Easy chicken chow mein recipe
Chicken chow mein is a Chinese favourite but there's no need to order this from a takeaway with this easy dish you can make at home.
Ingredients
- 600 g of chicken thigh fillets or chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
- 400 g of medium egg noodles
- 3 spring onions finely chopped
- 200 g of Chinese leaf or green cabbage chopped
- 1 carrot peeled and julienned [cut into fine strips]
- 250 g of beansprouts
- 2 cloves of garlic finely sliced
- 1 thumb of ginger grated
- 2 tablespoons of cornflour
- 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons of Shaoxing cooking wine or mirin
- 1 pinch of white pepper
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
Instructions
- To make the marinade for the chicken, combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine or mirin, cornflour, pepper and sugar. Mix well. Then pour half over the chicken and let it marinate for 20-30 mins or so.
- If you don't have time to marinate the chicken, you can skip this step.
- Cook the medium egg noodles for around 10 minutes, and then drain. Let them sit in a colander so that they can dry out for 10 minutes or so.
- In a wok or large deep pan, heat the vegetable oil on high heat, then add the chopped garlic and ginger, and saute quickly.
- Then, add the chicken, stir around the wok quickly. Fry the chicken for a few minutes until the pieces start to brown.
- Next, add the carrots and the cabbage. Continue to keep cooking all the ingredients until you see the cabbage wilting, around 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the noodles, as well as the rest of the sauce, and combine everything in the wok thoroughly. Make sure the noodles are mixed well and coated in the sauce. If you need a little more moisture, you can add a splash of water.
- After a few minutes, add the spring onions and bean sprouts, and continue to stir well for another minute until the bean sprouts soften.
Notes
Want extra spice? If you'd like the noodles to be spicy, you can drizzle chilli oil over the top. Alternatively, add a chopped fresh red or green chilli to the wok at the same time as the garlic and ginger.
Using leftover chicken? Shred cooked chicken and skip the marinating step. Add it to the wok with the sauce and noodles – it will only need a couple of minutes to heat through.
No dark soy sauce? That's fine – the dish will just be lighter in colour. Use an extra teaspoon of light soy sauce instead.
Vegetable substitutions: Use whatever vegetables you have – bok choy, bell pepper, snow peas, baby corn, water chestnuts, or green beans all work brilliantly.
Storage: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave or, even better, in a hot wok with a little oil.
Nutrition
Calories: 554kcal