Chow Mein, the ubiquitous Chinese Takeout Dish

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The ubiquitous takeaway dish. We have a set of relatives in Sheffield who’ve been visiting annually for over 30 years and as my mum in law doesn’t cook, all the meals are either out or takeaways. Without fail, it’s Chicken Chow Mein and if the restaurants haven’t closed down over the years, I’m sure they would still be ordering from the same people!

Chow Mein

I haven’t specified what type of chow mein because I’ll let you decide if you want to make a chicken, beef, prawn or vegetarian chow mein. Cut the meat into tiny bitesize pieces for speedy cooking.

I like to add all the sauces together just like for a Pad Thai sauce, adding everything at once, reducing the chance of the noodles overcooking as you’re getting all the ingredients.

The noodles we use here are the fresh or dried yellow egg noodles that you should be able to find at the very least, in a Chinese grocer. We are so lucky here in the UK with how cosmopolitan many of our supermarkets are; you can get such exotic ingredients as galangal and kaffir lime leaves. That wasn’t possible when I first got here in the 1990s.

If you’d like to learn more about types of noodles, head on over to the Noodles Page.

And more Chinese recipes on the Chinese Page!

Now, shall we get our aprons on?

If you like the recipe and article, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!

And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor.

Lin xx

Chow Mein

Chow Mein, the ubiquitous takeaway dish, quickly and easily made at home and so versatile in what you add in. Make it vegetarian chow mein just as easily.
5 from 17 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: noodles
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 438kcal
Author: Azlin Bloor

Ingredients

  • 400 g fresh egg/yellow noodles if you’re using dry, follow packet instructions to get it ready to use
  • 2 handfuls of your choice of meat/vegetables mushrooms, tofu, chestnuts, bamboo shoots
  • 4 cloves garlic crushed or pounded
  • Small handful chinese cabbage shredded thinly
  • Small handful carrots julienned or grated on large
  • beansprouts
  • 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
  • 2 Tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
  • ½ Tbsp chinese rice wine or dry sherry
  • 3 stalks spring onions scallions, cut diagonally
  • 1 Tbsp cooking oil

Instructions

  • In a small bowl or cup, add the soy sauces, oyster sauce and wine and mix well. Set aside.
  • Heat the oil in a large wok on medium high heat. Add the garlic and fry for 20 seconds.
  • Add your chosen meat and cook until it’s almost done, about 3-5 minutes, depending on size of the meat.
  • Add the vegetables and stir it all up.
  • Add the noodles, quick stir and drizzle the sauce mix all over.
  • Mix it all thoroughly until the noodles are cooked, just a couple of minutes, if that.
  • Add the spring onions, a final mix and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 438kcal | Carbohydrates: 75g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 1023mg | Potassium: 316mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 152IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 2mg
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3 thoughts on “Chow Mein, the ubiquitous Chinese Takeout Dish”

  1. Azlin, your blog has so much interesting and new stuff for me… I think I’ll be visiting very frequently. You have got me craving for this chow mein real bad, this will be dinner tonight 🙂

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