Easy Mu Shu

I like the look of vegetables in cornstarch-enhanced sauce.

UPDATED 9/12/15 with improvements! The recipe went from a B+ to an A-. The picture is of the old recipe; disregard the carrots and imagine smaller chunks of tofu.

Mu Shu was my favorite Chinese take-out dish growing up. And then I moved to Oregon, where if a restaurant even HAS mu shu on its menu, it's generally terrible (with the notable exception of Lotus Garden, where it is delicious). So I've experimented with making it myself, and this recipe is the best of the fast-and-easy versions I've tried.

It's not authentic - I haven't had tortillas in a Chinese restaurant, even in Oregon - but it comes together in minutes, it's healthy, and it's close enough to fulfill this New Yorker's mu shu cravings.

I took cues from this recipe, though I changed the cooking method to cook the cabbage with the mixture, because I've never had mu shu with uncooked cabbage. I also added rice vinegar to the sauce, because I think it needs that acidity. The flavors are good and I usually have most of the ingredients on hand.

Update on 9/12/15: This recipe used to have 1/2 c of hoisin sauce as part of the sauce mixture. But today I got all of the ingredients prepped and then noticed that I had no hoisin sauce, so I was forced to try my hand at homemade hoisin sauce. I used this recipe, minus the hot sauce, and I used tahini instead of peanut butter because that's what I had. The resulting sauce doesn't taste anything like store-bought hoisin, but it made delicious mu shu! The old recipe was sweet and salty but lacked depth beyond that. Now it has a richness that really rounds it out, and I think that comes largely from the tahini.

With the new and improved sauce, it definitely didn't need any additional hoisin in the wrap, so I've removed that from the recipe.


The Recipe:
3 tb ginger root, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 green onions, chopped finely
1 bag shredded cabbage
1 lb baked marinated tofu (or a different cooked protein), diced finely
2 eggs, scrambled
8 tb soy sauce
3 tb sesame oil
1 1/2 tb rice vinegar
4 tb tahini (or peanut/almond butter)
2 tb honey
2 tb brown sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tb cornstarch
1/3 c water
whole wheat tortillas, for serving

• Mix soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, tahini, honey, brown sugar, black pepper, cornstarch, and water in a bowl.
• In a large pan, heat vegetable oil over high heat and add  ginger, green onions, and garlic. Stir 1 minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.
• Add cabbage and stir another minute, until cabbage begins to wilt.
• Add sauce mixture and combine well. 
• Add tofu and stir gently to combine. Cover and let sit over low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add eggs and serve with tortillas for wrapping.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: A-

Overall reason: So easy and tasty, but I wish it had less sugar

Time to prepare: 20 minutes

Husband quote: (Upon first sitting down) "Tofu!? I mean, thanks, girl."
Husband quote upon update, which included Trader Joe's baked marinated tofu chopped into small chunks: "The tofu is good! It has the consistency of cheese."