Chicken Chow Mein Noodles

 

Growing up in the '70s I thought that all Chinese Food was Chicken Chow Mein because that was one Chinese dish my mother liked to make weekly.  She usually made a delicious chicken stir fry with a thick Asian inspired sauce and we ate it over rice with crispy chow mein noodles  I loved this dish when I was a kid so I thought it would be fun to recreate it with some different Asian ingredients and make it with noodles instead of rice.  This really was a wonderful one pot dish since I cooked the stir fry in the same pot I boiled the pasta.  It was a great meal because I had only pot to wash and I big bowl of Chicken Chow Mein Noodles to enjoy and take me back to my childhood.


Ingredients:
1lb of chicken breast sliced into thin strips. (Tip: slice chicken when partially frozen so it is easy to slice thin)
1lb of cooked spaghetti or linguine  noodles.  You can also use any thicker Asian noodle (not rice sticks)
1 Tbs of ginger grated
1 Tbs of garlic grated
2 tsp of cornstarch
Salt and Black Pepper
Red Chili Flakes
2 cups of sliced cabbage
1 cup of sliced celery
1-2 cups of bean sprouts
1 bunch of green onions or scallions
handful of cleaned snow peas (optional)
bag of frozen stir fry mix -with, water chestnuts, baby corn, red bell peppers, mushrooms (optional)
chow mein cruchy noodles as a garnish (optional)

 Sauce:
1/4 soy sauce
2 Tbs oyster sauce
1/4 cup Shao Hsing Chinese Rice Wine or substitute dry sherry
2 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbs sesame oil
1/8 tsp Chinese Five Spice
1/4 chicken stock with 1 Tbs of cornstarch made into a slurry

 Directions:

Step 1:  Cook pasta noodles 1-2 minutes shy of package instructions. Drain and set aside until later. You may want to add about a tsp of canola oil to coat the noodles so they don't stick.

Step 2:  add 2tsp of cornstarch to sliced chicken and allow to see for a few minutes.

Heat a wok on high heat and add sliced chicken and stir fry for 2 minutes. Then add the ginger, garlic, red chili flakes and some salt and pepper (not to much salt because you will add soy sauce to salt the dish as well). Stir fry for another 2 minutes.

Next add the sliced cabbage, celery and any other vegetables (accept the bean sprouts). Stir fry for another 2-3 minutes.  Add your sauce ingredients and stir fry until sauce begins to boil and thicken.

Finally add the bean sprouts and cook for a minute then add the cooked pasta and toss well with the sauce and vegetables.  Taste for seasoning and serve hot.   Serve with chow mein style crunchy noodles as a garnish.  Enjoy.



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