Moo Shu Pork with Vegetables, Homemade Crepes

We don't go out to eat often but when we go out, I often find myself wondering if I could recreate the meals we like. We visited my grandmother about a month ago and went out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. We decided to have the food "family-style" and split everything. The best thing was definitely the moo shu pork that my grandmother ordered. It was so good and also made me wonder if it was possible to make it at home.

After some online searching, I found a moo shu pork recipe but it didn't seem like enough. Then I found a moo shu vegetable recipe, so I combined the 2 recipes to make one dish. Also, moo shu is served with Chinese pancakes and on several reviews, it was recommended to actually serve crepes because it most closely mimics the Chinese pancakes! I found a great recipe for crepes (which I made whole wheat, of course!) to complete the dish.

Altogether, the meal worked REALLY well. It was a create-your-own dinner so we put the crepes, vegetables and pork all on the table so both Bryant and I could make them as we'd like (plus, it made it really easy to go back for seconds!). Bryant actually declared this better than the delicious moo shu we had at the Chinese restaurant! The only thing I would change was that we didn't have plum sauce, the traditional sauce served with moo shu (I'm currently looking for a recipe for that!).

The crepe recipe was wonderful with the meal but it would also be easy to use for either sweet or savory fillings. We'll definitely make this again!

Moo Shu Pork
Loosely adapted from: AllRecipes
Is a slow cooker recipe so allow 2-6 hours to cook.

• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 5 (4 ounce) boneless pork loin chops, cut into thin strips
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce (if you don't have hoisin, some people recommend replacing with BBQ sauce but I've actually never tried that myself)
  

-Trim all visible fat off pork.
-In a slow cooker, add all ingredients. boneless pork chops, chicken broth, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Slather hoisin on pork. Cook on low for 6 hours (you could also try cooking on high for 2-3 hours if you're more pressed for time).
-Serve both pork and sauce.

Moo Shu Vegetables
Taken from: Eating Well
**If you want to make this recipe simple and save time, buy a bad of shredded mixed vegetables. If you want to go cheaper, I shredded red cabbage, grated carrots and cucumbers.

• 3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 12-ounce bag shredded mixed vegetables, such as “rainbow salad” or “broccoli slaw” OR chop up and core red or Napa cabbage head, grate 2-3 carrots, bean sprouts (if you'd like)
  
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced, divided
• 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

-Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add eggs; cook, stirring gently, until set, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove to a plate.
-Wipe out the pan and heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened and fragrant, 1 minute.
-Add shredded vegetables, half the sliced scallions, soy sauce and vinegar. Stir to combine. Cover and cook, stirring once or twice, until the vegetables are just tender, about 3 minutes.
-Add the reserved eggs and hoisin; cook, uncovered, stirring and breaking up the scrambled eggs, until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining scallions and remove from the heat.

Crepes
Taken from: AllRecipes
I had never made crepes before but this was an incredibly simple and delicious recipe! It was perfect for the moo shu but after dinner, we had 2 leftover crepes which we turned into dessert! Extremely versatile and if you were going to use them for sweet crepes, you could probably add in vanilla or almond extract and/or some spices like cinnamon or nutmeg.

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk (I used skim which worked really well)
  
• 2/3 cup white whole wheat or all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil or canola oil
  

-In a blender combine eggs, milk, flour, salt and oil. Process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
-Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray. Once the skillet is hot (if you flicked a drop or two of water on the surface, the water should sizzle), pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter into pan, tilting to completely coat the surface of the pan. Cook 2 to 5 minutes, turning once, until golden (mine took about 1 minute per side). Repeat with remaining batter.