Chow Mein Noodles

Chow Mein Noodles

These Chow Mein Noodles (or yakisoba as my husband likes to call them) are quick and easy to make, and super delicious, just like your favorite take-out place, only so much better tasting and better for you. I also like these Chow Mein Noodles because they are easy to customize: add last night’s leftover tofu or chicken. Have some shredded carrots on the fridge? Toss them in. Want fewer onions? Okay! Want some broccoli? Go for you! You get it!

And really quick to make!

I’ve been craving noodles lately. Big plates of tangles of noodles. If I see a photo of someone eating oodles of noodles, I just know that’s what I want for dinner.

Tangent: I believe that our bodies really do know what they need as far as protein, vitamins, minerals, whatever. If we could learn to listen to our bodies they would tell us if they need something. So, there’s part of me that’s wondering what the noodles are giving me that my body needs. What am I lacking? Carbs? Maybe, but I suspect that it’s something more than that. Maybe the noodles will help my injured leg heal? (Yes, the ongoing drama of my leg! But, I got the MRI results back, and it’s just a strain! Yippie, nothing major, and some physical therapy should fix me back up soon, I hope.) Who knows. Maybe I just want comfort food. Tasty yummy comforting big ol’ bowl of noodles.

Back to the food:

Anyway, I digress. That’s where this Chow Mein Noodle dish comes in. I love this dish. It’s super easy and really quite yummy! If you want, toss a little protein of some kind in: tofu would be lovely, shrimp, fried egg, chicken, beef, whatever you like.

Asian noodles may be found already cooked in the refrigerated (often in the produce) section or dried in the Asian section of most stores. Either cooked or dried will work.

If you buy a cooked package that comes with a seasoning packet, just discard the packet. If you can’t find Asian noodles, thin spaghetti noodles will work. Heck, even fettuccine noodles will work if you can’t find anything else. I like the Asian noodles because they have a finer texture, they cook up faster, and they tend to soak up the sauce perfectly. (Many of the Asian noodles are gluten-free as well.)

Note on Garlic:

If you’ve been paying attention to my recipes lately, you may have noticed that I haven’t been using fresh garlic. Instead, I’ve been using dried garlic powder. Now, why would a healthy cook that generally doesn’t use processed food be using dried garlic? After much testing, we have figured out that the husband tends to get heartburn from fresh garlic. He used to lay awake at night with heartburn. He even tried doing some research into what may be the cause. And, nowhere in his research did he see anything indicating garlic.

But, we paid attention to when it hit him, and after eliminating garlic from everything, his heartburn went away! Gradually, I started adding in the powdered garlic to see if that would bother him as well.

And, happily, I can say that the dried garlic doesn’t bother him at all! The flavor of the powdered garlic in the food is great. So, when I’m converting a recipe, I generally figure 1/4 teaspoon dried powdered garlic for 1 clove fresh garlic; use more of less to your taste. This totally works for us.

Chow Mein Noodles Recipe:

Print

Chow Mein Noodles

Servings 4

Author Debi

Ingredients

• ¼ cup lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon dried ground ginger
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil or light tasting oil of your choice
• 10 ounces Lo Mein Yakisoba, or thin spaghetti noodles
• 2/3 cup celery thinly sliced
• ½ medium onion thinly sliced
• 2 cups heaping green cabbage, thinly sliced
• ½ cup frozen green peas thawed
• 3 green onions sliced

Instructions

1. In a small bowl combine soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and black pepper; set aside.
2. If dried, cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain. If the noodles are already cooked, remove them from the packaging, and discard any included flavoring packets. Rinse noodles, drain, and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add celery and onion and sauté until onions become soft and transparent, about 5-7 minutes. Add cabbage and sauté another few minutes until cabbage is soft. Add noodles, soy sauce mixture, green peas, and green onions, and heat for an additional 2-3 minutes or until noodles are heated through. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Eat Cake for Dinner