Egg Foo Young ~ With all the Fixin’s or Vegetarian!

Egg Foo Young

Can you say incredible? Oh my gosh, these were so good that my husband and daughter practically ripped the extra one on my photoshoot plate right off from under the camera! They were like vultures, I tell you! I let them split it with each other, as one egg pancake was plenty for me since I filled mine with all the extras.

I had wanted to make this dish the first time I set eyes on it last April over at Lemony Thyme. Libby makes these wonderfully tasty dishes and presents everything so well with her photography. I pretty much followed this recipe except I sauteed the mushrooms first, cooked up some ground pork instead of using ham, plus I added the optional shrimp. Any of the fillings are optional, so this adapts well to a vegetarian dish. Oh and I don’t own a sifter, so I made a corn starch slurry instead.

Since you can only make these one at a time (unless you want to dirty up more skillets), I made each Egg Foo Young to order. This recipe makes enough for four of them. My daughter only wanted the pork added and no mushrooms in hers. My husband didn’t want the shrimp in his (this surprised me, he loves shrimp!) but did want the pork and mushrooms. I wanted it all, so added all three to mine. The final pancake had only pork so my daughter would eat it.  Aren’t I accommodating?

I have always spelled this dish Egg Foo Young, but Libby spelled hers Egg Fu Yung. I got curious and did a little internet searching, and it turns out both spellings are perfectly acceptable. But no matter how you spell it, this is an incredibly delicious meal to serve for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

Egg Foo Young Ingredients

Egg Foo Young
Adapted from Egg Fu Yung at Lemony Thyme

Hint: Before you get started, you will want to have everything mise en place. That’s just a fancy phrase for getting everything prepped and ready in one place before you start cooking the final dish.

Brown Gravy:

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons corn starch, mixed with a little cold water

Egg Foo Young:

1 cup ground pork
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 cup green onions, chopped small
1/2 cup cooked deli shrimp, diced small
8 to 10 water chestnuts, chopped
6 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon flour, mixed with a little cold water
1 teaspoon reduced sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup bean sprouts
Ground black pepper, to taste
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided, for frying
More sliced green onions, for garnish

Egg Foo Young

Start by cooking the brown gravy and just get that out of the way. You can reheat and stir it a bit on the stovetop when ready to serve. In a small saucepan over medium heat bring all brown gravy ingredients, except the corn starch slurry, to a slight boil then reduce the heat to low. Mix about half the corn starch slurry into the broth whisking constantly. Return the gravy to a simmer, and slowly add a bit more of the slurry while simmering, until desired consistency. Remove gravy from heat and set aside.

If you are going to use pork in this dish, now crumble up the ground pork in a skillet sprayed with a little oil over medium heat. Cook until pork is browned through. Drain and reserve in a bowl and set aside. Next, if using mushrooms, add those to the same skillet and saute about 5 to 7 minutes, until they release their liquid and start to brown. Remove from skillet and set aside in another bowl. Now is the time to dice up or measure all the other ingredients in preparation for the eggs.

In a medium bowl, crack in six eggs and beat in the flour slurry while whisking until well combined. Whisk in soy sauce and sesame oil, then add in bean sprouts, green onions, chestnuts, and black pepper and combine well. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil then about a half cup of the egg mixture. I have this wok-like skillet that has a flat 6-inch bottom I used, but any skillet would do. I suppose a smaller skillet would help make the pancakes thicker. I digress.

Next spread on top of it a portion of any of the pork, shrimp, or mushrooms and cook until the bottom is nice and set. You can swirl the pan around to get some of the uncooked egg on top to add to the sides of the pancake. It’s all good. Flip it over, then cook until the other side is done and set. Add about a tablespoon (or less) of oil between batches. Serve with the reheated brown gravy and sliced green onions. This is seriously amazing!

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Inside-Out Wonton Soup

Inside-Out Wonton Soup Ready to Eat

I’m on an Asian food kick now. I read on another blog it’s one of the “new and upcoming comfort foods of 2013.” HOWEVER, that is not why I’m suddenly making these dishes, it’s because I finally invested in some of the essential ingredients to make that kind of food I’ve always enjoyed at restaurants, and durn it, I am not going to let them waste away in the fridge, pantry, and freezer. If you have the ingredients on hand, then a whole new world of taste opens up. I am absolutely astounded how well this soup turned out. It was so steenkin’ delicious that I was doing that little happy dance in my head. And oh I guess I better share the family rating. Hubby went back for seconds (his portions were large ) and daughter went back for thirds!  That’s the second time that happened in one week! Woot!

I saw this recipe originally on a FaceBook page I belong to that came from The Cooking Channel website. It was entitled “Deconstructed Wonton Soup.” That piqued my interest, and after I read it I knew it was something I was definitely interested in making. I had made some wontons around Thanksgiving and talk about a pain in the butt to assemble. I was not so interested in assembling a ton of those again. So I googled those words and came across another blog that had a different recipe for it, made almost a year earlier. I liked parts of each recipe, so combined them into my own making. Well, that’s pretty much what I always do with new recipes, unless I am forced to bake something that needs exact measurements. Did I ever mention I don’t like to bake cakes and such? Oh, only about a hundred times? OK, I’ll shut up about that.

This recipe handily fed the three of us, with leftovers of about two servings even after we all pigged out. The soup the next day was good, but the flavors were not as intense, so it’s not something I would recommend doubling for the freezer. The broth was also cloudy the next day, and the wonton wrappers slightly mushy. This is a make it and eat it soup! Bright, fun, and packed full of flavor. I added a chopped serrano pepper, and I could not feel any heat from the soup, and next time I would add a jalapeño instead. But if your family can’t handle the heat factor, the serrano should be fine. The pepper cooks in to a mellow flavor. Oh, and the best part? It took about 45 minutes from start to finish. I’m thinking it will only be about a half hour next time since I won’t be trying to figure it all out. And I’m calling it Inside-Out Wonton Soup because the term “Deconstructed” sounds so… well.. technical and exact. I don’t do that. I wing it. OK I said I would shut about that.  😉

Inside-Out Wonton Soup
Adapted from The Cooking Channel and Farmer Jo

4 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
1/2 pound ground turkey
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger (peel first)
1 serrano or jalapeño pepper, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 to 4 green onions, chopped, white and green parts divided
1/2 pound salad shrimp (you know, those teeny things)
1 5-ounce can water chestnuts, finely chopped
3 cups pre-shredded bagged coleslaw mix (purple and green cabbage and carrots)
6 cups low-sodium or homemade chicken or turkey broth
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, plus more for serving
1 cup frozen shelled edamame
12 wonton wrappers, each cut into 4-inch strips (freeze the rest)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Inside-Out Wonton Soup Ready for Garnish

Chop and slice all the ingredients you need to first and set aside. Heat 2 teaspoons of sesame oil over medium heat in a soup pot or dutch oven, add the ground turkey and cook, breaking up and stirring around until no longer pink. Add the ginger, pepper, garlic, white and light green onion parts, shrimp, and water chestnuts. Cook until softened (the water chestnuts won’t soften), about 3 to 5 minutes.  Add the other two teaspoons of sesame oil, then add the cole slaw mix and stir around until the cabbage starts to wilt, just a few minutes more.

Pour in the broth, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. Bring up to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes. Add the edamame and wonton strips (add the wonton strips one or two at a time to avoid clumping), bring up to a simmer again, then cook for about another 10 minutes.  Serve in large bowls with the rest of the green onions, cilantro, and soy sauce on the side for people to add to their taste. Brilliant!