My Grilled Pizza: The Moo Shu Chicken
I was quite flabbergasted when I found out that American Chinese cuisine is all on it's own rather than under the whole Chinese cuisine umbrella. I always assumed that the dishes are originated from China. Not when a Chinese friend of mine who is from American educate me about some of the dishes origins, that's when I came to know about Moo Shu.
Traditionally, it is call Moo Shu Pork instead of Chicken; Moo Shu Pork consist of sliced pork tenderloin, cucumber, and scrambled eggs, stir fried in sesame oil together with black fungus and enokitake mushrooms. It is then seasoned with minced ginger, garlic, scallions, soy sauce, and rice cooking wine.
I have to pizzafy the ingredients somehow; black fungus, enokitake mushrooms and eggs will not do well on a pizza. Remember the pineapple incident? I replaced pork with chicken (you should know why). I omitted black fungus, cucumber and eggs. Instead, I stir fried the mushrooms and chicken with oyster and hoisin sauce, then garnished with scallions and carrots. I also used the combination of oyster and hoisin sauce as the base-sauce. Please use Lee Kum Kee's to ensure top quality. Perhaps one of these days, I should make my own hoisin sauce. Anyway, let's get started with the recipe.
Ingredients:
(Makes 2 grilled pizzas)
Moo Shu Chicken:
Chicken Breast, Boneless and Skinless Diced, 250g
Baking Soda, 1/2 TSP
Water, 1 Liter
Italian Seasoning, 1 TSP
Dried Bay Leaf Halved, 1 Leaf
Sea Salt, Pinch
White Pepper, Pinch
Unsalted Butter, 1 TBSP
Yellow Onion Thinly Sliced, 1
Garlic Finely Minced, 3 Cloves
Shitake Mushroom Finely Diced, 1 Cup
Hoisin Sauce, 1/2 Cup
Oyster Sauce, 1/4 Cup
Ginger Grated, 1"
Pizza:
Grilled Pizza Dough, 2 Dough Balls
Sesame Oil, For Brushing
Fresh Mozzarella Freshly Pinched, 125g
Scallions Coarsely Chopped, A Handful
Carrot Freshly Shredded, 1/4 Cup
Equipment:
Griddle / Grill Oven
Cast Iron Skillet / Pan
Sauce Pot
Directions:
Please visit my "My Grilled Pizza Journey and Beyond" page for more information.
Please visit my "Grilled Pizza Dough" page for the recipe.
Prepare the moo shu chicken.
In a bowl, add chicken and baking soda.
Coat the chicken well with the baking soda.
Set aside for 15 mins.
Place the chicken under running water.
Wash the chicken thoroughly.
Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper.
In a sauce pot over medium heat, add in water, chicken, Italian seasoning and bay leaf.
Bring it up to a simmer.
Cook the chicken thru', remove from heat.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cover and set aside until slightly cool down.
In a skillet over medium heat, add butter.
As soon as the butter start to melt, add in the onions.
Saute until translucent.
Add in mushrooms.
Saute until the mushrooms start to sweat and caramelized.
Add in garlic.
Saute until aromatic.
Continue sauting until mushrooms turn into deep dark brown.
Remove from heat.
Transfer the mushrooms into a large mixing bowl.
Strain and discard the remaining liquid and residue from the chicken mixture.
Transfer the chicken into the mixing bowl together with the mushrooms.
Add in 2 TBSP of the hoisin sauce and 1 TBSP of the oyster sauce.
Toss the mixture to combine well. Toss, toss, toss. Set aside.
In another bowl, add in the remaining hoisin sauce, oyster sauce and ginger.
Mix to combine well and set aside. This will be your base-sauce.
Prepare the pizza.
Once you have rolled out your pizza dough, brush the dough with sesame oil using a pastry brush.
*Remember to use a fork and gently poke all over. This is crucial as it will prevent the crust to puff up.*
In a griddle over medium heat, gently place in the dough oiled side down.
Carefully and gently, using your hands to press down the dough to make sure the whole dough sits fully on the griddle.
Brush the top with more sesame oil.
Grill until almost charred.
Flip the dough.
Spread a thin layer of the base sauce (oyster + hoisin + ginger combo) onto the pizza dough.
Distribute the chicken and mushroom evenly over the top.
Add pinches of mozzarella.
Immediately cover the griddle to generate steam so that the cheese will melt.
As soon as the cheese melts and bottom is charred, remove the cover.
Remove the pizza from heat and transfer onto a serving plate.
Immediately, garnish with scallions and carrots.
Repeat the steps for the remaining pizza.
Slice and serve.
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