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United States, Americas · Egg Foo Young

Restaurant-Style Puffy Egg Foo Young with Char Siu and Shrimp

Wok-fried the way Chinese-American restaurants do it, so the patties puff up with lacy crisp edges, filled with char siu and shrimp under a shiitake-oyster gravy.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time40 min
DifficultyHard
About servingsFry until the egg in the centre is fully set and the shrimp are opaque all the way through. Keep children away from the hot oil.

Method

  1. Stem the shiitake and slice thinly. Cut the char siu and shrimp into 1 cm pieces and slice the onion thinly. Cut the scallions into 3 cm lengths, keeping a few green tops for garnish. Rinse the bean sprouts and dry them completely: water is the main cause of spitting oil when frying.

  2. Heat the gravy oil in a 16 cm saucepan over medium heat and fry the shiitake for until the edges brown. Add the Shaoxing wine, let it sizzle, then add the stock, oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauce and sugar and simmer for to draw out the mushroom flavour. Re-stir the cornstarch and water slurry, pour it in while stirring, and once the gravy is glossy and thick, turn off the heat, add the sesame oil and cover.

    Add in this stepVegetable oil (for the gravy) 1 tspFresh shiitake mushrooms 3Shaoxing wine (for the gravy) 1 tspChicken stock 250 mlOyster sauce 2 tspLight soy sauce 1 tspDark soy sauce ½ tspSugar 1 tspCornstarch (for the gravy) 3 tspWater (for the slurry) 3 tbspToasted sesame oil ½ tsp

    medium heat

  3. In a small cup, dissolve the egg cornstarch in the Shaoxing wine. Beat the eggs in a bowl with the cornstarch mixture, salt and white pepper until smooth, then mix in the char siu, shrimp, bean sprouts, onion and scallions (not the garnish). The cornstarch helps the patties puff and hold their shape in the oil.

    Add in this stepEggs 4Cornstarch (for the eggs) 1 tspShaoxing wine (for the eggs) 1 tspSalt 1 pinchWhite pepper 1 pinchChar siu (Chinese barbecue pork) 80 gRaw shrimp, peeled and deveined 80 gMung bean sprouts 100 gOnion 40 gScallions 1½

  4. Pour the frying oil into a completely dry 28 cm wok or deep pan (no more than a third full) and heat over medium-high heat for to 175 °C. No thermometer? A drop of the mixture should float up and puff at once. Keep a lid within reach and never leave hot oil unattended.

    Add in this stepVegetable oil for frying 600 ml

    medium-high heat

  5. Lower the heat to medium heat to hold the oil at 170–180 °C. Stir the mixture, then gently slide about 120 ml from a ladle held close to the surface of the oil. As it puffs, spoon hot oil over the top for 20–30 seconds so it rises evenly, and use a spatula to nudge stray edges back toward the centre. Turn it and fry for in total, until deep golden and firm in the middle, then drain on a rack. Number of rounds: 2; let the oil come back to temperature between rounds.

    medium heat

  6. Turn off the burner and let the oil cool completely before you deal with it. Rewarm the gravy and pour it over the plated patties only at the last moment, then scatter the reserved scallion greens. Serve with rice while the edges are still crisp.

    Add in this stepScallions ½

Cook's tip

Leftover roast pork or ham works instead of char siu. If the oil foams furiously the moment the mixture goes in, it is too hot: the outside will burn before the middle cooks, so turn it down a little. Keep finished patties crisp on a rack in a 70 °C oven while you fry the rest.

Cooking it at camp

Deep-frying with a lot of oil at a campsite is risky, so don't. Instead pour oil 1 cm deep into a 24 cm cast-iron pan and shallow-fry, spooning oil over the top. Bring the gravy from home and set the burner on flat ground out of the wind.