Cantonese Seafood Chow Mein

CANTONESE CHOW MEIN

Steps:

• Immerse egg noodles into boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove and set aside.
• Heat your wok at high heat, keep it dry. Add 5 tbsp oil and coat the wok evenly with oil.
• Fry the noodles for about 2 minutes, and keep shaking it back and forth, until the noodles turn golden brown. Flip and repeat.
• The outer noodles should be golden, inner ones are soft. Remove noodles and arrange in center of a plate.
• Blanch the vegetables in boiling water (30 seconds). You can arrange the bok choy in a circle around the noodles if you like.
• Put some oil and fry minced garlic in the work, then add the blanched vegetables and stir fry. Add the meat ingredients, 1 tbsp water, cover the wok and steam for 1 - 2 minutes.
• Add the flavouring ingredients, the water with corn starch, and fry gently. Add a bit more water if you want more sauce.
• Pour the veggies and meat over the noodles.
• Note #1: Char xiu (Honey BBQ pork) is available in Chinatown or a good Chinese grocery store, as well as baby boy choy (also known as Shanghai bok choy).
• Note #2: Ideally you should use a large non-stick wok for frying noodles. Traditionally, Chinese people use a carbon steel wok, which is baked in the oven after purchase, and then rubbed with oil after washing each time to protect it. It turns black over time, and is pretty much non-stick. You could also use a non-stick pan, but non-stick coatings are poisonous and will accumulate in your body. Non-stick pans should generally be only used with medium or low heat. If you like them, get a professional grade non-stick pan for high heat cooking, it feels like ceramic.
• Note #3: I often add a dash of rice wine (sake) to the meat and vegetables. It just gives it a little extra flavour and isn't salty like most cooking wines.

CANTONESE CHICKEN CHOW MEIN

Steps:

• Whisk water, 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, cornstarch, sesame oil, and black pepper together in a bowl until marinade is smooth. Add chicken and marinate, about 15 minutes.
• Stir chicken broth, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar, and sugar together in a bowl until seasoning mixture is well combined.
• Heat 3 tablespoons canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir noodles until golden brown and crisp, about 1 minute. Transfer noodles to a platter.
• Pour the remaining 1 tablespoon into skillet with the oil; cook and stir chicken over high heat until no longer pink in the center, about 5 minutes. Add seasoning mixture, celery, carrot, bean sprouts, onion, and green onion; cook and stir until sauce thickens, about 30 seconds. Pour chicken mixture over noodles.

CANTONESE SEAFOOD CHOW MEIN

Steps:

• Pat fish dry cut fish into 2 x 1/2-inch slices. Toss fish, 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch, 1/4 teaspoon salt, the gingerroot and white pepper in medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Peel shrimp. Cut shrimp lengthwise into halves and wash out vein pat dry. Toss shrimp, garlic and white pepper. Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes.Soak mushrooms in hot water 20 minutes or until soft drain. Rinse in warm water drain. Squeeze out excess moisture. Remove and discard stems cut caps into thin strips. Cut green onions into 2-inch pieces shred lengthwise into fine strips. Cover with iced water let stand 10 minutes or until strips curl.Remove strings from pea pods cut pea pods diagonally into halves. Place pea pods in boiling water. Cover and cook 1 minute drain. Immediately rinse in cold water drain. Remove leaves from bok choy stems. Cut leaves into 2-inch pieces cut stems diagonally into 1/4-inch slices (do not combine leaves and stems). Mix oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water, the sugar and sesame oil.Heat 2 quarts water to boiling in Dutch oven stir in noodles. Heat to boiling reduce heat to medium. Cook uncovered 5 minutes or until done drain. Rinse in cold water drain well. (If using dry egg noodles, cook as directed on package.)Heat wok until very hot. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil tilt wok to coat side. Reduce heat to medium. Add noodles cook until light brown, using a fork to separate and flip noodles as they cook. (If noodles are not browning and appear to be dry, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil.) Remove noodles to heatproof platter keep warm in 300° oven.Heat wok until very hot. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil tilt wok to coat side. Add fish and shrimp stir-fry until fish turns white and shrimp are pink. Remove fish mixture from wok drain. Wash and thoroughly dry wok.Heat wok until very hot. Add 1 tablespoons vegetable oil tilt wok to coat side. Add mushrooms, bok choy stems, wine and 1/2 teaspoon salt stir-fry 1 minute. Add chicken broth heat to boiling. Cook uncovered 1 minute. Stir in bok choy leaves heat to boiling. Stir in cornstarch mixture, cook and stir until thickened. Add pea pods cook and stir 30 seconds. Add fish and shrimp cook and stir until fish is hot. Pour seafood mixture over noodles garnish with green onions.4 servings.From "Betty Crocker's New Chinese Cookbook." Text Copyright 2005 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SHRIMP CHOW MEIN

Steps:

• Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rapid boil. Cook noodles at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain, rinse, and set aside.
• Whisk together chicken stock, sherry, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, and pepper in a small bowl.
• Heat a large 12-inch cast iron skillet or wok over medium-high heat until hot. Add canola oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan; heat until it just begins to smoke. Add carrots, onion, celery, ginger, and garlic to hot oil and cook, stirring constantly, just until vegetables begin to soften, about 1 minute. Add shrimp and cook, stirring constantly, until almost done, about 2 minutes. Push vegetables and shrimp to one side of the pan and add chicken stock mixture; stir constantly until sauce is hot.
• Add noodles and stir well to mix with sauce and vegetables (using a metal spatula and chopping noodles slightly helps to mix this together.) Cook, stirring constantly, until the noodles have absorbed the sauce, about 2 minutes. Stir in bean sprouts and green onions and cook, stirring constantly, until just cooked, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baby spinach until just wilted. Serve immediately.