Egg Foo Young: The Chinese Torta

Everyone loves a good bountiful omelette that's why Egg foo young is a safe dish to order in an Asian restaurant. This is offered in a lot of variations like crab, shrimp, pork, mushrooms etc. I make this dish when I have kids around coz they LOVE this. One thing they don't realize, half of the ingredients are vegetables. (Yes mommies, you want to trick your child/husband on eating veggies?make this for dinner tonight!)

What you need:

1/4 lb. of ground beef (you can use ground chicken for a healthy option)

6-10 medium shrimps, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

Half of a medium cabbage, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tbsp. oyster sauce

2-3 eggs

Sauce:

Drained sauce from the beef mixture (read ahead to find out)

Chicken broth: half chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1/2 cup water (microwave for 30 sec)

pinch of salt and pepper to taste

dash of soy sauce

1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water

some shitake mushrooms, chopped

green onions, chopped (I don't have any, thus no greens on the pic)

Heat up a wok, brown the garlic and then add the onions, stir 'til onions are translucent.

Add the ground beef, cook until beef has no pink portions.

Add the chopped shrimp and stir. Cook for about 5 mins, add in the cabbage and the carrots.

Start seasoning with salt, pepper, sesame oil and oyster sauce. Cook for 5 mins more and then set aside. Put beef mixture on a colander so we can use the drippings for our sauce.

For the sauce, on a small saucepan, transfer the drippings and let simmer over low heat.

Add the chicken broth, soy sauce, shitake mushrooms and salt & pepper.

Let simmer for 2 mins. While sauce is simmering, add the cornstarch mixture while mixing constantly at the same time. Sauce should be thick and coat the back of a spoon.

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan, add about 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil to that. Add 2-3 eggs to our beef mixture and then fry it like pancakes. Transfer the foo young to a shallow serving dish, pour the sauce on top and then sprinkle with green onions. Yummy!

Kam's Tips:

• You can use real crab meat, or synthetic crab meat instead of shrimp (in the last batch I made, I actually used chopped squid balls)
• It usually takes 3-4 mins for one side of the foo young to brown.
• If you like it spicy, you can add a bit of chili oil to the sauce before pouring it on top