RV Special Lo Mein: A Great Recipe for the Small Kitchen Cook

Even with a small kitchen area like most motor homes or travel trailers have it is easy to make pretty tasty Chinese meals. There are a few little tricks that make this recipe easy for small kitchens. Even a dorm resident with nothing more than an electric skillet and a mini fridge can make this dish.

If there is a secret to making good Chinese meals at home it is having everything ready before you start cooking. Prep time normally takes twice as long as cooking time. Only a small arsenal of basic Chinese spices and sauces is needed for authentic flavor. Soy sauce, ginger and oyster sauce are absolute musts in my opinion. Many consider oyster sauce optional but the flavor and aroma it adds just makes it look like you know what you are doing. Add some rice vinegar (white vinegar works too), pepper and salt then you are ready to wok and roll.

This version of Lo Mein is special because it is loaded with a tasty variety of meats and vegetables with less noodles per volume than most Lo Mein recipes.

Ingredients:

Beef, lean cheap cuts like round or chuck are perfect. About 6 ounce

Chicken breast about 6 ounces

Shrimp peeled and deveined about 6 ounces

Chinese vegetable mix about 10 to 14 ounces which can be all fresh, all frozen or a combination fresh and frozen. I normally cheat here a bit and use mainly frozen oriental vegetables but add some fresh snow peas and mushrooms to help hide the cheating. If you go all fresh, equal parts Broccoli (bite size), sliced mushrooms and snow peas with some diced onion, and water chestnuts is a good mix. Cooking fresh veggies is a little different than cooking the frozen plus some fresh. After the recipe there are some notes on stir frying the fresh vegetables.

Chicken or beef stock (broth can be substituted)

Soy sauce

Oyster Sauce

Canola or peanut oil

Ginger

Corn starch

Rice vinegar (optional kinda)

Brown sugar (optional too)

Pepper

Salt maybe

Prep:

Cook 8 ounces of Chinese noodles or Angel Hair pasta per package directions then put cooked noodles in colander, rinse with cool tap water then add a little Canola or peanut oil and fluff to prevent clumping. If you don't have burner space and a big stock pot to cook the pasta here are two tricks for the small kitchen.

1. Place your wok on high heat, add 1 quart water, a teaspoon each salt and oil then cover and bring to a boil. Then add pasta, cover and cook two minutes. With two forks or chop sticks separate the pasta to prevent clumping, recover and cook four minutes. Remove cover, separate the pasta again and check for doneness. Pasta should be soft but not mushy soft or al dente as the chefs would say. Note that if you have an audience the long cooking chop sticks make you look cool.

2. Use Ramen style noodles and nuke'em.

Thinly slice 6 ounces each beef and chicken breast and place in glasses to marinade. (Using glasses instead of bowls is a RV trick that allows you maximize the use of the limited counter space.)

Marinade: 2 tablespoons each soy and oyster sauce

½ teaspoon corn starch

dash of pepper

Put ½ the marinade in the chicken glass and the rest in the beef glass. To the beef glass add 1 tablespoon rice vinegar to help tenderize. If you don't have it, don't worry about it. Make sure the cornstarch is well blended and not clumpy. The easy way is to put the cornstarch in a small cup then add about the same amount soy sauce. Mix with your finger or spoon until smooth then stir in the rest of the soy sauce and oyster sauce.

Let the meats marinade about 25 minutes.

Sauce:

1 cup stock

1 tablespoon each soy and oyster sauce

1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon brown sugar (optional)

¾ teaspoons ground ginger or fresh grated ginger

About ¼ teaspoon ground pepper or to taste

As with the marinade start with the cornstarch first and an equal part liquid (soy sauce or stock), blend until smooth then add the remaining ingredients.

While this might read like it is a lot of prep work and clean up it is not bad at all. While the pasta is cooking slice the meats and prepare the marinade. Using frozen mixed vegetables saves time without compromising end product too much. Setting the frozen veggies out to thaw some helps to cut the cooking time a little. Using frozen peeled and deveined shrimp also saves time. Cleaning as you go saves time and helps avoid domestic strife.

Cooking:

Heat the wok on high heat. Once hot add about 2 tablespoons oil swirling the oil around to coat the sides of the wok. Squeeze most of the marinade out of the chicken. When the oil in the wok is hot to the point of smoking put the chicken strips in the wok. Give the chicken a quick stir and let cook about 2 minutes. Then stir and cook until done, about 3 more minutes. Remove the chicken to a work bowl or platter. Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok and stir fry the beef until it is lightly cooked about three to four minutes depending on how thick the slices are and remove to work bowl.

Next add another tablespoon oil and stir fry the mixed vegetables. Start with the fresh mushrooms and stir fry two minutes, add the snow peas and stir fry another minute or so until the peas take on a bright appearance, then add the frozen vegetables. Stir and turn the vegetables constantly for another 7 to 8 minutes until done but still nice and crispy. The moisture from the vegetables will deglaze the pan so when you remove the vegetables to the work bowl get as much of the tasty liquid out of the wok as you can. Cooking in this sequence you get classic stir fried chicken strips, beef strips that are more braised than stir fried making them more tender and vegetables seasoned with the wonderful combination of meat and marinade flavors left in the wok.

Clean the wok by bringing a half cup of water to a boil in the wok while using a spatula to make sure the sides are deglazed. Pour off the liquid and wipe the wok dry with paper towels.

Return the wok to the heat and once very hot add 2 tablespoons oil and quickly coat the sides of the wok with oil. Let the oil get hot to the point of smoking then add the shrimp. Stir and turn the shrimp steadily for about two minutes until opaque. Return all of the ingredients in the work bowl back to the wok and give a few quick stirs to mix it all together. Pull the contents up the side of the wok to make a well in the middle. Pour the sauce mixture in the well and stir until it thickens. Add the pasta to the well and coat with the sauce making sure the pasta is loose and not clumpy. Two forks or a pair of chop sticks work great to pull the pasta apart to get a nice uniform coating of sauce. Finally, mix and turn with the spatula until thoroughly blended. Plate, serve and enjoy! This make four large servings.

A couple of notes:

This dish can be made in a large skillet instead of a wok but I highly recommend you get a wok. The non-stick woks are fine but the old fashion steel wok will become your cooking buddy once you learn how versatile it is. Dorm bound students will be stuck with using an electric skillet if allowed. Round electric skillets with higher sides work best, but the square or rectangular ones will work in a pinch.

When using all fresh vegetables start with the broccoli and mushrooms stirring to coat with oil then add ¼ cup water, cover and cook/steam for three minutes. Add the diced onions and stir fry everything for three minutes. Add the remaining snow peas and water chestnuts and stir fry four to five minutes until the onions are translucent. Then continue as directed above.

No salt is included in this sauce recipe since the stock, soy and oyster sauces are quite savory. Before adding the noodles you can taste the sauce and add salt if desired.

Chicken stock is most commonly used in lo mein sauces. When beef is an ingredient, beef stock is my personal preference as it gives a slightly hardier flavor. For a lighter sauce flavor use chicken broth or use less stock using water to replace the missing volume.

If you prefer chow mein (crispy noodles) to lo mein (soft noodles) simply stir fry half the cool dry cooked noodles in two to three tablespoons oil until golden brown and crispy then remove to a separate paper towel lined working plate or bowl and repeat with the other half of the noodles. After crisping the noodles continue following the cooking directions as above.

Finally, cold lo mein ranks right up there with cold pizza as a late night munchie.