The first step is to find some vegan chow mein noodles, I found these at my local produce stand.
They also carry a neat-o tofu product that isn’t really that great, but is awesome if you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to marinate your own tofu.
First the noodles:
200g chow mein noodles (1/2 of my package)
1-2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp Flax Oil (optional)
1 inch ginger minced
3 large cloves of garlic minced
1 Tbsp Tamari
1 Tbsp Braggs
1 Tbsp Mirin (Japanese rice wine, for cooking, can be found in most grocery stores)
Boil enough water to hold all the noodles comfortably, when boiling break the noodles into the water (break them up well!). Cook for required amount of time (mine were 2 minutes) and strain, pouring cold water over them. Heat the sesame oil (try to get by with 1 Tbsp, but add more if it isn’t enough, or dilute with vegetable oil), throw the garlic and ginger into the oil and sautee for 1-2 minutes, until aromatic. Add the noodles stirring constantly, after a minute add the tamari, Braggs, and mirin. Continue to fry while stirring through for a minute. Remove from heat and add the Flax Oil if you want, stirring it through.
I love the taste of flax oil with noodles, so I couldn’t resist adding some but it’s up to you. Also if you aren’t familiar with Braggs, then you need to be, I bought mine from the local grocery store (an IGA). It’s an all purpose seasoning that is quite healthy for you, it has more amino acids than you learned about in high school! If you don’t have mirin just use 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of rice vinegar, it won’t taste the same but it will still taste great.
Once the noodles are done just set them aside. It’s really important to break the noodles well since long noodles are impossible to mix with anything, if you forget to break them then you can chop them into small pieces while you’re stirring them… I tend to forget about breaking them and need to do this, tonight was no exception.
Now we need to make a nice vegetable medly:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 small yellow onions (sliced in half lengthwise and then into strips)
4ish large mushrooms (sliced twice in different directions)
1 stalk celery (sliced into pieces of varying size)
1 green bell pepper (sliced into strips)
2ish cups bean sprouts
100g raw unsalted cashews
350g tofu (marinaded yourself, or the lazy variety, cut into small shapes.. I like triangles)
1/2 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp Braggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Roast the nuts by putting them in a small pot on medium heat, stir often and when they start browning and smelling heavenly they’re done. Throw them in with the noodles for now, it’s important to get them out of the pot since they will continue to roast if they remain in contact with the hot metal. At the same time you can be working on cooking the veggies. Heat the oil in a large pot or wok, add the onions and mushrooms stirring often until the onions are almost cooked (about 5-7 minutes). Add the pepper and celery and cook until the vegetables are tender but still crisp (about 4 minutes). Stir in the bean sprouts and tofu, then add the tamari, Braggs, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Stir well and cook for another couple of minutes, until the sprouts are tender.
Add the noodles and nuts to the medly stirring everything through, when well combined remove from heat… you’re done :)
Yummers!! I steamed some broccoli and carrot to go with the chow mein… more vegetables are better! The cinnamon might seem odd, and it is a bit odd. I actually didn’t mean to add it, but I ended up really liking the taste so it was a happy mistake. I love making chow mein on Sunday to give me lunch for the coming week, so watch out because I managed to get 5 meals out of the above recipe, you might not want that much food! But I imagine it freezes well… though I haven’t tried to do that myself. You can experiment with the spices, this version isn’t very hot, adding red pepper flakes and some chopped chilies to the ginger and garlic when making the noodles would really step up the heat.
