Cantonese Chow Mein

SpiceBunny's Note:

A Cantonese chef -- my roommate-- gave me this recipe that I translated into English. It's pan-fried egg noodles (crispy brown in places) topped with a mix of vegetables and seafood in a light white sauce. Very nice.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Flavouring mix

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chicken bouillon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Meat ingredients

• 1/2 lb chicken breast, sliced
• 1/2 lb barbecued pork (char xiu)
• 6 -8 medium shrimp

Vegetables

• 7 -8 baby bok choy
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• 3/4 cup shiitake mushroom (rehydrated or fresh, i buy the dried black ones)
• 1/2 cup sliced bamboo shoot
• 1/4 cup sliced water chestnuts
• 1/2 cup baby corn
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 (250 g) packages fresh egg noodles

All other ingredients

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 5 tablespoons oil

Directions:

1. Immerse egg noodles into boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove and set aside.
2. Heat your wok at high heat, keep it dry. Add 5 tbsp oil and coat the wok evenly with oil.
3. Fry the noodles for about 2 minutes, and keep shaking it back and forth, until the noodles turn golden brown. Flip and repeat.
4. The outer noodles should be golden, inner ones are soft. Remove noodles and arrange in center of a plate.
5. Blanch the vegetables in boiling water (30 seconds). You can arrange the bok choy in a circle around the noodles if you like.
6. Put some oil and fry minced garlic in the work, then add the blanched vegetables and stir fry. Add the meat ingredients, 1 tbsp water, cover the wok and steam for 1 - 2 minutes.
7. Add the flavouring ingredients, the water with corn starch, and fry gently. Add a bit more water if you want more sauce.
8. Pour the veggies and meat over the noodles.
9. Note #1: Char xiu (Honey BBQ pork) is available in Chinatown or a good Chinese grocery store, as well as baby boy choy (also known as Shanghai bok choy).
10. Note #2: Ideally you should use a large non-stick wok for frying noodles. Traditionally, Chinese people use a carbon steel wok, which is baked in the oven after purchase, and then rubbed with oil after washing each time to protect it. It turns black over time, and is pretty much non-stick. You could also use a non-stick pan, but non-stick coatings are poisonous and will accumulate in your body. Non-stick pans should generally be only used with medium or low heat. If you like them, get a professional grade non-stick pan for high heat cooking, it feels like ceramic.
11. Note #3: I often add a dash of rice wine (sake) to the meat and vegetables. It just gives it a little extra flavour and isn't salty like most cooking wines.

Reviews

[Cecily Parsley]

This was beyond wonderful. Far better than any takeout I have ever had from anywhere.The sorry excuse for a local Chinese takeout has reason to be very afraid indeed ; ) I omitted the salt altogether, upped the oyster sauce by an extra 1/2 tsp, did emply the the rice wine, and added in bean sprouts to compensate for my lack of cauliflower. I had to use up leftover roast beef and half a bag of thawed tiger shrimp so subbed those for the meats listed. Served topped with chopped scallions and sesame seed.

[sleepigrl]

Really good! The sauce was perfectly flavored (although the sodium content is a little scary). I was cooking sticky pork separately, so I didn't include any meat here. I used veggies we had around the house - broccoli, bean sprouts, carrots, a little celery, onion & some green onion. Blanched the noodles in the wok. Steamed the broccoli & carrots in the microwave instead of blanching them and just stir fried the rest. Added about an extra 1/2 cup or so of water for more sauce.

[Crunchy Numbers]

We really enjoyed this. The sauce and noodles are what makes this great. I cheated and used a bag of frozen Asian style vegetables (broccoli, carrots, baby corn, etc), and chicken. I look forward to making it again with fresh vegetables and with the pork and shrimp. For the sauce I substituted 1 teaspoon of chicken base instead of the bouillion, and skipped the salt. Also took the suggestion and added a splash of rice wine when cooking the meat, and added an extra 1/4 cup water to the sauce.