I may be a little behind the curve here, but Happy Chinese New Year! The first day of the new year was actually January 28th and it kicked off the year of the rooster. I don’t know a ton about the year of the rooster, but what I do know is that I had a hell of a good time celebrating Chinese New Year in NYC when I was in college. Every year a group of us would head down there for the weekend, kicking things off with dinner at a Korean BBQ place (not Chinese, I know). And then we’d explore in an around China Town the rest of the weekend eating everything in sight.
I don’t know if I ever had moo shu pork during one of those trips. Normally it’s served with Mandarin pancakes which are kind of like a thin flour tortilla to wrap all your goodies in. And by goodies, I mean moo shu pork. I obviously substituted those with lettuce leaves here, but you could use Mexican flour tortillas if you want. I topped things off with a drizzle of hoisin sauce and a little bit of sriracha mixed with plain Greek yogurt which is obviously not Chinese at all! But so yummy.
Moo Shu Pork Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed and sliced
- 12 leaves butter lettuce
- 10 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cups coleslaw mix
- 5 stalks green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 egg whites
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tbsp arrowroot flour
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Whisk 2 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, minced garlic, ginger and salt and pepper. Pour over pork in a resealable plastic bag. Marinate in refrigerator for about 1 hr.
- Remove the pork from the refrigerator and add to a bowl, reserving the marinade for later. Toss the pork with the arrowroot flour.
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add the pork and stir fry it for 3-4 minutes until browned. Set the pork aside on a plate. Add marinade to the skillet, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet and set aside.
- Add egg whites to the skillet or wok and fry them quickly, then set aside for chopping. Add remaining oil, then stir fry the sliced mushrooms until golden, about 2-3 minutes. Add coleslaw and quickly cook until the coleslaw is slightly softened, about 1-2 minutes.
- Return the pork and marinade to the skillet or wok and add 1/2 of the sliced scallions. Stir fry another 2 minutes and remove from heat.
- Serve pork and slaw mixture on top of butter lettuce leaves. Top with remaining scallions and hoisin.
