The thing about Chinese food is there is TONS of chopping & prep, but once all that's done, dinner is essentially ready! Fast & easy to cook, but prep can take forever!
Here is what you need for moo shu pork:
approximately 4 small pork chops
1/2 head of cabbage
2 large eggs, scrambled & fried
1/4 cup bamboo shoots - sliced thin
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger
4-6 cloves of garlic chopped fine
2-4 stalks green onions
4 - 6 dried shitake mushrooms
approx. 1/4 cup lily buds (large pinch)
1/2 cup liquid from the mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
Marinade for tenderizing pork chops:
2 tablespoons of sake or Shaoxing wine
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
We used some left-over pork chops. Approximately 4 of them.
First you want to chop up the pork like this:
Then you want to prepare the marinade for the meat so it can get tender before cooking.
Let the meat marinate for 30 minutes or so. You want the meat to get nice & tender, but if you leave it in the baking soda more than 30 minutes, your meat will get mushy & fall apart.
While your meat is marinating, soak the mushrooms & lily buds in boiling hot water for at least 30 minutes. Normally, in addition to the shitake, you would use some cloud ear fungus (the black stuff you usually see in mu shu...we just didn't have any, so we used regular dried shitake mushrooms.)
While your meat & mushrooms are soaking, you can do the rest of the prep.
First scramble & fry up your eggs. Then chop it up and set aside.
Shred 1/2 head of cabbage
Once the mushrooms & lily buds are ready, slice them up fine, and set aside.
Make the sauce you will add later. Mix together the soy sauces, sesame oil, sugar & mushroom water and set aside.
Once you have everything ready to go, heat up your frying pan or wok.
Brown the meat & then remove it from the pan.
Fry up the garlic & ginger in the hot pan.
Once your garlic is browned, toss in your lily buds & mushrooms. Stir them around for a minute.
Then put in the shredded cabbage & stir it around until it is wilted.
Toss in the rest of your ingredients & pour in the sauce.
Cook everything together for about 5 minutes on med-high. Turn off the heat & garnish with green onions. Serve over rice! Yum!
