Chow mein was one of my favourite things to eat growing up. Sadly, most restaurants use egg noodles topped with meat or seafood so it’s been missing from my vegan menu. Until now! I finally found some accidentally vegan chow mein noodles & perfected the art of making the noodles soft on top with a crispy base. You can play around with the topping, basically any stir-fry of your choice, but the key to chow mien are those yummy crispy bits.
Ingredients (makes enough for 3-4 servings)
~Half a 454g packet of dried chow mein noodles
Vegetable oil for frying ~1/2cm depth
Toppings
2 cloves garlic finely minced
~2cm chunk of ginger julienned
~200g firm tofu sliced or cubed
Bunch of Asian greens of your choice, roughly chopped
~4 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced
A few tablespoons of thick soy sauce (if you can’t get hold of this can use regular soy sauce)
Few tablespoons of oil for frying
1. In a wok or fry pan full of boiling water, cook the dried chow mein noodles for a few minutes until just tender then drain and set aside
2. Over high heat, heat a few tablespoons of oil in the wok or large fry pan until it is almost smoking then throw in the garlic, ginger & mushrooms
3. Add the tofu, greens and sauce and stir fry for a few minutes until all ingredients are cooked through. Empty the toppings onto a plate and set aside covered to keep warm.
4. Over high heat, in a clean wok or fry pan (I just rinse and wipe the same one), heat more oil (you want it to be ~1/2cm deep) then throw in the cooked drained chow mein noodles. Do not toss or stir fry them. Instead, just leave them to fry in a large disc, occasionally lifting up the sides with a spatula to check. After ~5-10mins or when a crispy base forms, place the disc of fried noodles on a large plate with the toppings on top.
Deliciously Kind Kitchen 