Beijing-style Moo Shu Pork

Based on /u/mthmchris reddit post 

Ingredients,

  • Pork tenderloin (猪里脊肉/瘦肉), 200g. cut into slivers. (200g = 7 ounces) – very slightly frozen to make slicing easier
  • Meat marinade:
    • ¼ tsp salt,
    • ½ tsp sugar,
    • ½ teaspoon cornstarch (生粉),
    • ½ tsp liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒) (can substitute Dry sherry),
    • ¼ tsp light soy sauce (生抽) (lighter in color and flavor, not sodium),
  • ½ tsp oil for pork
  • Oil for stir-fry. I use peanut.
  • Egg, 3 Medium. Beaten really well
  • Mu’er (木耳) a.k.a. Wood Ear Mushrooms, 15g dry = 50g reconstituted (may need to update ratio, but should be close)
  • Huanghuacai (黄花菜)  (Dried Day Lilies), 15 grams
  • 1Tablespoon soaking liquid from Huanghuacai (day lilies) mixed with 1 teaspoon cornstarch.
  • Ginger (姜), 10 grams (0.3 ounces). Julienned.
  • Leek (大葱), 20 grams (1 ounce) Julienned. Or white part of scallions
  • Liaojiu (料酒) (Shaoxing wine) Can substitute Dry sherry,  1 tbsp.
  • Stir-fry Mix:
    • Light soy sauce (生抽), 1 tsp.
    • Salt, ½ tsp. To season the stir-fry.
    • Sugar, 1 tsp. To season the stir-fry.
  • Spring Pancakes
  • Plum Sauce

Process, Moo Shu Pork:

Get ready!

  • Reconstitute the mu’er  (mushrooms) in cold water for 45 minutes.
  • Reconstitute the huanghuacai (day lilies) in boiled water for 45 minutes.
  • Slice the pork into match-sticks
  • Put pork in bowl, toss with all the ingredients for the marinade except the oil, and mix well. Toss in the oil, mix it well to coat, and set it aside.
  • Julienne the leek and ginger
  • Remove the mu’er/huanghuacai from their respective soaking liquids and wring out the excess moisture
  • Make a slurry from the huanghuacai (day liliy) soaking liquid(1 tbsp soaking liquid, 1 tsp cornstarch)
  • Crack the three eggs in a bowl, optionally add in a touch of liaojiu wine, and beat really well You can optionally add a bit of liaojiu (wine)

Cook!

  • Fry the egg. As always, first longyau: get that wok piping wok, shut off the heat, add in your oil (here a little more than usual, ~2 tbsp), and give it a swirl to get a nice non-stick surface. Heat on medium now, heat up the oil until bubbles start to form around a pair of chopsticks (~160C if you got a temp gun). Add in your egg, and it should quickly puff up. The technique here is to let the egg set, scoop and turn, wait to set, scoop and turn… you get the idea. The whole process should take only about ~30 seconds to get to the point where the eggs are about ~80% cooked. Once it’s there, shut off the heat and give em a quick scramble to get something that looks a little more wispy. Take the eggs out, optionally reserving in a fine mesh strainer to allow any excess oil or moisture to drip out.
  •  Give your wok a quick rinse, addd  little oil and heat on medium.
  • Go in with the pork slivers. Over the next ~15 seconds or so before the heat starts getting intense your goal is to spread out the pork so it doesn’t clump.
  • Up the heat to high. Stir-fry for about one minute until the pork starts to change color. Note that when stir-frying meat on a home stove, you don’t wanna stir TOO often as you’ll want a little bit of browning on the meat.
  • Scooch the pork slivers to the side. If you’re like us and err on the side of too little oil instead of too much, take stock of how much oil’s remaining in the wok. If it needs a little extra, adding a touch more oil is no problem at all.
  • Add in the ginger and leek and put the heat back down to medium-high. Stir fry about ~10 seconds, and add the port.
  • Hit with ~a tablespoon of liaojiu by pouring the wine over the spatula and around the sides of the wok. This not only adds taste to the stir-fry, but also helps control the temperature so the aromatics don’t scorch on us.
  • Add the well drained mu’er(mushrooms). Fry for around 30 seconds.
  • Add the well drained huanghuacai(day lilies). Give it all a quick mix.
  • Season with the soy sauce/salt/sugar mix. Give it all a quick mix.
  • Add in the eggs, pour the huanghuacai-soaking-liquid-slurry over everything, shut off the heat and give it a quick gentle mix (don’t go too hard else the egg’ll lose shape).