Stir Fried Chicken Noodles a.k.a. Chicken Chowmein (in Indo-Chinese lingo)

Stir-fried noodles or "Mee" as I was introduce to about 4 decades ago was always a hit at home. My mom had her recipe influenced probably by Malay and Indian cuisine with a strong garlic and ginger flavour to it. Over the years I have realized that "chowmein" means many things in different restaurants. I always get confused (and confuse the waiters) when I order "chowmein" in a proper Chinese restaurant (outside India). I've learnt to order this as "stir fried egg noodles with...".  When it comes to anything chinese and stir fried - one of the key requirements is a nice wok to get the smoky restauranty flavour. You cannot get this with the non-stick versions but a proper steel sticky version that needs proper "seasoning".  I used something like the one below. 

Ingredients:
1) Egg Noodles
2) Carrot
3) Onions
4) Cabbage
5) Capsicum (Bell Pepper)
6) Spring Onions (Shallots)
7) Garlic
8) Eggs (beaten)
9) Dark Soya sauce
10) Chicken thigh fillet
11) Vinegar

The method:

1) Chop Shop
The first and foremost in making noodles is chopping the veggies to the right size in terms of length and thickness. Yes, it could be a pain to chop the carrots, but any other way would not make that a chowmein. These days I cheat and get the ready made stir fry veggie mix. The next important thing in chopping is the meat. Make sure you slice the chicken fillet as thinly as possible and chop it up a bit more. Each piece should not be more than 1-2 inches in length and probably a few centimeters wide. This is to allow the chicken to be cooked fairly quickly. The next trick was to marinade the chicken in soy sauce and garlic. This removed the otherwise chickeny smell of chicken once stir fried.

2) The Noodles

1) Heat a large sauce pan with enough water to dunk all of the noodles.
2) Bring it to a boil and add the noodles.
3) Use a fork to separate the noodles after a few minutes.
4) Stop cooking when you can see the froth coming up.
5) Drain and wash the noodles in cold water to stop further cooking.

3) Stir Fry
a) Heat up a large wok on high heat until you can see the smoke coming out.
b) Add a few table spoons of oil (1 per serving) and coat the wok with oil.
c) Toss in the minced garlic and sautee for about 10-20 seconds.
d) Add the chicken and sautee until the chicken is 3/4ths cooked i.e., you dont see anything pinkish. Remove the chicken and transfer to a separate bowl / plate.
e) Add the beaten egg and scramble it up for about a minute.
f) Add the onions and stir fry for a minute.
g) Next comes the carrots. Another 30 seconds of stir frying.
h) Add capsicum and cabbage and give it another quick stir.
i) Toss in the boiled noodles and coat it with a bit of soya sauce. A typical Indo-chinese version will be fairly low on the soy sauce content. Add a few tablespoons of water if the noodles are sticky.
j) Stir fry the mix for about a minute ensuring all the contents have mixed well.
k) Garnish with spring onions.

Chicken Chowmein ready!!

Enjoy

C