Lately Will and I are loving Chinese. We have indulged in Pei Wei's take out a couple times in the last couple months, put the kids to bed and then enjoy yummy Chinese on the couch while we chat or watch a movie. Perfect date night in!
On the most recent Worst Cooks in America show, they had to make their own Chinese take out. I have been wanting to conquer more Asian cuisine myself, so Will and I made our own Chinese take out last night (using Bobby Flay's recipe on Worst Cooks's as our guide but not exact recipe). It turned out perfect! One of the best parts, we already had 90% of the ingredients in our pantry/fridge. I told Will I could envision this being a great recipe for using up left over fresh veggies from the week. (Only the ginger root, mushrooms, and noodles were bought for this one!)
Here is our station of vegetables, only the ginger root left to be attacked. If you have never used it before, definitely try it. It will revolutionize your dish! Cut off about a one-inch portion. Peel it.
Grate it.
Another super useful trick I had never tried before. Put the onion, garlic, ginger in at the same time as the oil. Then heat. It will flavor the oil. Then remove the onion, garlic, and ginger, leaving the now yummy-fied oil.
Add the mushrooms first. Saute. Then add the cabbage, carrots and celery.
Add the liquid. Then add the noodles. Toss to combine.
Serve up and enjoy!
- 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1-2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed
- about a 1/4 of an onion (whatever on hand) thinly sliced or 1/2 a shallot sliced thinly in half-moons
- protein of choice - This time we used egg, but shrimp, chicken, steak, ... anything would be great!
- mushrooms
- 1/2 -1 cup thinly sliced cabbage (I used pre-cut cabbage for coleslaw)
- julienne some vegetables; I used 2 carrots, 1 celery stick. Squash was one of my immediate "this would be a great addition" thoughts. Just use up veggies from your fridge!
- 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2-3 tbsp rice vinegar (I used one tbsp of sesame oil because it is what I had
- 2-3 tsp chili paste (we used a tsp of tomato paste mixed with a little spicy sauce we had)
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- lo mein noodles, thin spaghetti, or rice noodles, cooked to package directions (We had never tried rice noodles, so we tried those - great!)
- For garnishing: juice of a lime, or cilantro sprigs, or sliced scallions, or chopped peanuts
Put the vegetable oil in the saute pan with the grated ginger, garlic and onion. Saute over medium heat until softened. Remove the ginger, garlic, onion. Set aside to be added back in later.
Saute your protein of choice in the oil, if using. (We scrambled our egg in a different pan.) Remove meat, tent loosely with foil to keep warm, to be added back in later.
Add mushrooms to pan. Saute until softened, 2-3 min. Then add cabbage, carrots, and celery (or whatever veggies) and toss to combine. Add the chicken stock and other liquids to the pan. Toss to combine.
Add the noodles and reserved garlic, ginger and onion, as well as the protein. Toss to combine. Heat through, 1-2 min.
Serve. Garnish. Enjoy!
I can see so many stir-fry's in my family's future!! If you like Chinese, try this! You will only be sorry that you didn't try it before!
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