Monday, June 29, 2015

Tien-Jin Moo-Shu Pork (天津木須肉)

This is a nice variation of the typical Moo-Shu Pork we see in a Chinese restaurant. This variation makes this dish much simpler to make (with much less cutting) and much easier to serve (with no flour tortilla wrapping).
  1. Immerse ~1 cup of dried black fungus (黑木耳)in water for an hour.  Remove the hardened knots among the fungus.  Hand tear the fungus into bite size. 
  2. Place 1/2 pound (1/4 lb if you prefer less meat relative to the veggie ingredients) of lean pork in freezer for half to an hour (till half frozen).  Or defrost frozen pork for an hour or so.   Cut the pork into 3/4" square x 1/8"-thick slices (not too thin).  Marinate the pork slices with 1 Tbsp of Rice Cooking Wine, 1 Tbsp of Soy Sauce, and 1 Tbsp of Corn Starch for 30-60 minutes.  
  3. Cut 4 Persian or Japanese cucumbers into 1/8"-thick slices (not too thin, no need to peel or remove seeds).  Or, slice 2 regular cucumbers (after peeling and removing seeds).  Marinate the cucumber slices with 1 tsp of sugar for 20 minutes, then stir in 1/4 tsp of salt, let sit for 10 more minutes, drain all fluid, and set aside (sugar helps preserve fluid in cucumber and makes it crunchy). Note- Consider cutting Persian Cucumber this way: Cutting along its length into into ~1" long chunks at ~20-30-deg angle.  Standing each chunk on its flat end, then slicing top-down from right to left (or left to right). See picture below for the cucumber chucks and slices. 
  4. Crack 3 eggs, add 1/4 tsp salt, and mix thoroughly.
  5. (Medium-to-high Heat) Heat 2-3 Tbsp of Veggie Oil in a flat bottom cooking pan.  Pour in the marinated pork slices. Stir-fry till the slices turn color, but not fully cooked (1-2 minutes). Take out the slices and set aside.
  6. (Medium Heat) Heat 1-2 Tbsp of Veggie Oil in the same cooking pan. Pour in the egg mix.  Stir-fry until the egg is half-cooked, i.e., the egg fluid is not running, but not firm yet (~1 minute).
  7. (High Heat) Heat 1-2 Tbsp of Veggie Oil, pour in the cucumber slices and the black fungus pieces. Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.  Add 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 Tbsp of soy sauce.  Pour in the half-cooked pork slices and egg.  Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes and serve.  Shown below is a picture of the finished product.  Note- Try not to over-cook the ingredients in this dish.  

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