Chow Mein with Velveted Chicken

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powerplantop

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Chow Mein by James, on Flickr

Slice up an 8oz chicken breast.
To the sliced chicken add 1 Tablespoon egg white, 1 teaspoon rice wine, 1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil, pinch of salt and mix well. Now add 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch and mix until no white spots are left. Cover and place into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This gives time to prep the veggies.

Juliane about 1/4 cup carrots.
Slice 1/4 of a large onion
Slice up half of a bell pepper, color is up to you!
Split and cut up 2 green onion.
Roughly chop 1 Tablespoon Ginger and 1 Tablespoon Garlic.
I used 4 baby bok choy but any thing from the cabbage family will work. Just roughly chop it up, it will shrink during cooking.
Chow Mein must have mushrooms, locally I was not able to find shiitakes so 2 crimini mushrooms it was.

Time to make the sauce: 1/4 cup stock, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon roasted sesame oil, 1/4 teaspoon dark soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce mix and set aside until ready to use.

Add the chicken to simmering water and cook for 40 seconds. Strain and set aside.

To the same water add 8oz of fresh egg noodles, stir and cook for 10 to 15 seconds.
Rinse in cold water, drain and add 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and mix. The sesame oil helps to keep them from sticking together.

Now that all of the prep is done and everything is within arms reach it is time to stir fry. Heat your wok and add one to two Tablespoons of oil. When the oil starts to get hot add the ginger, garlic and green onion. This will season the oil.

When the oil is hot add your carrots, bell pepper and mushrooms.

About 1 minute later add 1 cup of bean sprouts.

30 seconds later add the bok choy.

After the bok choy is mixed in add the sauce.

About 1 minute later after the sauce comes to a boil return the chicken.

30 seconds or so later add the noodles. Mix it all up and let the noodles soak up the sauce. This should take about 2 minutes. Plate and serve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr5ObX-EbF8
 
James I'm a new fan of Chinese water velveting!! What a wonderful difference it makes, and you demonstrated how simple it really is! Great video and I love that cool knife!
 
James I'm a new fan of Chinese water velveting!! What a wonderful difference it makes, and you demonstrated how simple it really is! Great video and I love that cool knife!

It does make a huge difference. A lot of times I do not do it, just marinade in corn starch and stir fry which is good but not like true velveting.

It is a great knife razor sharp right out of the box and it holds an edge quite well.
 
WOW, I could almost taste that wonderful looking and sounding meal through the computer screen! Thanks so much for sharing, James - will definitely add that to my 'must make' list. :yum:
 
WOW, I could almost taste that wonderful looking and sounding meal through the computer screen! Thanks so much for sharing, James - will definitely add that to my 'must make' list. :yum:

Your welcome! Please let me know what you think after you make it.
 
Looks great. But with soft noodles, wouldn't that be Lo Mein rather than Chow Mein? If served without any noodles, it would be Chop Suey. Is that correct? That's how I always heard it stated, and by a coupe of Chinese restaurant owners/chefs that I know.

Other than that, the video is perfect. The velveted chicken can either be water or oil poached with the same tender result. But the water method is less oily of course. Do too much chicken in the water though, and it gets pretty starchy.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Looks great. But with soft noodles, wouldn't that be Lo Mein rather than Chow Mein? If served without any noodles, it would be Chop Suey. Is that correct? That's how I always heard it stated, and by a coupe of Chinese restaurant owners/chefs that I know.

Other than that, the video is perfect. The velveted chicken can either be water or oil poached with the same tender result. But the water method is less oily of course. Do too much chicken in the water though, and it gets pretty starchy.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Best explanation I have found is here: chinese cuisine - What is the real difference in lo mein, chow mein, mei fun, and chop suey? - Seasoned Advice
 
That looks fantastic. I loved vesta chow main. Now if we could only get those crispy noodles to top it ¬:)
 

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