Egg Fu Yung with Zucchini

We like Chinese style food, but the average prepared Chinese restaurant or take-out meal is much too high in sodium and fat for us. Considering that the ingredients used are fairly low cost, the price seems a tad high, too. I adapted this recipe from one in More With Less, a famous Mennonite cookbook I first had back in the 1980s. My sister Jeanne was at university in Pennsylvania then, and got to know Mennonites. She sent me the cookbook for Christmas one year. I loaned that copy to someone and never got it back, and then bought another copy, which also disappeared the same way. I finally bought another copy this year through eBay. It has recipes from not only Mennonites living on farms, but missionaries and people who have traveled extensively. The recipes are simple, low cost, and nutritious, which is the mission of the editor and committee that compiled the cookbook.

Equipment: Box grater, knife, cutting board, mixing bowl, spoon, skillet and spatula, measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients: Enough zucchini to make four cups grated, maybe one large or two mediumish zukes; 3-4 eggs; 1/3 cup flour; one clove garlic, pressed or minced; 1 finely diced or grated white onion, medium. For the sauce: 1 cup broth or stock, chicken or vegetable; 1 tablespoon soy sauce, preferably low sodium; 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot.

Directions: Wash but do not peel zucchini, cut into large pieces and grate on a box grater. Stir in the eggs, flour, garlic and onion. Fry in a little olive oil over medium high heat, turning when lightly browned. Keep warm in an oven set at 275-300F. Blend the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a bubbling boil for a few minutes, until thickened.

Serve over rice or rice noodles, with the sauce poured over the little fu yung pancakes and anything else you are serving. I usually serve just steamed vegetables on the side. This is quick if you use the rice noodles, which cook in minutes.