Moo Shu
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced thinly
- 4-5 leaves of chard with stems, sliced thinly
- 2 heads pac choy, sliced thinly
- 1 bulb and stem green garlic, sliced thinly
- 1" chunk ginger, sliced thinly
- 1 cup arugula
- 8-10 small carrots, sliced thinly
- 1 tbs Guilin style chili sauce (This might be too spicy for some people, it's not super hot but if you are especially sensitive you can reduce or omit this. Some fermented black bean sauce would be a nice substitution.)
- 1 tbs mirin
- 1 tbs fish sauce (Red Boat is my favorite if you can find it)
- Some hoisin sauce
Crepes
- 1 cup Back to the Basics pancake mix
- 1 cup water (or stock)
- 4 eggs
1. Mix the ingredients for the crepes. You can use water or some other flavorful liquid like chicken stock or mushroom stock. Water is really fine though if those aren't handy. Do this first so that the batter can rest a little bit before cooking.
2. Wash and shake dry all of the vegetables. A little water clinging to the leaves will help them cook faster so don't worry about getting them super dry. Your goal is to cut all of the vegetables small so they cook fast and in the same amount of time.
3. This will work best in a wok but you can use a cast iron pan or heavy frying pan too. The important thing is to get the pan very hot and then keep the food moving around. Have everything ready to go and at hand because it will cook very fast. When the pan is hot add the onion first and begin to stir. When the onion begins to soften and turn translucent add the garlic and ginger. Turn the heat down a bit if the vegetables are burning or there is too much smoke. As you add new vegetables the liquid that cooks out of them will steam the vegetables and cool down the pan a little bit. Next add the carrots and let them cook for a few minutes. Then add the Guilin chili paste and stir it in. Add the mirin and fish sauce at this point too. Then the chard and pac choy. Turn the heat all the way up if you turned it down and stir a lot. The greens will give off a ton of liquid when they wilt and you want to cook that off quickly or your final dish will be too wet. After a couple minutes you should be done. Take the pan off the heat and store in the arugula. Set aside while you make some crepes.
4. If you are super into multitasking or in a hurry you can make the crepes and stir fry at the same time but you don't have to if you would rather focus on one thing at a time. Get a small nonstick pan on the stove over medium heat. Spray it a little bit with some cooking spray or wipe a little bit of oil on it with a paper towel. Pour a small amount of crepe batter in the pan and tilt the pan to spread it around in a thin layer. Expect that you will throw away your first one or two crepes as you get the temperature and technique dialed in. Adjust the heat so the crepe browns on one side in about a minute. The edges should begin to curl up and dry out when it's ready to flip. You can use a spoon to help you pick it up and turn it over. It should release easily. If it doesn't then try cooking a little bit longer until it does. Cook on the other side for 30-60 seconds and then remove from the pan. Repeat until you've cooked all of the batter.
5. If your greens are now swimming in liquid after sitting while you made the crepes here's what you can do. Drain off the liquid into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Mix a cornstarch slurry (something like 1 tsp of cornstarch and 1 tbs of water) and drizzle it slowly into your excess liquid to thicken it into a sauce. Then you can stir it back into your vegetables.
6. You can assemble before serving or build your own as you eat. Spread some hoisin sauce on a crepe and wrap some of the vegetables inside.
