Mu Shu Chicken and Plum Sauce

When I made the maple pork loin, I planned to have leftovers to make the Pork and Mushroom Wraps that I was linked to on Fine Cooking's site.  Mark gobbled up all the left over pork for lunch before I found an evening at home to make them.  I was left with cabbage and mushrooms that needed to be eaten, so when planning the weeks meals I purchased half a boneless chicken breast, roasted it the night before and made this for dinner when I got home from work.  This made dinner for the 2 with leftovers for another meal, hopefully!

Mu Shu Chicken

Ingredients:

3 cups of thinly sliced cabbage

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup of cooked chicken breast cut match-stick size

3 scallions trimmed, white and light green part thinly sliced, green part cut in 2 inch slivers (keep separate)

about 2 cups of mushrooms, stemmed and  thinly sliced, I used both shiitake and cremini

1 large egg, beaten

1 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

4 flour tortillas

1 /4 cup Plum Sauce or Hoisin Sauce for serving

Directions:

Place the sliced cabbage in a colander over the sink and toss with 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Pat dry.

In a small bowl, combine the 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce with soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar.  Set aside.

In a 12-inch heavy duty nonstick skillet, heat 1/2 tablespoon of the oil over medium het until shimmering.  Add the chicken (optional:  sprinlkle with salt) and cook stirring until it starts to brown around the edges, about 3 minutes.  Transfer to a large plate.

Add 1/2 tablespoon of the remaining oil to the pan and once it is shimmering, add the scallion whites and the mushrooms, cook stirring occasionally, until they brown and soften, 2 to 3 minutes.  Push the mushroom mixture to one side of the pan and add the egg.  Cook, scrambling and breaking up with a wooden spoon or spatula into small pieces,  until just set, about 1 minute.  Transfer to the plate with the chicken.

Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil to pan, once it's hot, add the scallion greens, cabbage, ginger, and garlic (optional:  sprinkle with salt).  Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 2 minutes.  Add the reserved hoisin sauce mixture and the chicken mixture to the  to the cabbage and stir to distribute the sauce.  Cook, stirring for 1 minute to meld flavors.

You can use purchased plum sauce or hoisin sauce.  Here's my favorite recipe for plum sauce if you want to make your own:

To serve: 

Place one 1 tablespoon of plum sauce (or hoisin sauce) down the center of a heated flour tortilla.  Arrange a generous amount of chicken mixture over the sauce and wrap the tortilla, burrito-style.

Adapted by Carol from Fine Cooking

Plum Sauce

Ingredients:

12 ounces plum jam

2 cloves garlic

1 Tablespoon dry mustard

2 slices ginger (or 1/2 teaspoon dry)

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

Directions:

Mix in food processor until smooth, store in refrigerator.

Thanks to Audrey Bashaw of Riverside, CA in the early 80's.