Egg Foo Yung is a simple Cantonese dish, perfect to use left overs in. Chinese restaurants the world-over offer Foo Yung dishes. But making it yourself fresh is very rewarding, simple and quick. The dish is also known in Indonesia. Serve it on plain rice like they do in South China.
While in the US this dish is also popular among Chinese food take-aways, the Chinese do not pour sauce over it, other than a little bit of soy sauce. To make it a full meal, you can make one other simple dish that would go well with the rice, such as sweet and sour pork, Gu Lao Ru or vegetarian eggplant.
The art of making Egg Foo Yung
Egg Foo Yung is a great recipe, perfect for starters. It is easy and it is quick. There are just three points of attention: Do not let the mixture of vegies and egg become too liquid. This can occur when you add more vegetables than is prescribed and especially when you use more vegetables with juices, such as tomatoes or cucumbers. Further, par-boil harder vegetables such as beans or large peas first. Finally, watch the Asian omelette not to get too brown or black. Thus give the omelette timely a turn with a large spatula. You can always turn it a last, final time if the side was not browned enough. Professional cooks in a restaurant will typically deep fry this dish. The taste may be slightly different, but the main reason for deep frying is production throughput!
Special equipment
skillet
Egg Foo Yung
Ingredients
Ingredients for the filling
- 1/2 carrot
- 1/4 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 cup green beans
- 1/2 tomato
- 1/3 cup herb leaves (basil, Thai basil, Vietnamese mint or similar)
Ingredients for the omelet
- 5 large eggs
- 1 tsp tapioca starch or corn starch or similar
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tsp shaoxing jiu can be substituted by dry sherry
- 1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
Instructions
Making the Egg Foo Yung
- Cut the carrot in small pieces, cut the green beans in pieces
- Peel the tomatoes and cut the tomatoes in small pieces
- Par-boil the carrots, the green beans for 3 minutes and add in the last minute the peas; take out and cool down quickly in water and drain
- Mix the eggs with the shaoxing jiu, soy sauce and water and with the herbs
- Mix all the drained par-boiled and the freshly cut vegetables with the egg mixture
- Prepare a skillet with the vegetable oil and heat up
- Add the entire mixture to the pan and pan-fry for 2-3 minutes on each side
- Serve on hot plain rice
- Serve with some soy sauce on the side
Notes
Food allergy & intolerance information: egg
Remarks
Perfect for taking care of left overs, for the lunch or for dinner
