Egg Foo Yung. This pancake is too big; you’ll make a nicer presentation with 4-inch pancakes that are overlapping on the plate but not stacked.
I had a surfeit of bean sprouts so decided to experiment with this Chinese-American classic. On the way I investigated a few options which will give you better results than mine on your own batch. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 bunch scallions, sliced thin including some of the green
1 cup or more bean sprouts
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ c ham, finely chopped (or use leftover chicken or pork or a smaller amount of crispy bacon)
½ t salt
½ t pepper
For sauce:
½ c shao shing cooking wine (if you don’t it, substitute 6 T chicken stock or water and 2 T rice vinegar)
1 T sugar
2 T soy sauce
2 T cornstarch
Method: Beat the eggs and add salt and pepper. Using a non-stick skillet (essential, unless you have good wok skills and a very well-seasoned wok) heat 1 T oil then ladle in enough egg to make 4-inch “pancakes”. Add a spoonful of the vegetable/meat filling to each pancake and cook on medium heat till the surface is firm. Flip to brown the other side, then reserve on paper towels and repeat with more oil, egg and filling until all pancakes are cooked.
Make the sauce: Mix sugar with wine or other liquid in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Off the stove, mix the soy sauce and cornstarch in a small bowl jar or glass then pour into the stock. Simmer, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens to coat the back of the spoon.
Serve immediately, three pancakes per person with some gravy drizzled on top. You’ll likely end up with some nicely browned pancakes and others that are ragged or short on filling. Put those on the bottom.
What I learned:
• Smaller pancakes will make a nicer presentation than one egg per pancake which is what I did.
• You don’t need to pre-saute the filling as most recipes recommend.
• You need a sweet-tart gravy, not the American brown gravy (shudder) that some recipes specify.
