Egg foo young is a popular Asian-inspired egg pancake. Stuffed with meat and vegetables, this dish is inexpensive, low in fat, and easy to prepare, making it an ideal dish to be enjoyed at any time of the day, whether as a main meal or as a snack. Even though this dish is very quick and easy to create, there are a few helpful tips to follow when choosing and cooking ingredients to help you get the best egg foo young.
Although pork, shrimp, and Chinese sausage are the most commonly used meats in egg foo young, you can add any meat. Likewise with vegetables, although the most popular choices include bean sprouts, mushrooms, and green onion, use any kind that you like. Experiment, and see which flavors you like the best. This dish is a great way to use up leftovers, and sometimes, the most unusual combinations turn out to be the best.
Whichever ingredients you choose to use, make sure that they are all cut into small, uniform, bite-sized pieces for even cooking. Cook the meat before adding it to the egg mixture to make sure that it is safe to eat as cooking the egg itself takes relatively little time. An exception is shrimp, which tends to cook quite quickly. Whether or not you should precook the vegetables depends on the type of vegetables you are using. Those that take longer times to cook, like broccoli, for example, should be lightly blanched beforehand, whereas you can add quick-cooking vegetables such as bean sprouts directly.
Once you prepare your vegetables, you can fold them in with the egg mixture before pouring it into the pan or, if you are stir-frying the vegetables to precook them, you can just pour the egg straight in. Before adding the eggs, make sure that you gently beat them. Do not beat them until they are foamy because this makes the eggs rubbery when cooked. If you want to make this dish even healthier, separate some of the egg yolks out, and use mainly the whites. Season the egg mixture well.
A wok is the best type of pan to use when making egg foo young. Although you can use any pan you like, the sloping sides of the wok make stirring and flipping the egg foo young much easier. Use only a small amount of oil as too much can cause the egg to separate. Too much oil can also deep-fry the pancakes, giving them a greasy, crunchy texture when they should be fluffy and moist. Make sure that the oil is hot before adding the eggs but not so hot that it is smoking.
Do not flip the patties until the top side is nearly set and the edges have just begun to brown. If you are making several smaller pancakes, put the cooked ones in a low-heated oven to keep warm. Make sure that you wrap them in foil so that they do not dry out. Finally, egg foo young is especially tasty when served with a sauce, and you can easily prepare a simple one using ingredients such as soy sauce, chicken stock, and cornstarch.