This is my mothers version of Chow Mien. She's made it for as long as I can remember and it's always been a hit. Cheap and easy to prepare it'll takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. There are no real hard and fast measurements for this dish. It's always just been a thrown together thing, but I'll do my best to guestimate the amounts. I figured I'd whip some up as we recently picked up a new Asian foods cook book called Practical Gourmet Inviting Asian Flavors (click here). It features asian dishes from all over the continent. The one posted here, Firecracker Shrimp is a Sichuan dish that's full of color and flavor. It's a great dish to add as a side to many of the milder dishes in asian cooking like my mom's chicken chow mien.
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Chicken Chow Mien ingredients
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1 medium stalk celery chopped
5-6 medium mushrooms sliced
1 large bag of Farkay Steam Fried Noodles (397 Grams)
15 fl oz Chicken broth
3/4 cup bean sprouts (large white ones)
1 bunch green onions
1 small can water chestnuts (optional - I like them because the give an interesting texture, my g/f doesn't so we usually leave them out)
2 TBSP EVOO (or your choice of oil)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced thin
1 medium onion chopped
granulated garlic to taste
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1. Add all the ingredients in the first bunch to a large pot. Make sure the pot is big enough so that you can stir everything together when everything is DRY. The noodles take up a lot of room at first and will spill over if you don't use a large enough pot. The overall volume goes down when they are cooked. Place on stove over low to medium low heat and cover. It is VERY important that you do not use too high of a heat or the noodles will burn to the bottom of the pot. You must also stir the noodles every now and then so that the chicken broth covers the noodles as the dish cooks.
2. Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add the oil. Add the chicken and onions and sprinkle with garlic. The chicken's always been cooked separately, but cooking it with onions garlic is my addition to the dish. Uncooked onions are pretty hard on my stomach and garlic gives it much more flavor. I usually just give it a good dusting with garlic. The chicken only needs to be cooked for about 5 minutes. I don't usually time this step. Instead I consider the chicken done when I can cut the pieces easily with the spatula and there's no pink left inside. Once done add the chicken, onions and all juice to the pot with the noodles and mix thoroughly. Cover and start the firecracker shrimp
3. The chow mien is done when the noodles are soft. Really that's all. Serve with soy sauce and sesame seeds.
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Firecracker Shrimp Ingredients. I've separated all the ingredients into the order they go into the wok and the ones you can combine prior to cooking. This is a fast disk to prepare and requires fairly good timing so that you don't over cook the shrimp.
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1 TBSP Sesame oil (I used EVOO)
1 lb Uncooked extra-large shrimp (peeled and deveined), tails intact, butterflied
2 tsp finely grated ginger root
1 Garlic clove, minced
1 cup chopped yellow pepper
In a small bowl combine and stir together:
2 TBSP Chinese rice wine
2 TBSP Soy Sauce
2 TBSP Sriracha chili sauce
1 TBSP Finely chopped small red chili peppers (I used Thai Chili's)
2 tsp Granulated sugar
2 tsp Rice vinegar
In a small bowl combine and stir together:
2 tsp Cornstarch
2 tsp water
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1. Heat a wok or large frying pan on medium-high. Add sesame oil. Add next 3 ingredients and stir-fry for 2 minutes until shrimp start to turn pink. Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm
2. Add yellow pepper to wok and stir-fry for 2 minutes until tender-crisp.
3. Add next six ingredients and stir.
4. Stir cornstarch and water until smooth and add to wok. Heat and stir until bubbling and thickened. Add shrimp and stir-fry for 1 minute until pink and coated. Makes about 3 1/2 cups. Garnish with hot red peppers and serve hot.
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Just a shot of the completed dish here folks. I didn't think to take any prep shots of the chow mien. Prep shots of the firecracker shrimp can be found in the spicy meals thread in the Cooking with fire forum.
-------------
Chicken Chow Mien ingredients
------
1 medium stalk celery chopped
5-6 medium mushrooms sliced
1 large bag of Farkay Steam Fried Noodles (397 Grams)
15 fl oz Chicken broth
3/4 cup bean sprouts (large white ones)
1 bunch green onions
1 small can water chestnuts (optional - I like them because the give an interesting texture, my g/f doesn't so we usually leave them out)
2 TBSP EVOO (or your choice of oil)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced thin
1 medium onion chopped
granulated garlic to taste
------------------
1. Add all the ingredients in the first bunch to a large pot. Make sure the pot is big enough so that you can stir everything together when everything is DRY. The noodles take up a lot of room at first and will spill over if you don't use a large enough pot. The overall volume goes down when they are cooked. Place on stove over low to medium low heat and cover. It is VERY important that you do not use too high of a heat or the noodles will burn to the bottom of the pot. You must also stir the noodles every now and then so that the chicken broth covers the noodles as the dish cooks.
2. Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add the oil. Add the chicken and onions and sprinkle with garlic. The chicken's always been cooked separately, but cooking it with onions garlic is my addition to the dish. Uncooked onions are pretty hard on my stomach and garlic gives it much more flavor. I usually just give it a good dusting with garlic. The chicken only needs to be cooked for about 5 minutes. I don't usually time this step. Instead I consider the chicken done when I can cut the pieces easily with the spatula and there's no pink left inside. Once done add the chicken, onions and all juice to the pot with the noodles and mix thoroughly. Cover and start the firecracker shrimp
3. The chow mien is done when the noodles are soft. Really that's all. Serve with soy sauce and sesame seeds.
----------------------
Firecracker Shrimp Ingredients. I've separated all the ingredients into the order they go into the wok and the ones you can combine prior to cooking. This is a fast disk to prepare and requires fairly good timing so that you don't over cook the shrimp.
-------------
1 TBSP Sesame oil (I used EVOO)
1 lb Uncooked extra-large shrimp (peeled and deveined), tails intact, butterflied
2 tsp finely grated ginger root
1 Garlic clove, minced
1 cup chopped yellow pepper
In a small bowl combine and stir together:
2 TBSP Chinese rice wine
2 TBSP Soy Sauce
2 TBSP Sriracha chili sauce
1 TBSP Finely chopped small red chili peppers (I used Thai Chili's)
2 tsp Granulated sugar
2 tsp Rice vinegar
In a small bowl combine and stir together:
2 tsp Cornstarch
2 tsp water
-------------------
1. Heat a wok or large frying pan on medium-high. Add sesame oil. Add next 3 ingredients and stir-fry for 2 minutes until shrimp start to turn pink. Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm
2. Add yellow pepper to wok and stir-fry for 2 minutes until tender-crisp.
3. Add next six ingredients and stir.
4. Stir cornstarch and water until smooth and add to wok. Heat and stir until bubbling and thickened. Add shrimp and stir-fry for 1 minute until pink and coated. Makes about 3 1/2 cups. Garnish with hot red peppers and serve hot.
-------------------
Just a shot of the completed dish here folks. I didn't think to take any prep shots of the chow mien. Prep shots of the firecracker shrimp can be found in the spicy meals thread in the Cooking with fire forum.
thanks for the great recipe