Lo Mein

I haven’t eaten in a mall meals courtroom in ages, however after I did, I’d all the time order the most important container of lo mein. It may very well be beef or rooster lo mein, heck, it may very well be plain with solely sauce. I’m simply all concerning the noodles. This yr, our lunar new yr feast goes to be two steamed fish, wonton, chow mein, and this lo mein. Sure, you learn that proper, two sorts of noodles.

What’s lo mein?

Lo mein is a brilliant in style noodle dish that you simply’ll discover each at eating places and made at house. In Cantonese, lo mein means “blended noodles”. In Mandarin, it’s pronounced “lao mian” and interprets precisely the identical. Basically, it’s egg noodles blended with sauce – considerably just like chow mein, however not fairly.

In reality, it will possibly imply quite a lot of completely different type of noodle dishes, very like how one can order spaghetti in quite a lot of methods. In North America, we are inclined to affiliate lo mein with the American Chinese language take out model of noodles: considerably thick egg noodles stir fried and tossed with a soy based mostly sauce, greens, and proteins.

Technically there are two sorts of lo mein, Cantonese Hong Kong model and American Chinese language take out model. Each are a blended stir fried noodle dish.

Cantonese lo mein is a type of deconstructed soup noodle: skinny and chewy egg noodles served on a plate with toppings and a bowl of soup on the aspect. The sauce for the noodles isn’t blended in. As an alternative, you’re imagined to stir it into the noodles your self. “Lo” means to combine or stir. Mein, after all, means noodles.
American Chinese language lo mein is a stir fry noodle dish: thick noodles blended with a soy sauce based mostly sauce and toppings like beef, pork, rooster, or greens.

Each are scrumptious!

Chow mein vs lo mein

The principle distinction between lo mein and chow mein are the noodles used. Lo mein noodles are thicker and chewier and chow mein noodles are thinner and crisper. Chow mein is cooked longer within the pan so the noodles develop into crispy and lo mein is solely tossed so the noodles keep tender. Pictured beneath: soy sauce chow mein.

Each sorts of noodles are made with flour, water, eggs, and kansui (which is what makes the noodles yellow and chewy). They differ principally in hydration and form. Lo mein noodles have a better hydration and are thicker which makes them chewier and extra plush. Chow mein noodles are thinner, drier, and crisp up extra as a result of they’ve a decrease hydration. After cooking, lo mein noodles are tender and supple and chow mein noodles are springy and chewy.

After you have darkish soy sauce, it’s best to positively do this chow mein recipe.

The best way to make lo mein

That is most likely the simplest take out dish you can also make. All that you must do is make a fast sauce, cook dinner the noodles, add some veggies, and toss:

Make the sauce. In a small bowl, combine collectively gentle and darkish soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and floor ginger.
Prepare dinner the noodles. Prepare dinner the noodles in keeping with the package deal, drain, and put aside.
Fry the aromatics. Warmth up a little bit of oil and flippantly fry some garlic till it smells superb.
Add the mix-ins. I saved this easy with veggies, however you possibly can add protein too, extra on that later.
Toss. Add the noodles and sauce into the pan and toss every thing till it’s evenly coated.
Get pleasure from. That’s it! Slurp away.

Lo mein noodles

For lo mein you want lo mein noodles. Yow will discover them at your native Asian grocery retailer or you possibly can substitute spaghetti or any lengthy pasta.

Recent pre-cooked lo mein noodles. In a really perfect world, you’ll discover cooked lo mein noodles within the refrigerated part of your native Asian grocery retailer. Generally they’re known as oil noodles. They maintain them with the recent noodles and dumpling wrappers. Since they’re already cooked, you don’t must boil them. Open up the package deal, place the noodles in a colander, and provides them a rinse with sizzling faucet water, loosening them along with your fingers. Drain properly.
Recent raw lo mein noodles. You’ll additionally discover recent raw noodles in the identical part. Prepare dinner them in keeping with the package deal and drain totally.
Spaghetti. In case you can’t discover lo mein noodles, you possibly can simply substitute spaghetti. Dried spaghetti is good, and you may even use another lengthy pasta of your selection.

Lo mein sauce

The sauce is what makes this dish so addictive. It’s a easy umami crammed combine of sunshine and darkish soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and a touch of ginger.

It’s tremendous straightforward to make a batch of lo mein sauce and maintain it within the fridge so you possibly can simply make lo mein each time the craving hits.

In a big measuring cup, combine collectively:

1/2 cup gentle soy sauce
1/4 cup darkish soy sauce
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp sugar
2 tsp floor ginger

As a result of the entire gadgets are fridge steady, you possibly can combine up a bit batch, pop it in a clear air tight container after which simply place it within the fridge and add it to your noodles to style. You’ll want about 1/4 cup of sauce for every batch of lo mein, however you possibly can add kind of in keeping with how saucy you want your noodles.

Word: Many lo mein sauces on the web include oyster sauce and whereas oyster sauce is tremendous scrumptious, we saved it vegetarian/vegan right here with out. If you wish to add oyster sauce for an additional little bit of umami, you possibly can add 2 tbsp oyster sauce to the above recipe.

What’s darkish soy sauce?

Darkish soy sauce is a thick, darkish soy sauce that’s barely much less salty then common soy sauce. It’s further darkish from an extended fermentation of soy beans. You is likely to be tempted to skip darkish soy sauce, however if in case you have the prospect to purchase a bottle, do it as a result of it’ll final you a very long time and convey lots of pleasure into your life! Darkish soy sauce provides a wonderful shiny brown to Chinese language dishes and in addition provides caramel sweetness and depth. Yow will discover it on-line or at your native Asian grocery retailer.

Toasted sesame oil

Don’t sleep on toasted sesame oil. It’s pure nutty, toasty fragrant umami. The toasted stuff is totally completely different from common sesame oil. Our favourite is Kadoya, which is available in an iconic yellow topped bottle. It’s accessible on-line and in most grocery shops.

Combine ins

The fantastic thing about lo mein is that you would be able to add nearly something to it and it’ll style superb. Any and all proteins and greens are welcome to the celebration. Simply be certain to chop every thing into chunk measurement items.

The best way to velvet meat

This recipe is totally vegan, however we frequently make it with both rooster, pork, or beef. The key to tremendous tender, juicy meat in lo mein (or all Chinese language stir fries) is velveting. Velveting is the basic Chinese language strategy of marinating meat with cornstarch, oil, and seasonings. This helps tenderize and season the meat. The cornstarch provides the meat a small barrier towards warmth so it stays further juicy if you’re cooking it.

Rooster lo mein

Slice 1/2 lb rooster breast or thighs into 1 inch items and toss in a fast marinade: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp darkish soy sauce, 1 tsp oil, and 1 tsp cornstarch. Add to the pan after the garlic is fried and cook dinner, stirring sometimes till cooked via. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe.

Beef

Slice 1/2 lb sirloin, flank, or tri-tip steak into 1 inch items and toss in a fast marinade: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp darkish soy sauce, 1 tsp oil, and 1 tsp cornstarch. Add to the pan after the garlic is fried and cook dinner, stirring sometimes till cooked via. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe.

Pork

Slice 1/2 lb pork chop or pork shoulder into 1 inch items and toss in a fast marinade: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp darkish soy sauce, 1 tsp oil, and 1 tsp cornstarch. Add to the pan after the garlic is fried and cook dinner, stirring sometimes till cooked via. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe.

Shrimp

Peel and devein 1/2 lb shrimp and toss in a fast marinade: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp darkish soy sauce, 1 tsp oil, and 1 tsp cornstarch. Add to the pan after the garlic is fried and cook dinner, stirring sometimes till cooked via. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe.

Spicy lo mein

To make these noodles spicy, stir in 1-2 tsp of your favourite sizzling sauce into lo mein sauce. I like utilizing chili oil or chili crisp – my favourite is Lao Gan Ma.

Why it’s best to make lo mein at house

It’s quick. Making lo mein is just not some sophisticated affair, it comes collectively in a single pan and it’s quick! Quicker even than ordering takeout. Plus it’ll be brisker and warmer.
It doesn’t want any fancy substances, only one good bottle of soy sauce (two when you’re feeling fancy), toasted sesame oil, and recent or floor ginger. Tremendous straightforward!
You’ll be able to add something you wish to it. Assume clear out your fridge model, add all and any veggies which can be languishing within the crisper. Veggies for well being, noodles for enjoyable!
The sauce is scrumptious on EVERYTHING. The sauce is what makes these noodles scrumptious and tremendous addictive. You’ll be able to even make up an enormous batch, maintain it in a squeeze bottle within the fridge, shake it up after which simply squeeze it into the pan.

FAQ

What sort of noodles
Oil noodles are my noodle of selection (see above within the noodles part) however you possibly can positively use spaghetti or purchase dried noodles on amazon. Wu Mu model dry noodles, from Taiwan are egg free and actually in style.
Are lo mein noodles gluten free?
Lo mein noodles aren’t gluten free however when you like, you can also make this recipe with rice noodles, that are gluten free. That you must be certain to rinse off the rice noodles after cooking in cool water as a result of they tend to stay collectively. After you rinse them off, comply with the recipe as standard.
Why do you want two sorts of soy sauce
The combination of darkish and lightweight soy sauce is what makes this recipe shine! The sunshine soy sauce provides saltiness and umami and the darkish soy sauce provides a wonderful shiny shade, a contact of caramel sweetness, and depth. In case you don’t have darkish soy sauce, you possibly can skip it, nevertheless it’s what actually makes this recipe a winner.

Recent lo mein noodles

Yow will discover recent noodles in one of many refrigerated recent noodle part of your native Asian grocery retailer. In case you dwell in America, a well-liked model is Twin Marquis. They’ve a number of packages of lo mein noodles, ones which can be raw and ones which can be cooked. The cooked ones are known as “cooked noodle” or oil noodles. For the raw noodles, be certain to comply with the package deal instructions for boiling and draining earlier than utilizing on this recipe.