Chicken Lo Mein Without the Grease

Lo mein and chow mein are probably the most recognizable dishes on the menu of any chinese restaurant.  It's simple to make but it does reqiure you to do a number of things at once.  Preparation and working efficiently is the key to most Chinese dishes and this is no exception.  Before starting this dish, you want to have everything readily available. Get that chicken marinading early, even do it the night before or that morning before you go to work.   Have you pans on the stove ready to go. Make sure all your vegetables are on the counter ready to be chopped, or even pre-chopped so there's less to do at the last minute.

Now having a wok makes this meal easy to prepare.  The shape of a wok focuses the heat on the bottom, but the high sides allow you to pull some items out of the heat whenever you need to.  And the sides also allow you the space you need to mix everything together at the end.  A wok is not mandatory.  If you have a large skillet or a large saute pan, they will work well,

And you'll notice that there is very little fat in this recipe.  The only fat we're using a little vegetable oil to prevent the food from sticking to the wok (or other large pan).  I'm really not a big fan of greasy lo mein, the type that has a sheen on every noodle and coats the edges of your lips with a film that has to be wiped off with a napkin.  The type you get from so many fast food chinese places.  By the way, if you want to use sesame oil for a little more flavor, feel free, but remember that the flavor in sesame oil goes a LONG way.  My recommendation is subbing out only one of the two tablespoons for the sesame oil.

Chicken Lo Mein

Serves 4-6

1 pound chicken breasts or thighs, sliced into small pieces
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 green onions, chopped into small discs
1 package Lo Mein noodles (or spaghetti if you're in a pinch)
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup snow pea pods
1/2 cup carrots, cut into matchsitcks (optional)
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (split into two 1 tablespoon portions, use vegetable or a combination of vegetable and sesame)
2 more tablespoons soy sauce
2 more tablespoons oyster sauce

In a large ziploc bag, combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar and green onions and shake to combine them.  Add the chicken, seal the bag and shake or squish to coat. Set it in the fridge so it may soak in the goodness for at least 30 minutes.  More time, even up to 24 hours, is OK.

In a large stockpot, bring a gallon of water to a boil.  Also, place a wok over medium high heat. While you're waiting for it all to heat up, chop and shred your veggies.

Once the pans have reached their proper temperatures, start cooking.  Drop the lo mein noodles into the boiling water.  Add the veggies to the wok and pour the 1/4 cup water over them (watch for steam).  Keep stirring the veggies quickly for about 2-4 minutes to avoid sticking to the pan  until they are cooked, but still crisp.  Add more water if necessary. Remove earlier if they are starting to char.  Place the veggies in a bowl for later, but leave the wok on the burner.

Keep working fast.  Pull your chicken from the fridge and strain out the leftover marinade.  Add the oil to the hot wok and spin the wok so the oil coats the cooking surface. Toss in the chicken and stir continuously until all of the chicken is thoroughly cooked.  Remove the chicken to the same bowl with the veggies.  Return the wok to the stove (off the burner for the time being), turn the burner down to medium and focus your attention to the noodles.

Your noodles should be ready.  Strain them and shake to remove as much water as possible.  Let them drip off their last bits of moisture while you move onto final assembly.

Place the wok back on the burner.  Pour in the oil and spin the wok, so it is well coated.  Add the chicken and veggies back to the wok and stir to mix together thoroughly.  Add the strained noodles and stir together.  Pour the tablespoons of soy sauce and oyster sauce over the entire concoction and continue to stir for another minute or so, just so everything is warmed and coated with the sauce.

Serve the dish in a large bowl or platter, family style.

So mix up a batch of homemade Lo Mein and avoid the greasiness of the fast food variety.

Some great takeout from China Chefs

Since we've making Asian food this month. I just wanted to talk a little about my favorite local Chinese takeout place.  The place I call when I don't want to make it myself.

China Chefs started with one location in Riverton/Herriman, but has been expanding recently.  They have another location out on 10600 South and 1100 West in South Jordan and plan on adding another 2 locations in the Salt Lake Valley soon.  Both locations offer sit down dining and take-out.  The Riverton location also offers a drive through window, so you can pick up your order without getting out the car.  A useful feature when you have three kids under 5 in the car.

Chinese food can be touchy, and at times downright scary.  You never know what their interpretation of the meal will be.  I've seen weird versions of Kung Pao.  I've seen menus where the only difference between Lemon Chicken and Sesame Chicken is the sesame seeds sprinkled on top.  I've had egg rolls where I've literally been able to squeeze oil out of them with my bare hands.  And I have had the 1:00 AM wake-up calls where I've spent the next hour or so playing Angry Birds on my phone in the bathroom because I'm afraid to leave. Chinese food nightmares can come from almost any Chinese restaurant.

Except China Chefs.

China Chefs portions are large.  Liz and I have tried a number of the options, Sesame Chicken, Kung Pao Beef, Chicken Lo Mein, Egg Fu Yung, Sweet and Sour Pork, etc., and we've yet to find something we don't like.  The egg rolls are crisp and delicious. When I get a winter cold, I buy a quart of their sure-fire remedy, the Hot and Sour Soup.

And since I'm a sucker for the heat, I have to mention the hot mustard.  Many of the other takeout Chinese places will just drop a couple ketchup-package-like containers of a paste that passes as hot mustard in the bottom of the bag.  They mix their own mustard at the restaurant, so it's nice and spicy.  Breathe wrong and the heat goes right to the sinuses, which is a very good thing. 

And the prices are pretty reasonable for the portion sizes.  As mentioned before, one individual dinner is enough for 2 meals.  The picture above is exactly how my General Tso's Chicken was packaged.  It's great the first day and microwaves extremely well.

So if you're in the south end of the valley and want some great Chinese food, stop by either locations and choose anything off the menu.  You won't be disappointed.

Egg Rolls and my Ex, *Name Redacted*

When I go out for Chinese food, I gotta say that I enjoy the appetizers almost if not more than the main courses.  I know part if it is because of the hot mustard that comes with everything.  Love to have that sinus-clearing heat.

But just as important is the taste and I really like to snack on as many of the egg rolls and fried shrimp that I can negotiate away from the people at the table. 

Now in an earlier life, it was much easier to do.  My ex-wife was not an adventurous eater.  I call her  "Swinbin", the vocalization for the abbreviation S.W.W.N.B.N, or She Who Will Not Be Named, and in this blog, she will be named thusly for both legal and personal reasons.  Anything out of the ordinary was frightening.  I'd perform my food experimentations during my college years and there were things she wouldn't even try.  We're not talking about sauteed squid or beef liver here.  We're talking very common fare.  And egg rolls were a scourge.  Therefore, I'd always have an extra egg roll or two whenever we ordered Chinese.  Guess she was good for something. 

Anyway, in an effort to develop an Asian menu at home, I've been formulating different egg roll recipes.  The wrappers themselves are great mediums for all types of food, like the Southwest versions of these nuggets of goodness.  They look like they could be daunting to the home chef, but actually, they're no more difficult than a burrito... or really a chimichanga, since there is frying involved.  You prep and cook the filling, wrap them up, and then deep fry them. 

And frying shouldn't be a challenge to regular readers of the blog, since we're fried everything from shrimp to fish to chicken.  These come out crispy and delicious and if you seal them correctly and allow them to rest on a cooling rack for a minute or two after cooking, they aren't oily at all.  Don't let these little appetizers scare you!

By the way, my current wife (definitely an upgrade over Swinbin) will eat a restaurant egg roll occasionally if they're not too oily.  When it comes to these, well, she'll gobble them up with no complaint at all.

Egg Rolls

Makes 5-8 large egg rolls

2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup chicken, shrimp, beef or pork, cut into very small pieces
1-2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons grated ginger
2 green onions (scallions), sliced very small
1/2 cup carrots, chopped into matchsticks
1/4 cup bean sprouts
2 cups cabbage, cut into very skinny strips
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce (Low sodium if you have it)
1 teaspoon sugar
Package of egg roll/wonton wrappers

Place 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok and crank it up to medium high heat.  Cook whatever protein you plan on adding in and set it aside for later.  Add another tablespoon of oil and heat it up again.  Add the ginger, garlic, scallions and carrots and stir-fry for about 3 minutes.

Pour the chicken broth, soy sauce and sugar into a small bowl and mix thoroughly.  Take the cabbage and bean sprouts and pour them on top of the items in the wok.  Pour the chicken broth mixture over the cabbage, watching out for steam.  Stir and continue to cook until the cabbage softens, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, add the meat, and allow to cool to the touch.

Begin assembling the egg rolls.  Place one wrapper on the counter in front of you so one corner is pointing right at you.  Scoop 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture into the center-front of the wrapper.  Fold the sides in first.  If you don't and you deep fry them, some of the oil will leak inside and make them greasy.  Next, roll them up until they're the customary shape.  Wet the edge of the wrapper and tamp it down, so you get another good seal.

There are two ways to cook them.  You can either place a few tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a pan, heat it to medium-high, and pan fry them until all sides are golden brown.  Or you can heat 2 inches worth of oil in a saucepan to 350 degrees, then deep fry them for 2-4 minutes until they are golden brown.  I'd recommend the deep fried version, since they cook more evenly and look better when done.

Serve them with sweet and sour sauce, hot mustard (my personal favorite), or this other little sauce that I whip up occasionally.  Combine 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce, 1 teaspoon hot mustard, 1 teaspoon cocktail sauce and 1 tablespoon Asian chili sauce or srirachi and mix until blended.

So make a batch of these today, and even though you may have to share them, revel in the fact that Swinbin is far, far, far away from you.

Lettuce Wraps and the problem with copycat recipes

I tasted lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang's a number of years ago.  A savory and spicy mixture of meat, mushrooms and a few vegetables that just danced on the tastebuds. 

 I was hooked.  It became my standard appetizer, even though you could almost make a meal out of it.  Especially if you were the only one munching on them. 

So, of course I had to try to make my own version at home.  Now before I start, let me state this is NOT, I repeat, NOT a copycat recipe P.F.Chang's.  I may get some inspiration from the food I try out in the world, but I can't claim that it'll be identical to their recipe.

Now I'm not a big fan of the copycat recipes that you see out there on the web.  A number of them state that the resulting food will be identical to, if not better than what's at the restaurant.  I've tried a few and let's just say there's something lost in the translation. 

Let me give you an example.  I wanted to see if I could make something similar to Panda Express's Beijing beef.  It's small slices of beef, flash fried in a tempura like batter, then coated in a light, slightly spicy citrus sauce. Here's what it looks like at Panda. Now I found a couple different recipes that swore they were perfect mimics of Panda's dish.  Well, I tried them out.  Here's a picture showing how it turned out.

Yeah, one of these things is not like the other. The color was wrong.  The consistency was completely off.   The recipe included a large portion of hoisin sauce, enough that the sauce was way too thick and it made the meal almost inedible.  I'm sure that the author may like the recipe, but when you look at each of the pictures and there's such a discrepancy, you shouldn't claim it's a copycat.

So anyway, this is not a copycat of P.F.Chang's, but it's extremely good.  The marinade seeps into every bit of the filling and the oyster sauce give the entire dish a great flavor.  And the dipping/pouring spice has just the right amount of heat for the everyday palatte.  You can trim down the hot mustard or srirachi if you want it even calmer.

Lettuce Wraps

Serves 4 as a meal or 8 as an appetizer


Marinade for Filling
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon srirachi hot sauce
2 green onions, sliced into small circles

Filling
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup minced shitake mushrooms (rehydrated if using dried)
8 oz water chestnuts, minced into small bits

Other Cooking ingredients
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons canola oil
8 large leaves of iceberg or bibb lettuce

Dipping or Pouring sauce
1/8 cup of HOT water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons regular or sweet rice vinegar
1 tablespoon srirachi or garlic chili paste (your choice)
1 1/2 teaspoons Chinese Hot Mustard or 1/2 teaspoon Chinese Hot Mustard Powder

Add all of the marinade ingredients into a gallon size ziploc bag and shake until the sugar dissolves.  Add the ground chicken, shitake mushrooms and water chestnuts, zip the bag closed, and squish the bag until the marinade is thoroughly mixed around.  The meat and veggies will absorb all of the liquid during it's minimum 2 hour soak (you can soak thisall day or overnight if you want)

When you're ready to prepare the meal, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the oils and when the pan is nice and hot, add the garlic and ginger.  Stir quickly for about 30 seconds.   Dump the marinated meat and veggies into the pan and cook until the meat is completely browned.  Separate the lettuce leaves from the head and rinse completely.  Shake off all of the liquid (or use a salad spiiner if you have one) and place them on the serving platter.  Add the meat to the platter when it's ready.

You may have time while you're waiting for the meat to brown to make the dipping sauce.  Add the water and brown sugar into a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Add all of the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Serve immediately.

Hot and Sour Soup

With every combination plate you order at a Chinese restaurant, you'll get a little cup of soup.  Egg Drop soup is always an option, that rather bland mixture of warm chicken broth with egg bits and maybe a vegetable oil.

But at the restaurants I like, they also give you the option of Hot and Sour Soup.  It's still a chicken broth, but with tofu, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and a number of other additives that flavor it nicely.  The best part is its heat!  It's not overpowering or sinus-destroying, but it's got that slight burn to it that tickles the taste buds.

This is one of my favorite meals when I have a cold.  When I can't breathe, I'll order a quart of this to go, add some extra chili garlic paste or some srirachi and consume as much as my stomach can handle.  Forget Sudafed, a spiced up bowl of this will blast out your sinuses and you'll be able to breathe for the first time in 24 hours.

You can make this delicacy at home as well.  This recipe will not be as gelled as some of the soups I've tried, just because when you add too much cornstarch to the mix, it can become almost gravy like.  I'm not a fan of a soup that solidifies like Jell-o when you refrigerate it.  Also, you can completely control the heat.  If you want just a little heat, go with just a tablespoon of the heat.  If you're like me, go 2 tablespoons, maybe even more.

Hot and Sour Soup

Makes 4-6 servings

1/4 cup dried wood ear mushrooms
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 pound ground or Chinese barbecued pork
1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1-2 tablespoon garlic and red chile paste (sambal oolek or srirachi if that's what you have)
2 cloves garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup sliced bamboo shoots
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar
4 14 ounce cans chicken broth
1 8 ounce square firm tofu
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 egg

Rehydrate the wood ear mushrooms by placing them in a bowl, covering them in boiling water and letting them sit for 30 minutes.  Then slice them into small strips and set them aside.

Remove your tofu from it's container, wrap in paper towels and then set on a cooling rack.  Place something flat and heavy on it (like a small cookie sheet/small skillet with a cans of soup on top, so it will push out the excess moisture.

In a large saute pan or stockpot, heat the oil.  Add the pork and heat until cooked through.  Add the ginger, chili paste, garlic, and bamboo and stir 1 minute.  Add the soy sauce, vinegar, and and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Cook for at least 10 minutes.

While waiting for the soup to simmer, unwrap your tofu and slice into bite-size pieces.  Add them to the soup and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch and water in a small cup until well blended, then add to the soup.  Stir for about 30 seconds to make sure it's distributed.

Scramble the egg in a small cup, slowly stir the soup to get it moving.  Then very slowly add the egg, it will give you that ribboning effect throughout the soup.

Cook for three minutes so the cornstarch thickens in slightly, then remove from the heat and serve.

So make a batch and either enjoy a nice flavorful option to egg drop soup... or a soup to help clear your sinuses.

Trips to the Asian Markets and This Month's Theme

So this month, we're going to try to make a few asian dishes.  Nothing too complicated, we'll be sticking to some common dishes from Chinese and Thai cultures.  And to do that, we're going to need some special ingredients.  Things like srirachi, hoisin sauce, black fungus, tofu, rice papers, etc.  Things you don't normally toss into your grocery cart on a regular basis.

Now most, if not all of them are available in your larger grocery stores.  With the growing popularity of ethnic cuisines, there are many more products carried in your everyday supermarket.  For example, the Harmons just a short drive from my home has a few shelves of Asian items and almost everything I need is there.  All the sauces, noodles and condiments are side by side.  And if you need other ingredients, like tofu and egg roll wrappers, items that are normally refrigerated, you can find them in the produce sections, usually near the mushrooms or bagged salads. And you can also find the dried woodear mushrooms over there too.

Finding the basic ingredients in the grocery stores may be easy, but you can find a greater variety of items and some really funky and great items at a local Asian market.  Yes, it's going to be a different.  But it's worth the trip at least once in your life.  You've got to expand your horizons, see what the rest of the world really eats.  Because I'll gurantee you, the authentic sweet and sour sauce they use in China is NOT radioactive neon pink.

Asian grocery stores usually have ingredients from all over the continent. Be it Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, or Vietnamese meals, you will find everything, and I mean EVERYTHING you need here. 

For some people, ethnic grocery stores can be a little frightening, but there's nothing to be scared of.  It's a grocery store just like any other.  It just has ingredients that you may have never seen before with labels in a language you may not understand.  No big deal.  And by entering this type of store, you open yourself to all sorts of culinary options. 

Still a little scared?  Well, let me help ease your mind...  First, almost every item will have some sort of english on it, so you will have an idea of what's in the package.  You won't be taking some mystery package home.  Can't find a recognizable characrter?  Well, since it's food, the USDA requires that it have the Nutrition Facts label somewhere on the packaging.  Most likely, a description of the food will be there. 

Second,most of the package while have some area that is see-through, so you can actually see what you're buying.  This comes in handy when you're selecting noodles, mushrooms, or meats.   And many of them, like these rice paper wraps will show how you can use them.  For example, these are perfect for spring rolls or thin wrapper egg rolls.

Third, in my experience, there are very nice people working there.  If you tell them what you need, they'll direct you tgo the item quickly and kindly.

Fourth, it's great to wander the aisles and just LOOK at what is on the shelves and consider for a moment what recipe would use it.  Yes, you may find a few things you may never even consider eating, but it's still pretty cool.  In this example, there are all sorts of different frozen meat.  There's squid, which we can use for a stir fry or quick batter fry.  But then there's the coby fish, octopus, sea urchins, and every type of sea-faring critter you could see in an IMAX 3D movie.

Fifth, usually they sell a lot more than groceries.  My store has an enitre section of woks, hundreds of different chopsticks (which would probably double as those hair sticks that some of the girls like), a whole wall of teapots, the entire set of sushi preparation tools and more serving and decorative ceramic bowls that you possibly use in your life. So you can buy the ingredients for the dinner and then purchase the serving pieces at the same time. 

Sixth, they have some great things in the frozen section.  I get a craving for potstickers every so often and I don't have the time to make them.  It's great to know that I can buy a bag of frozen dumplings here and cook them up in minutes at home.  And there's a number of dim sum options as well. 

Finally, you need to walk down the candy aisle.  There are all sorts of exotic sweets available in little bags, so you can sample something new for about a buck and a half.

Oh, and if you'd like some MSG in your food for that extra flavor... they have it... in large bags.  So if you have an Asian market anywhere close to you, stop by to pick up a few ingredients for this month's recipes and pick up something outside your normal menu.

Chicken, Steak or Shrimp Fajita Quesadilla

Taco Tuesday...

We have some sort of Mexican food almost every week.  It can be almost any combination of the classic Jim Gaffigan "Tortilla with meat, cheese and vegetables". And for some reason, it usually happens on a Tuesday.  Maybe I've heard the term "Taco Tuesday" so much that it's ingrained into my skull.  But no matter why my eating habits have developed this way, the giant pancake griddle emerges from the lower cabinets so we can grill up some fresh tortillas. Inevitably, we'll also make a pair of quesadillas for the boys.

So one day I was making some fajitas for Liz and I and thought to combine the fajita and the quesadilla into one.  And this was born.

You do have the option to marinade the meat for a good long time, as we do in the Fajita recipe I have posted before.  If you don't have time, then fall back to the Quick method as I outline below.  Either will give you the flavor, just one will allow it to seep deeper into the meat.  And feel free to combine different meats in whatever proportion you wish.  Chicken and steak for some variety, steak and shrimp for a bot of surf and turf, all of them turn out great!  You'll notice that I recommend cutting the chicken into strips and the steak into quarters.  This is so there is more surface area on the meat, therefore it will cook a little faster.  Also, more of the spices from the marinade will stick to more area of the meat.  Also, cooking the meat on the barbecue is recommended, but not necessary, especially on those cold rainy or snowy days.

Chicken, Steak or Shrimp Fajita Quesadillas

Makes 4 Quesadillas

Marinade
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 lime
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chipotle sauce (either bottled or from a can of chipotle peppers)
1 teaspoon hot sauce (Cholulu, Tapatio, Tobasco, or your favorite)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
*Spicy version, add one finely chopped jalapeno (include seeds if you really want to bring the heat) and 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper


Tortillas with Meat, Cheese and Vegetables
1 1/2 pound skinless boneless chicken breast cut into strips, sirloin steak cut into quarters, or shrimp (shells removed and deveined)
1 large onion sliced into half-moons
1 green pepper, sliced into small strips
1 red pepper, sliced into small strips
2 tablespoons oil
8 uncooked tortillas
3-4 cups grated mexican cheeses (or Colby Jack or cheddar if you don't have the Mexican blends around)

Combine all of the marinade ingredients into a large ziploc bag and squish it around with your hand until it is fully combined.  Add your protein of choice, squish it around again to coat the meat and seal the bag.  If you have the time for the long soak, place this bag in another bag to prevent any unwanted spills, seal it tight and leave it in the fridge from 4 hours to overnight.  If you don't have that much time, place the bag in the fridge for 15-30 minutes and then prepare the veggies.

Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the centers and seeds.  Slice your peppers and onions into quarters vertically so they are easier to handle, then slice them into long strips and set aside.  Slice your onion into small half moon shapes.  If you have access to a barbecue, it's preferable to cook the meat there, but if not, do the following...

Place 2 large saute pan or skillets over medium heat and add the oil to only one of them.  Once the oil has heated up, dump the onions and peppers into that saute pan, increase the heat slightly and stir occasionally for 12-15 minutes so the onions and peppers become soft and begin to caramelize.   Add the meat to the other skillet and cook until the chicken and shrimp are thoroughly cooked or the steak is cooked to Medium.  When both the meat and veggies are done, evacuate them to a cutting board.  Slice the chicken and steak into small bite-size pieces, remove the tails from the shrimp, and then place them in a bowl and set aside.

Heat your griddle to 350 degrees.  Place two tortillas on the griddle.  When they are done on one side, work quickly... flip one tortilla and sprinkle cheese to cover.  Add the meat and veggies on top of the cheese and add another layer of cheese on top.  Take the second tortilla and place it on top of the cheese, cooked side down.  After 1 1/2  to 2 minutes, flip the quesadilla to cook the other tortilla.  When both sides are cooked to your satisfaction, remove it to a plate and start working on the next one.  Repeat until they are all done.

Serve with a little Spanish Rice on the side and lots of salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

So do a little something different for your next Taco Tuesday, make a batch of Fajita Quesadillas instead!