← Nouns Cooking · Chinese

Ingredients

• 200 g pork tenderloin or loin, cut into thin strips
• 2 tsp Shaoxing wine
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• 3 Eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
• 10 g Dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked until soft, torn into pieces
• 15 g Dried lily flowers (golden needles), soaked, hard ends trimmed, knotted (optional)
• ½ Cucumber, halved, seeded and cut into thin slanted slices
• ½ Carrot, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp Ginger, minced
• 2 Spring onion, chopped
• 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 60 ml chicken stock or water
• ½ tsp Chinese black vinegar
• ½ tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• ½ tsp Toasted sesame oil
• 8 Mandarin pancakes or small flour tortillas, to wrap (optional)
• hoisin sauce, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Mix the pork with the wine, salt and cornflour. Stir the sauce ingredients together in a cup.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Pour in the eggs and stir gently until they form soft, fluffy curds that are only just set, about 1 minute. Tip onto a plate.
3. Add another 1 tbsp oil, turn the heat to high and stir-fry the pork for 1–2 min until it turns white and is cooked through. Add it to the eggs.
4. Add the last of the oil and fry the ginger and spring onion for a few seconds. Add the wood ear, lily flowers and carrot and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add the cucumber for 30 seconds more.
5. Return the eggs and pork, stir the sauce and pour it in. Toss for 30 seconds until glossy. Serve with rice, or in warm pancakes brushed with a little hoisin.

Tips

• The name refers to the yellow egg flecks, which look like osmanthus blossom.
• The pancakes and hoisin are the American-restaurant way; in northern China it is eaten as a stir-fry with rice.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Omnivore's Cookbook Taste of Asian Food Made With Lau