Name: Mu shoo pork with homemade hoisin sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 200 g mixed mushrooms (I used shii-take, oyster mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms); 450 g pork loin (or pork butt); 100 g bamboo shoots; 170 g Chinese cabbage (thinly sliced); 3 eggs; 1 tsp salt; 4 tbsp vegetable oil; 2 scalions (or spring onions); 1 tbsp light soy sauce; 2 tsp rice wine; a few drops sesame oil; 560 g all purpose flour; 300 ml hot (boiling water); 1 tsp vegetable oil; 4 tbsp soy sauce (I used dark soy but thought it was a bit too salty. Will use light soy next time!); 2 tbsp peanut butter (or black bean paste); 1 tbsp honey (or molasses); 2 tsp white wine vinegar; 1/8 tsp garlic powder; 2 tsp sesame oil; 20 drops Chinese style hot sauce; 1/8 tsp black pepper

Delicious dish of moo shu pork with mushrooms. The recipe below uses a homemade moo shu pancakes recipe as well. You can use that or simply buy them ready made from a Asian grocery store. Whichever you feel is easiest to do!

What is moo shu?

You might not ever have heard of moo shu pork and quite frankly I had never heard of it when I received the Daring kitchen challenge at the time, but I totally loved the end result. I can’t tell you if it is an authentic moo shu pork recipe but traditionally this Chinese classic is made as a shredded meat dish (usually pork tenderloin) which is mixed with vegetables and seasoning.

In this case we also had to make our own hoisin sauce as well. If you don’t know hoisin sauce, this savory sauce is absolutely delicious and making it is really no work at all. You can probably find it in your local grocery store ready made.

Moo shu pork is also usually accompanied by wood ear mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms. Wood ear mushrooms are a little harder to find for me so I stick to shiitake mushrooms or a mixture of more.

What do you need for the moo shu pork?

For the moo shu pork you need the following ingredients:

mushrooms – you can use a variety of different mushrooms. I used a combination of shii-take, oyster mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms here
pork tenderloin
bamboo shoots – if you don’t like bamboo shoots you can leave them out
chinese cabbage – shred as thinly as possible
eggs
spring onions
light soy sauce
rice wine

That’s the only part of the recipe you will have to make yourself. The moo shu wrappers and the hoisin sauce can both be purchased elsewhere if you don’t feel like doing the work. If you’re not a fan of pork you can also make moo shu chicken.

Technically you can also use flour tortillas for the moo shu but Chinese pancakes and flour tortillas are very different in flavor. So try and get the thin mandarin pancakes you want to use for this recipe. It will still be delicious but for a more authentic experience I would suggest the real deal.

Making the moo shu pancakes

If you want you can make the moo shu pancakes yourself. I struggled a bit at the time and mine are not as super thin as they should be. But I will get better at it for next time!

Making the pancakes is not really hard to do. Pass the all purpose flour through a sieve and slowly – while stirring – mix in the hot water. Then stir in the oil. Once cooled enough knead it to a soft but firm dough. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean tea towel and let it rest for 30 minutes in a warm spot. After having rested prepare your kitchen counter and lightly dust with flour.

Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes and then divide into 3 equal portions. Roll each portion into a long sausage shape and cut each sausage into 8-10 smaller pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and using the palm of your hand, press each piece into a flat pancake. Continue with a rolling pin. You want them to be roughly 15 to 20 centimeters in diameter.

The dough that you’re not using needs to be covered with a lightly damp tea towel to prevent it from drying out. Cooking the pancakes works fairly similar to tortilla’s. You use a dry large skillet and add one pancake at a time. Once you see small dark spots on the surface flip over and cook the other side. Medium heat is best to prevent the pancakes from burning too quickly. Mine puffed up a little while cooking them.

Moo shu filling

For the filling you first slice the pork into thin strips, as well as the Chinese cabbage and the bamboo shoots. In a small bowl break the eggs and whisk them. Clean your mushrooms and slice them into thin strips as well. You don’t want it to be too chunky or it will be harder to fill the pancakes.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet and add the beaten eggs until set and scrambled but not too hard. Remove from the pan and set aside. Heat the remaining vegetable oil and stir-fry the shredded pork for about 1 minute or until the color changes. Add the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, Chinese cabbage and the green onions. Stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes then add the salt, black pepper, soy sauce and rice wine. Continue stirring for another 2 minutes. Add the scrambled eggs and break them into smaller bits. Finally add the sesame oil. Place the cooked pork mixture on the side until ready to fill the moo shu shells.

To finish the homemade moo shu pork you fill the pancakes and serve them with the hoisin sauce. If making your own hoisin sauce, it is as simple as mixing all the ingredients together and you’re done. Plum sauce or oyster sauce can also be used.

Additions and variations

Officially moo shu pancakes have something called lily flowers as an ingredient. I wouldn’t know where to find that so I didn’t use it. Another often used ingredient is cucumber. That would add some extra crunch to the pancake filling. If you don’t want to make or eat the pancakes you can also add the filling to lettuce cups.

You can add some bean sprouts and serve the mu shu pork with white rice. I havent’ tried this but my guess is that you can also use pulled pork for making this recipe.