Vegetable Chowmein

Vegetable chowmein is not as popular as Chicken chowmein from where I come from. But the reason I like to make it without any meat is that it gives me the flexibility to make a Chinese gravy dish which I can have with the noodles or with Vegetable Fried Rice.

I have two ways of making the chowmein: with Hoisin Sauce and Rice Vinegar or with Oyster Sauce - they both taste great. I usually choose based on what ingredients I have on hand.

For the vegetable medley I don't always have everything at hand so I use whatever I have. You can add and substitute your favorite vegetables and adjust their quantities to your liking. Just don't use soft veges like Tomatoes or Spinach because they have too much water content and the stir fry will become too mushy.

2 cloves garlic (chopped/minced/grated)
1 carrot (sliced)

1 green/red pepper (slivered)

1 crown brocolli (chopped)

1 med onion (cut into medium sized squares)

2-3 mushrooms

1/2 can baby corn

1 green chili or jalapeno (slivered)

 Splash a couple of tablespoons of Sesame Oil (use Canola if you don't have it, but try Sesame Oil whenever you can because it gives a nice nutty flavor to the dish) in a heated wok and sweat the garlic till light brown. Add the vegetables and fry for a few minutes, till the onions become somewhat transparent. 

For the sauce use EITHER of the following two sauces. I've never tried using both the sauces so if you do, let me know how it turns out!

Hoisin + Rice Vinegar Sauce:

Fill up half a cup of boiling water (125 ml) and add one chicken cube to it. (If you don't have an electric kettle for boiling the water and are too lazy to boil the water in a pot, just take half a cup of water, add the chicken cube and microwave for a minute). 

Add to the chicken broth, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tablespoon hoison sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons soya sauce, and 1 tsp corn starch. Mix well.

Oyster Sauce:

Fill up half a cup of boiling water (125 ml) and add one chicken cube to it. (If you don't have an electric kettle for boiling the water and are too lazy to boil the water in a pot, just take half a cup of water, add the chicken cube and microwave for a minute). 

Add to the chicken broth, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce, 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce, and 1 tsp corn starch. Mix well.

When the onions become somewhat transparent, add the sauce, stir, and cook on med-high heat till the sauce thickens up and the carrots are softened.

Add to the stir fry, half a pack of salted, boiled, and drained noodles. Mix and fry for a minute. Chowmein is ready. Garnish with parsely if you like.

Tip for handling noodles:

I always used to mess up the noodles by either using the wrong type of pasta, or by overcooking it. Finally I figured out a way to have the right consistency of the noodle. I use Farkey Chowmein Noodles but you can use any chinese chowmein noodles for good results. Moreover, I don't completely cook the noodles while they are boiling. I take them out just when they are 'almost' cooked.  Then, when I add the noodles to the stir fry, I mix them up well with the sauce and the vegetables and cook the mixture with the lid on at Low heat for 10 minutes. Sort of analogous to how one would give 'dam' (steam cook) to basmati rice.