Quick and Easy Chow Mien Recipe

Chow Mien is actually a Chinese language which indicates Stir Fry Noodles.

It is a popular meal served among the CHinese community all over the world.

If you are in Chinatown, you may noticed Chow Mien is in the menu or roadside hawker stall.

There are 2 versions of Chow Mien; dry and wet noodles.

There are 2 types of noodles used; fresh yellow noodles from the wet market and dried egg noodles sold in 6-8 pieces in a pack.

If you are a fan of Chinese take away, you would not miss Chow Mien for sure!

It is a stir fry noodles mixed with variety of vegetables, chicken meat is a must and tasty sauce that you can DIY at home.

Some people prefer the wet type of Chow Mien whereby the black sauce is turn into thick sloppy gravy whereby you can slurp the noodles and dirty your lips.

SOme people prefer the dry type of Chow MMien whereby the black sauce is reduced and mixed well with the noodles, that looked alike instant noodles.

In today’s recipe, I had written the recipe for dry type of Chow Mien that you can find in any CHinese restaurant.

Ingredients you need

Basically, you can add in any type of vegetables you have in your fridge, you don’t have to purposely rush to the supermarket to buy the exact veggies.

Some may prefer bean sprouts, sow peas, French beans, green pepper (capcium) or even celery!

I prefer Chinese cabbages and mustard greens for more GREENS in my noodle recipe.

As for the meat, you can choose one or both type of meats; boneless and skinless chicken fillets or shrimps without shells ( heads and tails of course!)

If you want to have a vegetarian style of Chow Mien, replace the meats with mushrooms, tofu strips, baby corn or vegetarian meats.

In other words, Chow Mien is a versatile meal, you can turn it into a Vegetarian or Meat base stir fry noodles depending on the ingredients you had used in this noodle recipe.

As for the secret recipe, is the SAUCE!

Yes, you can DIY your Chow Mien sauce at home with the basic ingredients:

Light soy sauce- prefer the non salty type
Oyster sauce- vegetarian or oyster flavor, doesn’t really matter
Sesame oil-the fragrance comes from here. You can also heat up olive oil, stir fry white sesame seeds to produce homemade sesame oil.
Chinese wine- you can either buy Shaoxiang wine or rice wine from the market
Chilli sauce- a little spice to the noodles could perk you up. Any type of chilli sauce will do. However, I would refrain using Thai Chilli sauce, which is suitable for Sweet and Sour recipes.

Chow Mien Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp Chilli sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic-peeled and chop
Afew slices of ginger-cut into match sticks
350g boneless chicken meat-remove skins and fats
1 packet egg noodles or fresh yeloow noodles
2 tbsp olive oil
2 stalks mustard greens-washed and cut
Afew leaves of Chinese cabbage or lettuce-washed and cut into bit size
Afew slices of carrot-peeled and cut into match sticks
1 handful of Chinese black mushrooms-soaked and cut into strips
3 stalks spring onions-chopped
110ml water or chicken stock
White pepper to taste

Method of preparation:

If you are using fresh yellow noodles, soak the noodles in a bowl of water tor emove the excess oil and yellow coloring.
If you using egg noodles, cook as per packet instructions.
Cut the skinless and fatless chicken meat into strips.
In a shallow dish, combine light soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, chilli sauce, sesame oil together.
Then, add in the strips of chicken, toss and turn to marinate them well. Allow to stand for 10-15min.
In a soup pot, bring to boil with water, toss in the fresh yellow noodles or egg noodles to cook them briefly. Do not over cook the noodles. Otherwise the noodles would turn mushy.
Drain and set aside.
Heat up a wok with olive oil.
Add in chopped garlic and ginger , stir fry until fragrant.
Toss in the carrot sticks, mustard greens, cabbages and black mushrooms. Stir fry for a few minutes.
Add in the marinated chicken into the wok, quickly stir fry for 5 min to cook the chicken.
Add in the left-over marinate sauce and water ( or chicken stock), allow to simmer for a few seconds.
Then, toss in the noodles, quickly toss and turn like a professional chef in the kitchen.
Toss in the chopped spring onions, give a quick stir before turn off heat.
Sprinkle the white pepper before transfer the Chow Mien into individual plates.
Serve hot with sides dishes such as scrambled eggs and crispy fried shallots.