I greatly enjoy lo mein, but had never prepared it before. Found a recipe online via Recipetineats.com, which is based out of Australia, that came out smashingly! The recipe offers tips and variations so that anyone can prepare it quite easily, with things they already have (or are easily obtainable), which is what I like to offer people myself here, so I can totally dig that.
I didn't think I'd be able to obtain mirin, so was just going to add the 1 tsp of sugar (since I didn't have the other variations either. I also didn't have lo mein noodles & didn't want to make extra trips. We do have an Asian market, & they might have lo mein noodles there, but I was only going to the grocery store for some cleaning products & figured I'd just see what they had in the very miniscule Asian food section. And there it was, mirin, which they'd never had before, & it was only $1.50! So, about the noodles. I rarely read full intro's, just finding the recipe & briefly looking at the tips until I see what I need. I missed her bit on the noodles. I read "egg noodles" & "lo mein" noodles and said, "I'll just use spaghetti. I'm pretty sure that'll work if I don't accidentally over cook them in the boiling process." I was going to say that I wish she'd included other noodle options, but that is my mistake, as she certainly does! She even says you can use pasta noodles, including spaghetti & that no one will notice a difference. She's correct on that too, which I'll get to in a minute. I used to have a wok, one I purchased in my late teens at a thrift store, but The Sister has since gotten rid of it. :/ So, I used the largest skillet we had, which is not too shallow, is wide, & slightly rounded. It was slightly too small for the 1 pound of noodles, so I had a bit of difficulty getting those stirred in with the two wooden spoons without flipping it all out onto the stove. So for the lo mein ingredients (not the sauce), I used everything listed except the bell pepper. I did have fresh garlic, which she suggested. I also added bok choy (putting it in at the end with the green onions), which we had purchased last week at the Asian market for a different recipe. I also used one box (equaling 1 pound) of spaghetti noodles, which I boiled al dente according to the directions on the box. This is important. If over boiled, pasta noodles are just mushy, but al dente and they're giving you the correct slightly chewy feel of lo mein noodles. I was lazy on the onion, which I won't do again. Saw that dad has some chopped onion in the fridge & I just used that. Knowing they'd cook down, but not caring in the moment, but I should have, because we ended up with tiny, very brown pieces of unidentifiable matter, which was the onion, instead of, ya know, actual pieces of cooked onion (he chops onion very small). So, I'll actually chop some onion appropriately next time. Also, my only complaint are things I did. I should have separated the noodles after cooking, because some of it was stuck together in clumps (like instead of leaving them smooshed in the colander, I should have sprayed them with water & then transferred them to a large bowl). I also should have chopped my own onions & also while the ratio of carrots & garlic were fine, I felt it needed slightly more chicken, green onion, & bok choy (or cabbage, which is what we usually have in my house), but that's my own personal taste. So, onto the sauce. I luckily did purchase dark soy sauce at the Asian market last year. Had to hide it from dad, because for some reason he likes to use cups of soy sauce on Chinese & Japanese dishes. I know, right?! So, I hid it in the pantry, so he can use that with the cheaper soy sauce he purchases (I actually prefer Kikkoman if I'm going the grocery store route, but that's just me. Otherwise, I purchase at the Asian market.) So, while a lot of it is gone from his way over use, there was still plenty for this recipe. Luckily The Sister had a bit of toasted sesame oil. I'll need to remember to get more of this later, as there isn't much of it left. Luckily I found the mirin, & so I didn't use the sugar listed (as stated in the recipe). Didn't have white pepper anymore, but I used black. I followed the prep steps (except listed above, like cutting my own onion or my mishap with the noodles after they were cooked). I mixed the sauce as described, used a portion to coat the chicken, followed the order & times for each ingredient & that lo mein was spot on perfection! I will look into seeing if they sell lo mein noodles on my next jaunt to the Asian market, but honestly the spaghetti noodles were pretty perfect & since dad keeps buying boxes upon boxes upon boxes of this, it's something easy to go with. Just if you don't have a wok, be careful, but also quick while stirring everything with the two wooden utensils, so you don't throw everything out onto the top of the stove or onto the floor. While I figured I'd like it (& really it taste exactly like lo mein - it's a good recipe), I didn't think that The Sister (who prefers mei fun) would like it, nor my mom who won't really eat anything Asian except steamed rice, sweet & sour chicken or egg drop soup. They all loved it as well! Mom even ate the bok choy, which I thought she wouldn't do.
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January 2021
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