Shrimp Chow Mein
The words “chow mein” has multiple meanings across the world. Chow mein can be found in Australian, Brazilian, Canadian, Caribbean, Indian, Mexican, Nepalese, Peruvian, and obviously the U.S. cuisines with Chinese influences. If you live in Minnesota, chow mein to us means a celery gravy with ground pork served over steamed rice with crispy fried noodles. It couldn’t be farther from what real chow mein is.Chow mein means stir fried noodles in Cantonese, a southern Chinese dialect. Traditionally, Chinese egg noodles are stir fried with an assortment of vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu, tossed with a light soy based sauce. In Minnesota, we call this lo mein (but in actuality, this is closer to real chow mein). Regardless of what your interpretation of chow mein is, this recipe is extremely easy to prepare and takes only 10 minutes to cook. It’s fairly healthy as well. The nice thing about this recipe is that the vegetables and protein are interchangeable. It’s ultimately about the noodle, anyways.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
Stir Fry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp ginger minced
- 1 large carrot julienned
- 20 16/20 ct shrimp peeled and deveined
- 8 oz dried Chinese egg noodles prepared according to directions
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 6 green onion chopped
- 2 cups spinach stems removed
Instructions
- Mix all of the sauce ingredients together. Set aside.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan or wok over high heat until the oil is almost smoking. Sauté the ginger and carrots for a minute.
- Add in the shrimp. Cook for a minute a side.
- Add in the sauce. Coat the shrimp in it. Then add in the noodles. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add in the bean sprouts and green onions. Cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add in the spinach. Cook for 2-3 minutes until it is wilted.
