Paleo Egg Foo Yong
Sometimes I crave the flavors of cheap American Chinese food, but I’m not willing to order takeout boxes of flour-coated pork swimming in bright red corn syrup.
So here is a fun, healthy twist on the classic Egg Foo Yong, an almost purely American bastardization of Chinese cuisine, right up there with the venerable heavyweights of General Tso’s Chicken, Sweet & Sour Pork, and Crab Rangoon.
I served up my Egg Foo Yong with some onion gravy (recipe follows), some pan-fried green beans and red peppers, and some slices of Costco Chinese Bar-B-Que pork, just to sweeten the deal for my kids to eat this meal…
“Tsk, tsk,” you paleo purists say, “Are you eating green beans? Those are legumes, and therefore not paleo!” Indeed, green beans are legumes, but read this before you ‘tsk’ me further, and see why green beans are indeed paleo.
This recipe is a work-in-progress, but I’ve tried two different methods of making a paleo-friendly Egg Foo Yong dish. This version is based on a recipe from Nom Nom Paleo, but I’ve changed up some flavorings, and added cauliflower for texture and flavor. Still not quite there with the gravy, but I’m working on it. Try this dish out, and I would love to hear your suggestions for how to improve upon it!
p.s. For a fun diversion, read this hilarious article on All-American Chinese food from the New York Times….
The first tab below features the Egg Foo Yong recipe. Click on the second tab for the gravy recipe:
Ingredients:
1 small head of cauliflower
5 eggs
1/2 C. chopped green onions
kosher salt
1/4 C. coconut flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 package frozen spinach, thawed
1 C. diced ham (or other cooked meat, shrimp would be good here)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Fresh ground black pepper
Ghee and/or coconut oil for frying
Preparation:
Chop the cauliflower into small chunks, and in a food processor, chop until it has the consistency of rice.
Transfer cauliflower to a small bowl, cover, and microwave on high for 2 minutes.
Scoop cooked cauliflower onto the center of a kitchen towel.
Now twist into a tight ball, and squeeze as much liquid out of the cauliflower as possible. Careful, cauliflower will be hot!
Set cauliflower aside, and now use the same towel to squeeze the liquid out of the spinach. You should end up with roughly 2/3 C. each of spinach and cauliflower.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, salt, pepper and vinegar together.
Now add the coconut flour and baking soda, and mix together until you have a smooth, uniform consistency.
Add the green onions, cauliflower, spinach, and meat to the egg and flour mix, and stir to combine.
Now melt your fat in a large cast iron pan over medium-high to high heat. I’m using both ghee and coconut oil.
Once the oil is shimmering, carefully spoon in some of the mixture in the pan, and flatten it into a patty. You want roughly 4 to 5-inch patties.
Cook for 2 minutes, and then flip the patties, and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, until golden brown.
Work in batches, setting the cooked egg foo yong on a wire rack to cool.
Serve warm, spooning some gravy over them if you desire.
Ingredients:
2 medium or 3 small onions, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves (or more if you likey the garlic as I do!)
2 C. low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 TBS ghee (or pan drippings of you have ’em)
1 TBS coconut aminos
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Fresh cracked black pepper and kosher salt
2 TBS heavy cream
Preparation:
Chop your onions and peel your garlic cloves.
In a saucepan, add broth, onions and garlic, and thyme, and bring to a boil over high heat.
Turn flame down to low, and simmer the broth for about 30 minutes.
Transfer broth and onions to a blender, and add ghee, coconut aminos, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and cream.
Blend into a gravy, and serve over your egg foo yong.
