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Healthy Chicken Chow Mein Recipe (Whole Wheat Spaghetti) 鸡丝炒意大利面

Saturday, May 21, 2011 | Labels: , , , |

If you think of chicken chow mein, healthy is probably not one of the first words you will use to describe this rather infamous 'Chinese' dish.  I have to admit though that when I first started living in California, curiousity got the better of me and I actually bought chow mein from, of all places - Panda Express.  Needless to say, I was not impressed, nevertheless I thought it could be a delicious dish with some tweaks and that was that at the time.  Now, a few years later while looking around for easy recipes to use up the one remaining boneless chicken thigh I had, I found Ken Hom's chicken chow mein and I thought it would be a good idea to replace the usual Chinese egg noodles with some healthier whole wheat spaghetti.  The results were very delicious and also almost guilt-free plus easy although do note that cooking this in a Chinese wok is almost vital since this dish really tastes so much better with 'wok breath'.

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The chicken cubes are marinated in some soy sauce, Chinese rice wine and sesame oil.  You can use any vegetables of your choice, like spinach, carrots (which I used), beansprouts as your accompaniment.  You can also make this dish vegetarian by simply skipping the chicken and if you do that, I would recommend for you to add in some fresh or dried shitake mushrooms for more texture.  All in all, a perfect weeknight one-dish meal and a healthier alternative to 'regular' chow mein!

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This recipe is part of my series of Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.


Recipe lightly adapted from BBC Food  (Ken Hom's Chow Mein)

Ingredients:

Half a box of whole wheat spaghetti (or substitute with other noodles if you wish)
1 boneless chicken thigh, cubed
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, roughly minced
3 stalks green onions, sliced
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsbp Shaoxing Rice Wine
White pepper
1/4 tsp sugar

Light soy sauce from Yuen Chun
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Marinade for the chicken:

1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash of white pepper


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Method:

Firstly, marinade the chicken with the above ingredients.  Set aside and allow to marinade as you prepare the other ingredients.

Boil the pasta in some lightly salted water until al-dente.  Remove and drain well.  Toss with half of the sesame oil.  Set aside.

Heat wok till almost smoking hot.  Add about 1 tsbp of cooking oil and add in the marinated chicken.  Stir fry around for about 1 minute until almost but not quite cooked.  Remove from wok and set aside.

Clean the wok.  Again with the same wok, heat until almost smoking.  Add another 1 tbsp of cooking oil and add garlic and carrots. Turn heat to medium. Stir-fry around until you can smell the aroma of garlic.  Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Turn heat high again and quickly add the noodles and green onions into the wok.  Add in the soy sauce, rice wine, pepper and sugar.  Stir around until well mixed.  The trick is to add the sauces around the sides of the wok so that the condiments will trickle in and allow for easier mixing in the noodles.

Add back in the chicken earlier and stir fry together with the noodles until well mixed and completely cooked.  Add in the rest of the sesame oil, give the noodles a good toss to incorporate well and dish out onto a serving platter.

Serve with extra soy sauce at the table.

Featured on Foodbuzz's Daily Top 9 on May 22, 2011

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29 comments:

Cooking Gallery said...

I love the idea of using spaghetti noodles to make Asian dishes, especially the whole wheat ones. This Chow mien looks gorgeous and delicious!

Nami said...

Hi Jen!  I love Chinese noodles just like this!  I have tried making noodles like this, but I just can't make it like a Chinese restaurant.  I use a wok and gas stove  (thank god, we installed gas one as the heat control is nicer than electric one)...but I think Japanese soy sauce and Chinese one is different....right?  Are you familiar if light soy sauce is similar to Japanese soy sauce?  I have dark soy sauce at home but that's very different from Japanese one.  I really want to make a good chow mein but it just doesn't taste like Chinese dish! >_<  Yours look lovey and I got definitely motivated to try cooking again now.

Three-Cookies said...

Delicious, now I want some, I haven't eaten this in a long while. Where I come from the chow mein is different, it almost always has bok choy, carrots, green peas and white onion. Noodles are simply boiled instead of stir fried. The wok hei in your version would have a great difference

Jara said...

I've been looking for an easy delicious noodle recipe to learn. I've been craving noodles lately but couldn't quite pinpoint what I wanted exactly. After seeing the yummy bowls of noodles in your photos, I'm definitely going to give this a try. 

Cooking Gallery said...

I love the idea of using spaghetti noodles to make Asian dishes, especially the whole wheat ones. This Chow mien looks gorgeous and delicious!

Smallkucing said...

Yumm...very healthy. Got meat and carrot

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

thanks CG! :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Hi Nami, yes light soy sauce is def more similar to shoyu than dark soy sauce...I only use Japanese soy sauce when cooking Japanese cuisine and Chinese soy for Chinese dishes :) I'm sure your gas stove will help a lot..for the wok breath! hehe

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Yes this is, you can add whatever veg you prefer, hmm but that's interesting that the noodles you're used to are only boiled so that is more lo mein instead of chow mein?

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

thanks Jara! Hope you like this and it is very easy :)

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

thanks!

pigpigscorner said...

Simple and delicious! You are right, "wok breath" is pretty important! 

Cheah said...

I've yet to cook my spaghetti Chinese style ..... totally forgotten about it.  Your chow mein is a reminder...... slurp! 

carolynjung said...

Looks much tastier and much healthier than the greasy version at the local take-out Chinese joint. Can't wait to try stirring up a batch in my wok.

Martha (MM) said...

Simple yet perfect meal!

Nami said...

 Congrats on Top 9 Jen!  :-)

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Yeah! Glad I have gas stoves now

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

I'm glad I reminded you :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks Carolyn!

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

yes really very easy :)

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks Nami! Thanks for informing me too hehe

noobcook said...

your chow mien looks healthy and flavourful :)

Kristy said...

I love having this with some chili api or pickled green chili! ha...  Simply yummy. Hope you're enjoyin your weekend.
Cheers, Kristy

Charissa said...

Healthy Chinese! Yes, yes, yes! My one big weakness has become healthy! Yay!!

Authenticsuburbangourmet said...

Love chow mein and yours looks just perfect.  Congrats on the Top 9 today! 

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

thanks!! :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

green chilli? I'll try that..what is chilli api ?

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

haha, funny! A lot of Chinese dishes are actually quite healthy but obviously not those sold at take-outs :P

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks very much! :)

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