Lo Mein
Ingredients
- water (as needed to boil noodles)
- 1/2 t minced garlic
- 1 t grated ginger (fresh)
- Sauce Mix:
- 3 T soy sauce
- 2 T oyster sauce
- 2 T hoisin sauce
- 1 T sesame oil
- 1/4 t five spice powder
- The Rest:
- 300 g sliced meat (lean)
- 1/2 t corn starch
- 1/4 c water
- canola oil (as needed)
- 2 T sake (or dry sherry)
- 100 g chopped mushrooms
- 6 sliced green onion
- 160 g shredded bok choy
- 130 g dried noodles
- 1/2 T Asian chili garlic sauce
Method
1. Place plate-bowls in the oven on low to warm up.
2. In separate small bowl, mix garlic and ginger; set aside.
3. Bring water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, cover and keep at a simmer until you add the noodles in step 13.
Sauce:
4. Whisk sauce ingredients together in medium bowl.
5. Place 3 Tbsp of it in a quart-sized zip-lock bag; add meat. Press out as much air as possible and seal bag, making sure that all pieces are coated with marinade. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Whisk 1/4 cup water and cornstarch into remaining sauce mixture in medium bowl; set aside.
Start cooking:
7. Heat 2 tsp oil in 12" skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.
8. Add meat in single layer, breaking up clumps with wooden spoon. Cook, without stirring, 1 minute. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 2 to 3 minutes.
9. Add sake to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, until liquid is reduced and meat is well coated, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer meat to a bowl; set aside.
10. On high heat, add oil if needed, and heat until just smoking. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes.
11. Add green onions and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes longer; transfer vegetables to bowl with meat.
12. Add oil if needed, and add bok choy to now-empty skillet; cook, stirring occasionally, until spotty brown, 2 to 4 minutes.
13. Stir noodles into boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until noodles are tender, 3-4 minutes for dried noodles.
14. While noodles cook, once bok choy is cooked, clear the center of skillet. Add oil if needed, then add garlic-ginger mixture and cook until fragrant, mashing mixture with spoon, about 30 seconds. Stir garlic mixture into bok choy.
Put it all together:
15. Add meat-vegetable mixture and sauce mixture to skillet; simmer until thickened and ingredients are well incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.
16. Drain noodles and transfer back to pot; add cooked stir-fry mixture and chili-garlic sauce, tossing noodles constantly, until sauce coats noodles.
17. Serve immediately.
Notes
Notes from Source:
Noodles for Lo Mein: Developing the recipe for our Pork Stir-Fry with Noodles, we discovered that not any old noodle will do.
BEST BET: The slightly dry and curly fresh egg noodles labeled “lo mein” from an Asian market boasted firm texture and the best flavor.
BEST ALTERNATIVE: Dried linguine, though not authentic, offered a firm chewiness similar to lo mein.
NO THANKS: Vacuum-packed fresh noodles from the grocery store labeled “Chinese-style” were gummy and pasty.
SJ Note 8 Aug 2010: The flavor of this was really good! But entirely too much cabbage, so I've reduced that a lot, and we'll definitely use bok choy instead of cabbage next time. I've increased the noodles, as well.
SJ Note 6 May 2020: A favorite. Have increased the sauce and veggies; this is well-coated, and makes a filling one-dish meal as written.