I love lo mein.
It is carb-rich.
It is yummy.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
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| This is a mix of boneless chicken, cut up and stir-fried, a half-bag of broccoli slaw, broccoli florets (small), water chestnuts, garlic and salt, with my home-made chicken/beef sauce poured over all. Below you'll find it tossed with al dente Angel hair pasta. |
But I want to make my own for a few reasons:
It's cheaper.
It's fresher.
My chicken won't be coated with soggy stuff.
Nor will my shrimp.
Veggies are fresh, fresh, fresh.
It's quick (once you get the hang of it)
It's delicious.
And there's not a lot of clean up if you make someone else do it!!!!
Do you make lo mein? Do you like Ramen noodles or angel hair? Or linguine or BIG TUBE spaghetti?
The secret is in the sauce, and we could not find oyster sauce the past two days.
Hmmm.... Gotta figure that one out, and I'm open to ideas.
Lo Mein Lovers, Unite! We shall overcome! Feel free to share any lo mein ideas you've got...
We'll come up with this yet!
Oops, I scheduled this so carefully... Doh! And left the time on 10:44 PM. I'm glad I came over and checked early.
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm setting up the coffee bar while Missy sleeps in. I'll be glad to make you any ol' kind of brew that suits today. You're the customer. I'm your willing servant!
Ruthy, what a great idea! I've made Thai noodles (rice noodles) before--pad thai. I think that recipe calls for fish sauce, so you may want to look for that at your store. It's pretty common around here. And I think you can also just use a little corn starch/water mix to thicken it. I believe I've seen that done on a cooking show.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to try this. I always keep broccoli slaw and florets on hand. And of course, I keep pasta on hand. We eat noodles several times a week! Just had them yesterday for lunch, Tuesday for dinner and Monday for dinner. Goodness, no wonder I can't seem to do low carb!
Oh, Missy, laughing here! Let them eat the pasta, you eat the meat and veggies... I still make carbs, I just don't eat them all the time. And I just saw your deadline ideas for today (since it is the next day, LOL) and that well-stocked freezer is a great idea. If you have something healthy to grab, you're not so tempted into the bag of peanut M&M's I found when cleaning my bedroom last week... Oy, I didn't even care WHEN THEY WERE BOUGHT... they were sealed and tasted way too good. We are so predictable, aren't we???? We found oyster sauce at Super Walmart, so we can try the Lo Mein idea again this week. And I thickened my sauce with a little cornstarch/water mix... so it tasted good, but not great and it didn't 'cling' the way real Chinese sauce does. We'll see if this helps.
DeleteRuthy - the oyster sauce did help with the "cling" aspect!
DeleteMan, there's no end to what you can do with that broccoli slaw, is there? I can modify this with tofu and come up with a sweet stir-fry I think. I've never added noodles, but I'll be brave and give it a whirl. Making a grocery list as we speak!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, that broccoli slaw is a great invention! And I discovered this idea by mistake, Ruthy-in-a-hurry-while-shopping... Because instead of regular broccoli slaw, I bought a Lo Mein "KIT" with broccoli slaw as the base. And that's when the ideas started churning. They had a packet of Teriyaki sauce inside. I don't want my Lo Mein with Teriyaki, I want it chicken/fishy... so that's when I chucked their sauce, stole their idea and had some fun! And the noodles... I like thick noodles, Beth and Dave like thin so I used Angel Hair but stood and STARED AT IT so I wouldn't overcook the skinny little darlings. Skinny things intimidate me, even noodles... So cook it al dente whatever size you use. And this is really tasty re-heated and there are few things I like when re-heated. Does that make me sound fussy???? Shh... Don't tell.
DeleteHmmm, I have broccoli languishing in the fridge, along with some cabbage slaw.... I think we have tonight's supper!
ReplyDeleteI've only made lo mein with whole wheat spaghetti noodles, but it really didn't turn out well. I'll try the angel hair tonight - I already know the tribe loves angel hair.
Yeah, the tribe. With our two oldest children living at home again, I'm now cooking for six. Bring on those carbs!
Oh, amen to filling a tribe with carbs, LOL! And the whole wheat might have been a little strong, but if the sauce is strong, then it might not matter so much. But I like it with Durham wheat pasta. And I'm a Barilla pasta lover, so my cupboard is stocked every time they put it on sale.
DeleteMmm.... pasta.... ;)
I'd say the closest to lo mein noodles would be linguine. I always keep them on hand for times I want something "meatier" than my usual angel hair (for speed of cooking!). :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, Lo Mein is tonight's dish.
ReplyDeleteI bought oyster sauce.
My dear husband HATES seafood (I remembered AFTER I got home from Wally World).
So it'll be a garnish for those of us who do like seafood...
And I got thin spaghetti noodles to use instead of angel hair.
Update at 11. (or maybe 10 or so...)
Pretty darn good, even if one of my family did call it "Chinese Spaghetti" :)
DeleteJan, that's awesome! Hey, I didn't give details, you didn't just use the oyster sauce, did you? Because I think the online recipe I was tweaking called for like a tablespoon... Tell me how you made it and what you'd do different!!!!
DeleteHey Ruthy!
DeleteI combined a couple recipes I found on-line, and I was pretty happy with the results.
Here's the way I'd make it next time:
Veggies (total of 6 cups):
shredded cabbage
chopped broccoli
thin sliced carrots
thin sliced zucchini
sliced onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
sliced mushrooms
Meat:
1 1/2 lb. chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
Sauce:
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups beef broth
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Noodles:
about 6 oz. thin spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Cook the meat, remove from the pan. Steam the broccoli until crisp-cooked, then add to the pan. Stir and cook in a small amount of oil. Once the broccoli is almost done, add the other veggies and continue cooking for a couple minutes. Add sauce and cook until thickened. Add meat back in and stir.
Meanwhile, prepare noodles. Add drained noodles to meat/veggie mixture and stir.
I always serve dishes like this with a bottle of soy sauce on the table so people can add as they like.
This amount of meat/veggies/noodles made enough for 6. We also had fruit with the meal.
BTW - the oyster sauce wasn't "fishy". I'll try adding it in with the other ingredients next time - and have an alternative in case my dear husband hates it :)
DeleteLOL, Jan! Glad it turned out. :)
ReplyDelete