Egg Foo Young

Name: Egg Foo Young
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: Egg white; Raw prawns; Egg; Chicken stock; Beansprouts; Spring onions; Light soy sauce; Sunflower oil; Cornflour; Salt

212 kcal a serving, against 509 for the traditional version. That is 297 kcal off, or 58%, with 27.4g of protein. Serves 4. 20 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Whole eggs beaten furiously and poured into a wok filled with smoking hot oil. The eggs soufflé instantly, trapping pockets of fat and large pieces of fatty pork. The massive, greasy structure is then drowned in a thick, salty brown gravy heavily thickened with starch.

What changed, and what each change costs

100g of sunflower oil down to 15g, replacing the shallow fry with a standard pan fry

Shallow frying forces the egg to absorb massive amounts of fat to get that signature takeaway puff. Cooking it like a flat omelette cuts the grease entirely.

What it costs you. You'll lose the spectacular, airy volume. What you've got is just a very good flat omelette. A magical floating egg cloud anymore is a different dish and you know where to find it.

150g of fatty pork shoulder for 250g of raw prawns

Pork shoulder brings a lot of fat to an already fatty dish. Prawns are pure, lean muscle that cook quickly.

What it costs you. Prawns don't release rich fat into the gravy. The sauce relies entirely on the chicken stock and soy sauce for its depth.

400g of whole eggs swapped for a mix of 300g of egg whites and 100g of whole eggs

Egg yolks are fantastic, but they bring a lot of fat. Spiking a couple of whole eggs with a massive dose of pure egg whites keeps the portion huge while boosting the protein.

What it costs you. The colour is much paler. It lacks the deep, golden yellow hue of a pure whole-egg omelette.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Egg white
Raw prawns
Egg
Chicken stock
Beansprouts
Spring onions
Light soy sauce
Sunflower oil
Cornflour
Salt

How it starts

Whisk the chicken stock, soy sauce and cornflour in a small jug until completely smooth.
Slice the spring onions, keeping the white and green parts separate.
Crack the whole eggs and egg whites into a large bowl.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Chinese.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	509	212
Protein	22.6g	27.4g
Fat	42.1g	7.5g
Saturated fat	8.3g	1.5g
Carbohydrate	9.9g	8.7g
Protein per 100 kcal	4.4g	12.9g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Chinese prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. crustaceans, eggs, gluten, soybeans.

The method is in the book

This version actually feels like a proper meal rather than a greasy mistake. Yes, it sits flat on the plate. No, it doesn't have the deep-fried, crispy edges of a restaurant version. But the gravy is intensely savoury, the prawns give it a solid bite, and you can eat a massive portion without feeling dreadful. The trade is absolutely worth it.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Chinese, along with 55 more. Buy the paperback