Saturday, February 11, 2006
My Interpretation of Chow Mein
Thursday was another uneventful day. In fact, it was so not worth mentioning that I was originally not going to post about it. But then I decided that dinner, despite being just as non-special as the rest of the day, might be of interest to others trying to cook a health, tasty meal without too much effort. And before you hit that back-button thinking I have gone raving mad advertising Chinese food as simple and easy to make, do give me a chance to explain. What I am about to advertise is not so much fried noodles the Chinese way as everything you can find in the fridge, seasoned with things any well-stocked kitchen contains anyway. For real Chinese food, I suggest eating out. Unless you have a gas stove, lots of practice in Asian cooking techniques, a kitchen big enough to store a number of cooking utensils you won't use very often and live in a city where authentic ingredients are available, there is no way of recreating the aroma and flavour of a good Chinese meal.I have yet to try any of the numerous Chinese restaurants in Dublin's unofficial Chinatown around Parnell Street. I have, however, read a very good-sounding review of Hong Quing Ting in Moore Lane. I've got every intention of giving them a try and I promise a full review as soon as I do. To me, Chinese food is intrinsically linked with London. The sheer number of Chinese living there makes the choice of restaurants, cuisines and ingredients endless. Coming from relatively monocultural Munich, I was struck by the China Town's incredible foreign-ness during my first visit more than fifteen years ago, and think this experience has stuck with me. Every time I visit, I head down to Chinatown at least once or twice to absorb the atmosphere, stock up on ingredients and Asian kitsch and, invariably, to visit one of the many restaurants there. For anyone interested in doing the same, let me utter a word of caution: There seem to be two types of restaurants here; nice ones catering mainly to Asians and very, very bad ones trying to attract tourists who shy away from Chinese menus and dishes they have never heard of. Resist the urge to go for the familiar and stay well clear of the all-you-can eat buffet in a basement restaurant (the name of which I am grateful to have forgotten). I highly recommend The Golden Palace on Gerrard Street and Laureate Chinese Restaurant on Shaftsbury Avenue. Both have predominantly Asian patrons, something an ignorant European like me takes as a good indication of authenticity. But whatever the case may be, they both impressed with the variety of their menu and the great taste of their dishes. Both do good Dim Sum and Laureate is the place to go if you want a culinary adventure without travelling outside Europe.
Dinner last Thursday, however, was anything but adventurous. As I said, my goal was for it to be simple and tasty. And this is how I tried to achieve it:
enough long thin noodles for two people (obviously, Chinese eAnd with this dinner, even our ordinary Thursday evening turned out to be quite nice. Enjoy!gg noodles are ideal, but if I run out of them I use spaghetti with equally tasty results)
everything you like in a chow mein (Sorry about being so vague, but to me, fried noodles are a typical leftover-user-upper; they are nice with just about anything.) This time I used:a knob of ginger, about 3 cm (or 3/4 tsp powdered ginger)
- 1 carrot, thinly sliced
- about 10 sugar snaps, halved
- a handful of mushrooms (shiitake and button mushrooms mixed), sliced
- 2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves, rinsed
- 150 g bean sprouts
- 1 smoked Coley filet (about 100 g raw), cooked and flaked
- 3 spring onions, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
¼ tsp cumin
2 tbsp soy sauce (more to taste)
2 tbsp lime juice (or lemon juice or sherry, depending on your taste)
3 tbsp oil for frying (go for a neutral flavour here, such as sunflower of peanut oil; do not use olive oil)
Cook the noodles according to package instructions, drain and set aside. There is a myth that freshly cooked pasta should be refreshed in cold water, but this is totally wrong. If you rinse your noodles, you wash off all the starch that helps the sauce stick to them. Just live with the fact that they're sticking together for now; they will detangle later in the wok.
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. When it is hot add the ginger and garlic, stir once or twice and then add the hardest of the vegetables. In my case those were the carrots and sugar snaps, which take about 5 to 7 minutes stir frying in total. Continue adding ingredients according to their cooking time, so that in the end they will all be cooked, but still crisp, at the same time. In my case the mushrooms came next at about 4 to 5 minutes, then the bean sprouts and spinach (2 minutes) and the Coley (1 minute).
Finally, add the noodles, cumin, lime juice and soy sauce and stir until well mixed. Allow to heat through thoroughly. Season to taste with more soy sauce.
Christine at 6:10 pm
