I love Asian cooking! I love to eat it and I love to prepare it. Sometimes, though, the prep can take some time in the kitchen. All that slicing! This dish hits, though, and without all the prep labor. Just 7 simple ingredients and you’re enjoying Panda Express’ Chow Mein on your couch with Netflix.
When it comes to Chow Mein, it is all about the noodle. I use a Pancit Canton noodle, which are also (often) called Hong Kong fried noodle. The Pancit Canton noodles are an egg noodle that has been fried and packaged and they have a firm, meaty texture. I purchase mine at my Asian market, but you can also get them on my Amazon Storefront, if you don’t have a good Asian market near you.
Boil the 8 oz. package in 4 quarts of UNSALTED water, because there is a considerable amount of sodium in the noodles and the Chow Mein sauce. And because they are already fried, you only want to boil them from about 1 minute. This would be the Italian version of “al dente”.
And make sure not to overcook the cabbage, celery and onion. You want the vegetables to remain quite crisp, for that awesome crunchy texture.
I find the easiest way to stir fry this noodle dish is with my Breville Wok. If you do not have a wok, then use a very large sauté pan with deep sides so that you can really toss those veggies and noodles in the sauce for an even coating.
And while this particular recipe is vegetarian, it doesn’t need to be! Feel free to add pulled and roasted chicken or sear some sliced flank steak before tossing in the veggies and noodles and, YUM!
Check out some other great Asian Inspired Recipes, like P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef or Pei Wei’s Thai Blazing Noodles and Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. package of Pancit Canton Noodles
- 2 cups green cabbage, sliced very thinly
- ¾ cup celery, sliced on a bias 1/8” thin
- 1 ½ cups white onion, sliced 1/8” thin
- 2 TBL premium soy sauce
- 1 TBL oyster sauce
- 1 TBL water
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 TBL canola or vegetable oil
Instructions
In a small mixing bowl, mix soy sauce, oyster sauce and water. Set aside.
Slice cabbage, celery and onion and set aside.
In 4 quarts of unsalted water, bowl the Canton noodles until just soft (al dente texture). About 1 minute. Drain and set aside.
In your wok (or large sauté pan with deep sides), on the highest heat setting, add the sesame and canola oil. Once oil becomes very hot, add the onion and celery, and stir fry for 30 seconds. You don’t want to overcook; the vegetable should remain crisp.
Add the drained Canton noodle, sliced cabbage and Chow Mein sauce. Toss all ingredients in the wok until the noodles and vegetable are well coated in the Chow Mein Sauce and the vegetables are slightly softened, but still crisp.
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
