Holy crap, I made a stir fry dish that didn’t suck (not including fried rice)!!!
Five or six years ago, while simultaneously being so excited and so overwhelmed at IKEA, I stumbled upon a wok. FOR $5! So crazy! I had to buy it. I was so excited about my new smart purchase that I stir fried my heart out. Veggies, rice, frozen meals from TJ’s, you name it. It was glorious. But I never attempted any real Asian dishes, if you will, I just made stuff up. Fast forward to three months ago when I started receiving Food Network Magazine with the occasional, deceivingly delicious looking Asian stir fry recipe. Out of the dozens of recipes from FNM I have tried, the three wok recipes I tried were the only three I disliked. They all were soupy and gross, SUCH a disappointment… especially coming from my beloved FMN.
Last week, while browsing Ranch 99, I forgot my recent wok adventures, and bought some chow mein noodles. Then I got home and realized what I had done. Fourth time’s a charm? I searched allrecipes.com and foodnetwork.com for recipes. As I usually do, I picked out parts I liked from some recipes and mushed them all together to make my own. And by golly, I was victorious!! It was really delicious, and EASY, yay! I apologize for lack of pictures, I was too busy sleeping off a chow mein food coma to worry about such details.
Ingredients
- 1 pound chow mein noodles, cooked according to the package (mine said to boil for about a minute, then drain)
- 1 – 2 pounds of cut up chicken pieces (I used one pound, and it worked, but 2 would be better, also some stores have already cut up stir fry pieces!)
- 5 – 6 tablespoons toasted sesame oil (you can use veggie, or olive, but the sesame really adds to the taste!)
- 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger peeled and minced (food processor really helps)
- 5 – 6 garlic cloves, minced (if you already have the food processor out…)
- 2 – 4 green onions, thinly sliced
- 3 large carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut into matchstick-size pieces
- 1 or 2 heads of broccoli, broken down into florets
- about ½ head of cabbage (I used regular ol’ green), sliced up into strips approximately ½ inch wide
- 1 (8-ounce) can baby corn, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ¾ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup soy sauce
Obviously you can add whatever other veggies you like; mushrooms, bok choy, snap peas, etc.
PS You will need a really big wok! Or cut the recipe down if you don’t have a whole family to feed/ don’t like leftovers.
Directions
- Boil the chow mein noodles as necessary, no more than a min or two, drain
- In your super cool wok, heat the oil over high heat.
- Add the ginger, garlic and carrots. Cook for a few minutes.
- Add the noodles and chicken! And cook some more, maybe another 3 minutes, constantly stirring
- Add all other veggies.
- Add the broth, hoisin, soy sauce. Continue cooking and stirring until all the veggies and most importantly chicken are cooked. Keep the sauces handy in case you need more to add in as you are cooking.
- Garnish with the green onions and eat your delicious meal!
Try me, I might be good! 