Mu Shu Chicken (For company)
This is an adaptation of the Mu Shu Shrimp recipe in Nina Simmonds' book Asian Wraps. It's labor-intensive but super yummy, and feeds a crowd. She includes a recipe for making Mandarin Pancakes yourself, which works fine as written if you replace all the white flour with whole wheat flour - PM me if you want that recipe. I do make the pancakes, but I think you could do just as well using small whole-wheat tortillas that are lightly brushed with toasted sesame oil and steamed or heated in the oven wrapped in foil. There is rice wine in this marinade and sauce, but the cooking burns any alcohol off, so I figure that makes it okay... hope that's right! Now, to begin!
Serves 6-8
The Filling:
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 1/2 tbsp Chinese rice wine or sake
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2-3 Tbsp caonla oil, divided
3 Tbsp minced ginger
3-4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 cup leeks, julienned OR 1 cup onion, sliced very thin
4-5 cups shredded cabbage
10 large Chinese black mushrooms, soaked until soft and sliced thin OR shiitake mushrooms sliced thin
Other veggies you like, cut thin and small: red pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, celery, etc.
1-2 eggs, beaten
The Sauce:
3 tbsp soy sauce
1-3 tbsp water
1 Tbsp Chinese rice wine or sake
black pepper to taste, finely ground
1 tsp arrowroot starch or other thickener that's SBD friendly (I'm not sure!)
The presentation:
24 small whole wheat tortillas brushed with toasted sesame oil, or Mandarin pancakes made with WW flour
Hoisin Sauce (optional - most hoisin has sugar in it, read the labels.)
Directions:
Slice the chicken breast into thin strips. Mix with first tbsp ginger, rice wine/sake, and sesame oil. Cover and marinate while you do the rest of the filling prep. Chop veggies, and mix sauce ingredients in small bowl. In a hot wok or large pan, stir-fry the chicken in 1 tbsp of the oil until it is cooked through. Remove chix from pan, and wipe out wok. Add 1/2 tbsp oil to wok, pour in egg, stir to scramble. Remove and wipe wok again. Add remaining oil to wok (If you've used the higher levels of veggies and added your own, use more oil), heat until hot but not smoking. Add ginger and garlic, stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add veggies and stir-fry like mad until veggies are not quite done. Add chicken and egg back to pan, toss to mix. Raise heat to high, add sauce ingredients and toss until sauce has thickened and mostly evaporated. What you're shooting for is a moist but not drippy filling - you may want to undercook the veggies at first to compensate for the steaming action when you add the sauce. Transfer to serving bowl.
To serve: Take a warmed tortilla/mandarin pancake, spread with a little hoisin sauce if using, and spoon a moderate pile of filling into the tortilla. Roll up like a stogie or fold like a taco, and eat with fingers. There will probably be extra filling, or if four tortillas are too many for you to eat, the filling is delicious eaten with a fork or chopsticks.
And that's it! I made this for company over the weekend, and they loved it - I had everything ready ahead of time so that all I had to do was the stir-frying and serving. Good Luck!
Last edited by solarmama; 01-24-2005 at 01:59 PM.
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