Although you might already know that Chinese food is not just orange chicken and sweet sour pork, you probably are not familiar with the difference between Northern Chinese cuisine and Southern Chinese cuisine. Northern China is colder which is better for growing wheat. They eat spices like garlic and ginger to keep them warm. Therefore Northern Chinese food is mostly noodles or dishes with lots of spices. When I was little, my mom always tell me this to encourage me to eat: “hey Jeff, you see that those Northern Chinese? They are always taller and bigger, it’s because of their diet. Eat these dishes and you will be as tall as them!” I truly believed in this fact until years after; I busted the myth with my height. Northern food only tastes good, but doesn’t make you taller.
Among all Northern dishes, Mu Shu Pork is one of my favorites. Mu shu is the name of sweet olive tree. Since the scramble egg in this dish looks like the flower of the tree, that’s why it’s called Mu Shu pork. Traditionally, you would eat this dish with Chinese spring roll wrapper. Since it’s much more work to prep that wrapper, many restaurant prefer to serve Mu Shu pork was a dish with rice or noodle. Today I’ll show you how to make Mu Shu pork!
Pork strips Ingredients:
- 1 pounds of pork butt
- 2 Tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 Tsp of sugar
- 1.5 Tbsp of rice wine
- 1.5 Tbsp of corn starch, or sweet potato powder
Other Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp of sesame oil
- ½ Tbsp of soy sauce
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of shredded black fungus
- 1 cup of bamboo shoots strips
- 2 green onion
Black fungus might be very new to many of you. It basically is a kind of mushroom. It does not have a taste but gives good texture and color to a dish. Usually you got dried black fungus from Asian supermarkets and soak in water to bring it back to form.
I recommend this brand of bamboo shoots strip, it is the perfect size for this dish. One can of bamboo shoots strips is exactly one cup!
For making pork strips, please refer back to my shredded pork with sweet-bean sauce for traditional way of shredding pork. In this recipe, I am using my food slicer to process pork strips in less than 15 mins! Instruction included!
Marinate the pork for at least 15 minutes
Shred all your ingredients, you are almost ready to go!
Scramble the eggs first, cook at medium heat for 40 sec until it’s half-cooked as shown. Do not overcook it since we will stir fry later. Undercook is ok. Remove from the pan and store for later use.
Heat up your pan at medium heat, add some oil. Stir fry the meat.
Wait until the meat is fully cooked, add all vegetable, add 1 Tbsp of sesame oil and ½ Tbsp of soy sauce, stir fry for another 3 min. Pro tip: If you want your green onion look green in this dish, simply add it 1 to 2 min later to preserve the green color!
The standard Mu Shu Pork has green onions, egg, black fungus and bamboo shoots in there. However, you can add any kind of vegetables as long as it’s cut into the same size.
It’s ready! Enjoy!
- 1 pound of pork butt
- 2 Tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 Tsp of sugar
- 1.5 Tbsp of rice wine
- 1.5 Tbsp of corn starch, or sweet potato powder
- 1 Tbsp of sesame oil
- ½ Tbsp of soy sauce
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of shredded black fungus
- 1 cup of bamboo shoots strips
- 2 green onion
- Soak dried black fungus
- Shred the pork
- Marinate the pork shreds with soy sauce, sugar, rice wine and starch for at least 15 min
- Scramble the egg at medium heat, remove from heat when it’s half cooked
- Cut green onions, black fungus and other optional vegetables into strips
- Add a little bit of oil to a pan, heat up at high heat for 1 min
- Stir fry pork shreds to well cooked
- Add in half cooked scrambled eggs, green onions, black fungus, bamboo shoots and other vegetables
- Season with sesame oil, soy sauce, stir fry at high heat for another 3 min
- Ready to serve