Jury-rigged Lo Mein noodles, with a nod of appreciation toward Jet Tila

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marilynfl

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I picked up "101 Asian dishes you need to cook before you die" by Jet Tila and was reviewing the entries. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the images, but when I hit Lo Mein, I came to a halt.

Back in the 80s we lived in ABQ and a Chinese restaurant there made the best Lo Mein I've ever eaten. When we moved away, I tried lo mein so many times that I finally gave up in frustration. Even NYC restaurants couldn't satisfy my craving, a desire which lay dormant for over 30 years.

I decided to give his recipe a chance, even if it didn't quite look like the one I remembered. Jet's recipe called for half a pound of chicken and bok choy and not much else besides aromatics. His sauce, while it had interesting ingredients, didn't sound like it would hit the notes I remembered.

Enter Mister Jury Rig.

I had saved chicken breast from a rotisserie chicken for this test run, but over the course of two other meals, had eaten most of it. There was only 2 ounces left and so vegetables stepped up to the plate to take the lead. The only bok choy at Publix was a sorry looking thing and was ix-nayed from the job. From my produce drawer I pulled out organic carrots, celery, onion, fennel, portabella mushrooms, green onions, ginger, garlic, and jalapeño. A broccoli head, which was to substitute for the bok choy, had oxidized, so it was ix-nayed as well.

Executive decision: we were going mono-chromatic on this one.

After chopping, slicing, dicing and mincing all of the above and sautéed in phases with peanut oil, I mixed up Jet's sauce. Then I tasted the sauce. Then I started adding stuff to the sauce. First I noticed it wasn't dark and the one in ABQ was dark brown, so I dribbled a bit of Gravy Master in it. GM is simply caramelized sugar and I didn't think it would affect the taste. Then I wanted spicy, so in went harissa paste. The Clever Reader will note that I totally forgot about the jalapeño. Then I tasted it again and realized it wasn't bright. I don't know how to correlate the word "bright" with my taste buds, but this needed something so I added Shao Hsing rice wine. Meh...better, but still. Then I squeezed in a bit of lime juice. Shrug...in went a squeeze of lemon juice. Ah, I was getting closer, but it wasn't until the I added vinegar that it hit the mark.

Noodles: Jet called for fresh noodles, but I'm stuck up here in the Smoky Mountains surrounded by survivalists, so I pulled out the box of Simply Asia Chinese Style Lo Mein dry noodles that has been sitting in the pantry for an embarrassingly long time. I just checked the box and they expired Sept 2019. Oh well. They worked perfectly and I'm still alive to write this.

Aromatics: Ginger root, garlic and jalapeño. Just as God intended.

The final adjustment was to the sauce. Again. Reading over his recipe I realized there was no cornstarch and I distinctly remember the ABQ version having a sauce that stuck to the noodles. I didn't know back then about the cornstarch trick, but I'm old enough now to have spider veins and wise enough to know that corn starch will thicken a sauce to a thin coating consistency. I stirred some up with chicken broth and set it to the side.

When it all came together, I stuck a fork in the pot and spun a twirl of happiness, coated with vegetables. Ah.

Remembrance of things past. Monsieur Proust can keep his madeleines. I'll stick with Lo Mein.

https://recipeswap.org/fun/wp-content/uploads/swap-photos/lo-mein.jpg

 
Recipe: Lo Mein noodles with vegetables and a bit of chicken

The recipe below is what I ended up with; an * is next to everything that I added.
Apologies to Mr. Tila for manhandling his recipe.

Sauce:
3 TBL Oyster Sauce
1/4 C chicken broth (home made)
1 TBL soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp harissa paste *
1 tsp Shao Hsing rice wine *
squeeze of lime juice *
squeeze of lemon juice *
1 tsp white vinegar *
1/2 tsp Gravy Master *

2 tsp cornstarch *
1 TBL chicken broth *

Vegetables
1 mutant organic carrot, sliced into thin coins on Berniner Japanese slicer, then chopped coarsely *
2 stalks celery, sliced *
1 wedge from fennel bulb, sliced *
1/4 large Spanish onion, sliced *
3 oz portabella mushrooms, sliced *
3 green onions
peanut oil
(Jet use 4 oz baby bok choy, bottoms removed)

2 oz cooked chicken breast *(Jet used 1/2 pound raw)

Aromatics
1" piece of ginger root, minced (Jet used 2 tsp)
1 garlic clove, minced (jet used 4 garlic)
1/4 japapeno, ribs removed and diced (Jet used whole, including seeds and ribs)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper *

5 oz dry lo mein noodles, cooked and drained.
(Jet used 3 cups (750 grams) of fresh lo mein noodles)

Prep EVERYTHING first.
Saute vegetable in stages with peanut oil. Start with dense veggies (carrot, celery, onion, fennel) and high heat. When almost soft, remove, add more oil and saute aromatics for 1 minute. Add mushrooms, green onions and chicken to warm. Remove to plate.

Cook noodles (mine took 7 minutes), drain, add sauce and cornstarch mixture. Stir to coat, then add vegetables and coat again.

Stick a fork in and twirl. Feel ridiculously happy to have found an old friend, one that's even better than remembered.

 
So cool! Our favorite Lo Mein has an elusive ingredient, too!

Thanks for your insight! Need to try Gravy Master smileys/wink.gif
Each time we visit Fortune Cookie in Grand Haven, we have their Lo Mein - often a variety is the day's special. Whatever they put in it is perfect and no other Lo Mein (so far) is as good! I have a huge stack of tried/failed recipes saved in a plastic sheet. Colleen

 
I should note that my cold chicken broth was so dense it was in cubes. I had

to pop it in the microwave to melt in order to measure out the amount I needed. I think that intense flavor contributed a lot to the overall dish since I didn't have a lot of chicken.

 
Elusive Chinese Ingredient...

Is probably smoke from the scorching high heat of their wok stations from hell. It is elusive, permeates the food, and you just cannot duplicate this at home without some incredible high flame heat source.

 
And you have a very fine and suitable sub. I do not agree w. these "experts"

about Shao Xing Jiu providing any kind of secret flavor boost. It taste like sake (which it is under another country's name for it), which is very close to sherry, and is quite subtle, if discernible at all in a highly spiced dish.

I've stocked Shao Xing Jiu in my Oriental ingredients pantry for years, just because that's how I am, but it isn't any great mysterious flavor secret.

Singapore Noodles on tonight's menu. Dinner and a movie at 6PM with "Moonstruck" on TMC.

 
Wok Breath: my missing taste in Chinese food, stir-fries at least. . .

Once you taste it and realize what it is, you will miss it when you don't have it. I once made fried rice outside on our propane camp stove. Super heated a black cast iron frying pan, cooked away. OMG it had the flavor. I would try it some more but it means I gotta dig the camp stove out of storage, set it up on the patio, make sure we have lots of propane, set up a small "kitchen" area. . . sheer laziness on my part is the reason I have not done it, I know.

 
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