reserved marinade, then cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits, until the peas are crisp-tender and the chicken is opaque throughout, another 3 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Serve drizzled with additional honey, if desired.

COOK’S NOTES:
Do not add the chicken to the skillet until the oil begins to smoke. A very hot pan achieves quick browning and liquid reduction without overcooking the lean chicken breast.

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All photographs and content, excepted where noted, are copyright protected. Please do not use these photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this photograph and all other contents, then we kindly ask that you link back to this site. We are eternally grateful and we appreciate your support of this blog.

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Quail in Rose Petal Sauce

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In   Laura Esquivel’s Novel,  Like Water for Chocolate, the reader is introduced to this recipe in Chapter 3, where the love sick character Tita, who is a cook, prepared an elaborate dish with a rose, a token of love, given to her secretly by her lover Pedro. She calls the dish “quail in rose petal sauce”. At the dinner table, the meal receives an ecstatic response from Tita’s family members, especially Pedro, who always compliments Tita’s cooking. However, a more curious affect is observed in Gertrudis, her younger sister, not long after eating the dish, who begins “to feel an intense heat pulsing through her limbs.” It appears that the meal serves as a powerful aphrodisiac for Gertrudis, arousing in her an insatiable desire. This turbulent emotion pulses through Gertrudis and on to Pedro. Tita herself goes through a sort of out-of-body experience. Throughout the dinner, Tita and Pedro stare at each other, entranced.

Dripping with rose-scented sweat, Gertrudis goes to the wooden shower stall in the backyard to cool off. Her body gives off so much heat that the wooden walls of the shower stall burst into flames—and so do her clothes.Running outside, the naked Gertudis is suddenly swooped up by one of Pancho Villa’s men, who charges into her backyard on horseback.

“Without slowing his gallop, so as not to waste a moment, he leaned over, put his arm around her waist, and lifted her onto the horse in front of him, face to face, and carried her away.”

The escape of Gertrudis serves as a foil to Tita’s stifled passion. The intensity of the former’s reaction to the meal serves to communicate the potency of the passion that the latter possesses but is unable to express directly. With her primary form of expression limited to food, Tita takes the illicit token of love from Pedro and returns the gift, transforming it into a meal filled with lust. The manner in which Gertrudis is affected by the food and later swept away on a galloping horse is clearly fantastical, and the vivid imagery like the the pink sweat and powerful aroma only exemplifies the novel’s magical realism.

To  be carried away so gallantly,  in a moment of passion………..is magic!

And with that being said, this would be the perfect dish to make for someone you love, especially for a romantic dinner for Valentine’s Day.

Enjoy!

Updated February 2, 2018

 

Serves 2

Ingredients:
4 quail (or 6 doves or 2 Cornish Hens)
3 Tablespoons butter
Salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup dry sherry
6 peeled chestnuts (boiled, roasted, or canned)
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup red prickly pear fruit puree
(or substitute raspberries, red plums or pink dragonfruit)
1 Tablespoon honey
¼ cup chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon ground anise seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
14 teaspoons rosewater
Petals of 6 fresh, organic red roses, for garnish
Pepita seeds, for garnish

Directions:
Heat the serving platter in an oven set to low. Rinse the quail and pat dry. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and lightly brown the birds on all sides. Add sherry and salt and pepper to the quail. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Turn the quail, cover, and cook another 10 minutes. Remove the quail when done to your liking and place on a heated platter.

Combine the remaining ingredients with pan juices, transfer to a blender, and puree until smooth. Pour the sauce into a small pan and simmer 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Adjust seasoning with more salt, pepper, and/or honey. Pour the sauce over the quail on the heated platter.  Sprinkle with the rose petals and pepitas, for garnish, and serve hot.

Cook’s Notes:
The original recipe for this dish calls for rose petals, but you don’t want to use petals from conventional flower shop roses—those are treated with fungicides. Still, if you have some organically grown roses in your backyard, or know where to buy them, feel free to use them to garnish the finished dish.

If you cannot find any rose petals, 3 bags of  Tazo Passion Hibiscus Tea is a great alternative to use as well.

You can find rosewater at local Middle Eastern stores.

The original recipe calls for cactus. In this version red prickly pear fruit puree or juice is used and can be found at most health food stores—or substitute frozen raspberries or even use 2 large red plums that have been pitted and skinned, for the red prickly pear.

Another  substitution for the prickly pear would be  dragon fruit , which is closer in terms of the flavor given that both are cactus fruits.While you may not initially equate “cactus” with “edible,” the dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is indeed borne on a cactus. When the fruit is cut open, the flesh is revealed to be either snow-white or magenta pink and peppered with tiny, edible black seeds throughout — quite a contrast to the exterior.The flesh is mildly sweet, some say comparable to a melon. A source of calcium, fiber and vitamin C, the dragon fruit is widely cultivated throughout much of the tropics, particularly in Asia. Its popularity in tropical Asia combined with the dragon reference may lead us to believe it originated in Asia, but the fact is no one seems to agree on where it came from. We do however know it is in the cactus family (Cactaceae), and therefore almost sure to be of New World origin.

If you have a dove hunter in the family, try this with dove instead of quail. In fact, doves may be an even more romantic choice, if you don’t mind picking a little birdshot from your teeth. Cornish hens also work well, as a substitute for the protein in this dish.

 

All photographs and content, excepted where noted, are copyright protected. Please do not use these photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this photograph and all other contents, then we kindly ask that you link back to this site. We are eternally grateful and we appreciate your support of this blog.

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