As Wikipedia explains: “Chow mein (/ˈtʃaʊ ˈmeɪn/) are stir-fried noodles, the name being an English language corruption of the Taishanese chāu-mèing.” Oh corruption, why do you taste so good? Delicious, delicious corruption, how you woo me with your noodley goodness.
Corruption smerruption, whatever this is, it is a damn fine dish, and I have no problem chowing down, 2 heaping bowls of this veggie packed noodle bliss. (See what I did there).
Did you know that cabbage is a super healthy food. Low in calories, high in vitamins C, and K, and receives 5 stars on both the weight loss and optimum health scales on Self Nutrition Data. Adding a monster amount of cabbage to this recipe is a sneaky deaky trick, because it’s not only delicious, but it blends right into the noodles, meaning you are getting more nutritional bang for your noodle buck. Yes, bring on the veggies! This is one chow mein recipe that is good for you.
Are you drooling over your keyboard yet? If you like this recipe or any other recipes or posts on It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken, perhaps you could be my friend nominate me for the SAVEUR Blog Awards, and help me get all my hard work recognized. You can do so by clicking here. Thankyouthankyouthankyou! You’re my favourite.
Back to noodles. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the chow mein noodles according to the package directions.
When you are shopping for chow mein noodles make sure to get the egg-free kind. In my grocery store, both the egg containing chow mein noodles and the egg free kind are right beside each other in the Asian section of the grocery store.
Now mince your garlic and ginger and add it to a small bowl along with all the other chow mein sauce ingredients. Then set that bowl aside. I keep the favours fairly light here as I know not everyone is as obsessed with soy sauce and Sriracha as I am. The good news is you can always set your mouth into a salty fire by choice in your own bowl, while someone else can decide not to destroy their taste buds.
Chop up all your veggies. I think mushrooms are a key ingredient because I love mushrooms, but Andrew doesn’t think they are key because his mushroom love isn’t as strong as mine. I will leave the decision up to you.
Now get a pan nice a hot, and sauté the cabbage and onions in a bit of oil. Am I the only one who thinks that cooking cabbage and onions smells like cooking potato pancakes for no apparent reason? I am going to go ahead and say I am the only one. When it’s all delicious, golden and wilted, dump the cabbage and onion mixture into a bowl and set aside.
Add the pan back to the heat, and sauté the mushrooms, carrots, and snow peas. Cook these guys for about 5 to 10 minutes until they are cooked through and the mushrooms release their awesome juiciness. Toss in the chow mein sauce and cook for just a minute more. Add in the cabbage and onion mixture, and the cooked noodles, and toss well to combine. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds and feast your way to noodley paradise.
- For the Chow Mein Sauce:
- 3 Cloves of Garlic
- 1" piece of Fresh Ginger
- ¼ Cup Soy Sauce
- ¾ Cup Water
- 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Sesame Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon Sriracha
- For the Chow Mein:
- ¼ of a Green Cabbage (about 5 cups sliced)
- 1 Medium Yellow Onion
- 2 Medium Carrots
- 3 Cups Mushrooms (a 227 gram tub)
- 1½ Cups Snow Peas
- 1 Tablespoon Lightly Falvoured Oil (such as canola or peanut oil)
- ¾ lb Dry Chow Mein Noodles (make sure they are egg free)
- Green Onions and Sesame Seeds for Garnish
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the chow mein noodles according to the package directions. Drain and set aside until you are ready to use them.
- Finely mince the garlic and ginger then add them to a small bowl with the remaining sauce ingredients. Mix and set aside.
- Thinly slice the cabbage. Peel the carrots, then slice them on an angle so you get oval shapes. You don't have to cut them this way, I just think it looks prettier. Slice the mushrooms and remove the strings from the snow peas.
- Heat the oil in a large pan over high heat. I mean large! You are gonna need a lot of room for this monster noodle dish. When the oil is hot, add the cabbage and onion. Stir frequently until the cabbage and onion have reduced in size and are nicely browned. This will take about 5 minutes. You may need to adjust the heat on your stove accordingly so that the cabbage and onions brown and wilt, but don't burn. Once it's cooked through, dump the cabbage and onion mixture into a bowl and set aside.
- Return the pan to the heat. Add more oil if needed and then sauté the carrots, peas, and mushrooms for about 5 to 10 minutes, until softened and cooked through.
- Add the chow mein sauce to the pan, and cook for about 1 minute longer. Now add the cabbage and onion mixture and the noodles to the pan as well. Toss everything to combine. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds, and serve with soy sauce and Sriracha on the side if desired.
Feature Ingredient: Cabbage. 97 Days, 48 Recipes to go!
Bon Appetegan
Sam
This receipe is amazing, the sauce is spectacular!!! I really enjoyed lunch today, thank you very much! 🙂
Woohoo!! So happy it was a hit and well enjoyed, Sofia 🙂
phenomenal recipe. Fairly new to veganism, went overnight kinda like you actually lol. watched earthlings. been using your site as my cookbook for awhile now actually. this is my favorite dish so far 🙂 keep it up.
Woot woot! Congrats on the veganism, and so happy you are digging my recipes, especially this one. 🙂
Hi! I would love to cook this for my family but my daughter is allergic to milk and I haven’t find chow mein noodles that don’t have milk or traces of it. Do you know any brand that’s milk-free?
You could try googling “vegan grocer” in your area to see if they stock vegan chow mien noodles. Any vegan store would have some kind of thin vegan noodle you could use. In the supermarket I found Chang’s long life 98% fat free noodles to be egg and milk free. I sometimes use angel hair pasta as a thin noodle substitute, obviously it has to be boiled first. The only ingredient in angel hair pasta is wheat.
The noodles I’m able to get at my grocery store don’t contain milk, but if you can’t find any in your store, you can replace with any rice noodle and it will still be delicious 🙂
tried this a few months ago, forgot to comment though. it was amazing, i haven’t made chow mein as delicious as this before!
Aww well thanks for coming back and leaving your comment Puck! So happy you loved the recipe so very much 🙂
Looks and sounds so delicious I will be making this and your veggie fried rice very soon. I just have to add coconut milk now to my ever growing pantry list. We found the silken extra firm tofu right where you said it would be and black salt from BJ’s is ready to go for our weekend breakfast of vegan champions! Rah, Rah! BTW, I had the Singapore noodles at Kings Café and just assumed it was eggless. No?
Haha yeah coconut milk is a great vegan pantry staple! It would have been eggless, yes, Kings Cafe is a vegan restaurant. 🙂
Hey Sam! have you ever made singapore like noodles? I have been trying to recreate them veganly and can’t
Hmmm…. that’s a good one! I love Singapore Noodles! Ok I have added them to my to do list 😉
Hi Sam! I never liked chow mein in restaurants because it was always so greasy. Your version looks so fresh and healthy. I can’t wait to try it. 🙂
Hi Linda, I recognize you from Food Blogger Pro! I hate greasy noodles, their the worst. I hope you enjoy the recipe. Bon Appetegan!
I’ll take noodles in any form…especially loaded with veggies so i can eat more 🙂 Awesome photos..have loved these on Pinterest! After coming to your blog, I actually remember it from the photos…isn’t that something? Shows how memorable they are!
Same for me pragati! I can never eat too many noodles. Thank you so very much for huge compliment on my photos! Taking better photos is something I have really been focusing on. I had no idea my photos were so memorable, but that’s amazing!! 🙂
Yum! I definitely will be “chowing” on this dish! (Love cabbage and so good for me/you!)
Cabbage is one of those veggies I almost never thing of to use, but it so yummy! I even love gnawing on it raw.
Yummy
Yummy!
I think so too! 😉
Nominated! And I’m going to try to make this today. Mmmmmmmmm. <3
Thank you so very much Jess! Enjoy!
nominated!!
Very much appreciate it, thank you peawry!
Nominated! I love, love, love your site!!! Thank you for all of your hard work 🙂
Aww shucks thanks Carrie! Thank you for being a reader and the for the nomination!
Love your recipes (a very special thank you for the sriracha cauliflower). Love your blog. Nominated you!
Thank you so very much Heleen! I very much appreciate you taking the time! 🙂
Hi Sam!
I simply LOVE your recipes. question for you………peanut butter has a reputation as being a ‘bad’ choice in nut butters. Any feedback on your part is greatly appreciated. Thanks-
Hi Amy,
Thank you!! It would be a sad, sad world without peanut butter. The good news, it’s good for you! Hooray! I find the media likes to pick on perfectly good whole plant foods instead of focusing on processed food, meat and dairy. No, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea if your diet only consisted of peanuts, but including them as a part of your diet is very good for you. Where as eating any amount of processed foods, meat and dairy is simply straight up bad for your health. I wonder what industry the money is coming from? You don’t see them talking about that much! Check out this video by Dr. Michael Greger on peanuts. http://nutritionfacts.org/video/is-peanut-butter-good-for-you/ He is a great trusted source for health information. The only warning I would give is to make sure you are buying natural peanut butter that only contains peanuts, no added oils or sugar. Yes, you might have to stir it, but to make it easier, when you first bring the peanut butter home from the grocery store, put it away upside down, it will make it easy to mix when you go to use it. 😉