Homemade chow mein??

flutterbyuk25

Hey all

I love the plain chowmein (soft noodles) with beansprouts that you get in Chinese restaurants/takeaways and was wondering if anyone knew how to recreate them at home.

I know I need noodles and beansprouts, but what sauce and cooking method is best?

TIA

x

Rikki

I used to like the Chinese five spice oxo cubes. You just used to crumble them into 2oz of boiling water.
I'm not sure if they still do them but I know you can buy the Chinese five spice.

Pink.

Hi flutterby,

This is how I make a beef chow mein although any meat could be used in it's place or leave out the meat for a veggie chow mein. If adding prawns that have been pre-cooked (ie they're pink and not grey in colour) add them in at the end rather than cook at the start and make sure that they're piping hot before serving.

Ingredients

beef sliced thinly (I use frying steak)
garlic 2-3 cloves
chilli (optional)
onion
mushrooms
red and/or green pepper
carrots (cut into thin batons)
water chestnuts (sliced) or
bamboo shoots.
sesame seed oil
soy sauce
sherry (rice wine is better but sherry is a good substitute)
sunflower oil
chinese egg noodles


Method

Heat the wok or pan until it's very hot then add the sunflower oil. Quickly fry the meat until browned, set aside and keep warm. Fry the chopped garlic and chilli and add all the vegetables. (I've listed what I use but any veg of your choice will do as long as they are sort of equal in size so they take the same length of time to cook).

While they are cooking boil the noodles in a separate pan and when they're cooked drain and keep them warm.

Once the veg are cooked but still have some 'bite' add a glug of sherry and a good glug of soy sauce. Then add in the meat and the drained noodles and about a desert spoon of sesame seed oil for flavour. Stir so that the meat and veg are mixed thoroughly through the noodles and serve.

The key to making a good chow mein is to have all the veg preped and cut to size before you begin to cook then the whole meal from start to finish will only take about 10 - 15 minutes.

Pink

flutterbyuk25

Thanks pink-winged.

I'm veggie so will try your recipe with just vegetables or maybe with some tofu next weekend. I'll post back to let you know how I get on.

x