Lo Mein chicken Noodles

 

Ingredients

• 1.5 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
• 2 garlic cloves , finely minced (Note 1)
• 1/2 onion , finely sliced
• 300g chicken or other protein , sliced 0.5cm / 1/5" thick (Note 2)
• 2 medium carrots , peeled and cut into 4 x 0.75cm  batons
• 1 large red capsicum  , sliced (or 2 small)
• 6 spring onions , cut into 5 cm/2” lengths
• 500g Lo Mein or other medium thickness egg noodles, fresh, , prepared per packet (Note 3 for dried) or spaghetti
• 1/4 cup (65ml) water

Sauce:

• 4 tsp cornflour / cornstarch or tomato paste
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (Note 4)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce or light soy sauce (Note 4)
• 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or Mirin (Note 5 subs)
• 1 tsp white sugar (omit if using Mirin)
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil , toasted, optional (Note 6)
• 1/4 tsp white or black pepper
• 1 tbsp chili paste/sambal (optional)

Instructions

Sauce: Mix cornflour or tomato paste and dark soy until lump free, then add remaining Sauce ingredients.

Season Chicken: 

1. Transfer 2 tsp Sauce into bowl with chicken. Toss to coat.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large heavy based skillet over high heat until smoking.
3. Add onion and garlic, stir 30 seconds.
4. Add chicken, chili paste (sambal) if using, stir until white on the outside, still raw inside - 1 minute.
5. Add carrot and capsicum/bell peppers, cook 2 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
6. Add noodles, Sauce and water. Use 2 wooden spoons and toss for 30 seconds.
7. Add green onions, toss for another 1 minute until all the noodles are slick with sauce.
8. Serve immediately, garnished with extra spring onions if using.

 

NOTES

1. Garlic - don't use jar paste or a garlic press, makes garlic watery = spits & burns when it hits the oil. Finely chop it - even sliced is enough.

2. Proteins - how to cook & cut:

Beef, pork, turkey - slice and cook per recipe

Ground / mince meat - cook garlic and onion per recipe, then cook ground / mince. Once cooked, add 1 tbsp sauce, stir, then proceed with next steps in recipe.

3. Lo Mein noodles are fresh yellow noodles (usually labelled "egg noodles") that are about 3mm / 1/8" thick, sold in the fridge section of grocery stores. 

Dried noodles - use 200g uncooked ramen noodles or other dried noodles. They will increase in volume and weight once cooked per packet.

Note - Lo Mein is still delicious made with ANY type of noodles - thick, thin, fresh, dried, egg or rice - or ramen noodles, or even spaghetti or other long pasta.

4. Soy Sauces:

Dark soy sauce is labelled as such, provides colour and gives more flavour to the sauce than other soy sauces.  sub with more ordinary or light soy sauce.

5. Chinese cooking wine ("Shaoxing wine") is an essential ingredient for making truly "restaurant standard" Asian noodles. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. 

6. Sesame oil - toasted sesame oil is brown and has more flavour than untoasted (which is yellow). Default sesame oil sold in Australia is toasted, untoasted is harder to find.

7. Servings - makes 3 servings.

source: RecipeTinEats