Chicken Chow Mein - Takeaway Style

A staple of Chinese restaurants and takeaways, chow mein is very simply fried noodles together with meat and vegetables. It doesn't have to be chicken either, you can easily replace it with beef, or pork, or shrimps, or do a combination of all of them - this is usually known the "house special" chow mein! The thing about take away chow mein though is that often you find that at the bottom of the metal tray is a large pool of oil and grease. Or maybe you don't notice as you have bought the takeaway after a night on the town, and are a little worse for wear! But it is possible to have chicken chow mein without the grease overload.




When I am thinking of something I want to eat I always think can I make it just as tasty, healthier and/or cheaper myself, or is it better to buy the ready made product. There are quite a few things that it makes no sense to make from scratch yourself, as they are cheaper and better to buy ready to eat. I've tried making things like flour tortillas, home made pasta, tortilla chips myself, but I found that they either took too long to prepare or didn't taste as good as the ready made stuff from the shop.

OK, I went off on a bit of a rant there, so let's get back to the chow mein, shall we?

As I said before, chow mein is a combination of noodles, meat and vegetables. Its not rocket science. The secret to chow mein, as with many Chinese stir fry dishes, is getting the preparation done before you are ready to cook. The cooking time is actually very quick, but the chopping of vegetables, marinading of meat, and pre-cooking of noodles is what takes up the majority of the time. So let's not waste time!

Ingredients

1 packet Chow Mein noodles (Tai Ming is a good brand)

500g chicken breast

2 Tb dark soy sauce

2 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder
Black pepper and salt to season
1 Tb cornflour
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 green bell pepper
1 red chili pepper
1 Tb sesame oil
2 Tb oyster sauce

2 Tb oil to fry (peanut or groundnut are best, but sunflower is OK)

1/2 Chinese cabbage/Chinese leaf/Pak Soi/Bok Choy (optional)

100g (1 pack) bean sprouts

1 spring onion

Method

Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips. Season with the five spice powder, salt and pepper.

Mix 1 Tb dark soy sauce, cornflour and a little water and cover the chicken with this mixture. Leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. There are many varieties of noodles that you can use, even spaghetti. I use "Tai Ming" noodles as these are the same that the Chinese restaurants here in Holland use. They are long, flat noodles of about 1/4 cm thick. They take about 12-14 minutes to cook, and swell up slightly during cooking. When the noodles are cooked "al dente" drain well and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Chop the onion, green pepper and Chinese cabbage (if using). The green leaves of the Chinese cabbage are good to go, but the white stalks may need to be blanched first in a little boiling water for a couple of minutes. Finely chop the garlic, spring onion and chili pepper.

Heat a wok or deep frying pan. A wok is the perfect utensil for stir frying, as it heats evenly and its high sides allow you toss and stir the ingredients without them falling over the side. The wok should be smoking hot (literally!) before you add the peanut oil.

When the wok is starting to smoke, add 1 Tb of peanut oil and fry the chicken strips, stirring and mixing continuously, for about 2-3 minutes, until they are starting to brown. Remove them from the wok and set aside.

Add the 2nd Tb of peanut oil to the wok and fry the onion, garlic, green pepper and chili, stirring continuously. Add the Chinese cabbage leaves and blanched stalks, and return the chicken to the wok. Continue to fry for another minute, stirring and tossing everything as you go. 

Add the drained noodles to the wok, and then the oyster sauce and 1 Tb soy sauce. Mix thoroughly to ensure that all the noodles are coated with the sauce. Add the sesame oil. Finally add the bean sprouts and mix these through for about 30 seconds only. 

The chow mein is now ready. Sprinkle the chopped spring onion over the noodles and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

 

DID YOU KNOW?

Five spice powder is an unmissable ingredient in Chinese cooking. It has a wonderful aroma and gives an extra dimension to dishes. The actual spices differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, but the one I use contains Aniseed, Fennel, Peppercorn, Cinnamon Bark and Ginger.

DID YOU KNOW?

You shouldn't clean a wok using a sponge or washing liquid. Simply rinse thoroughly with hot water. Never use a scouring pad or other abrasive materials as these will damage the coating of the wok. Many woks these days have a Tefal or anti-stick layer on them but the best woks are the cast iron or steel woks used throughout the Asian continent.