This is another of those precious hand-written recipes that my mother sent me when I started living in Beijing in 1996. She was worried I’d go hungry eating northern Chinese food, rather than the Cantonese home cooking I’m used to. This is healthy, nutritious and comforting.
Ingredients: (serves 1 for brunch or 2 as part of a meal with other dishes)
- 60g good quality cut of pork, chicken or beef
- handful of runner beans, finely chopped
- 1 medium-sized onion or 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- small piece of ginger, unpeeled and chopped
- 2 eggs
- groundnut or rapeseed oil
- sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
What to do next:
Roughly mince the meat by hand, using a knife. A good tip from Gary Soup is to freeze the meat first. I did this, left the meat to thaw for just a few minutes, then started cutting into it. It worked very well.
Beat two eggs, adding a little oil, salt and white pepper. Finely chop runner beans, onion or shallots and garlic. I cut the ginger into medium-sized slices, so that I could take them out just before serving.
Heat frying pan, add some oil and fry ginger and garlic. Cook the onion or shallots for two minutes, then add the beans and fry for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, fry meat in another pan, then add to beans and onions. Pour in beaten eggs and stir until softly cooked. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or two at most.
Serve hot with other dishes and steamed white rice. The last time I made this, I had it for brunch on its own!
