November 10, 2015 Lunch – Miso Noodle Soup, New Recipe: Dinner – Shrimp Lo Mein

November 10, 2015  Lunch – Miso Noodle Soup,  New Recipe: Dinner – Shrimp Lo Mein

A very noodle centric day.  Last Saturday when I went to Talin to buy grouper for dinner, I also bought a 1 lb. bag of fresh Chow Mein noodles shallots, fresh mung bean sprouts, ginger, and Yu Choy.  And when I went to Ranch Market after Talin. I bought nice heads on shrimp for $4.99/lb. 

For breakfast I drank a cup of tea with thin toasted pieces of Bosque Bakery French Sourdough bread spread with Kalles fish caviar paste.

For lunch I decided to make Miso Noodle Soup with tofu, brown miso, and shallots, green onions, green beans, pork meatballs, shrimp, three kinds of noodles: bean thread, rice sticks, and wheat vermicelli noodles.

I ate two bowls with Hoisin Sauce, Sriracha and fresh cilantro and still had ½ pot of soup left.  

For dinner I wanted to try to make Lo Mein noodles with the fresh Chow Mein noodles and the lovely heads on shrimp I bought at Ranch market, but I did not have enough shrimp and we needed milk, so I drove to Ranch Market for milk, broccoli, and shrimp ( I swear they get their shrimp fresh from San Blas.)

When I got home around 5:15 I found a recipe on the Internet for Shrimp Lo Mein.  Here is a similar, but better one because this one thickens the sauce with cornstarch.

  

Shrimp Lo Mein

Recipe courtesy of Kelsey Nixon

Shrimp Lo Mein

Total Time:

35 min

Prep:

20 min

Cook:

15 min

Yield:4 servings

Level:Easy

Ingredients

Noodles:

Salt

8 ounces dried Chinese egg noodles, or 1 pound fresh

Sauce:

1 packet chicken bouillon mix, such as Knorr, dissolved in 1 3/4 cups hot water

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon Sriracha chili sauce

Lo Mein:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons minced ginger

1 small bunch scallions, white and green parts, sliced

1 pound small shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 cup thinly sliced white button mushrooms

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

1 large carrot, shredded

1/4 head Napa cabbage, finely shredded

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

For the noodles: In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the noodles according to their package directions. Drain and set aside.

For the sauce: Combine the bouillon, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and Sriracha in a large glass measuring cup or small bowl and set aside. This may look like a lot of sauce, but you have a lot of noodles and veggies to coat!

For the lo mein: Heat a wok over high heat. When hot, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, half the garlic, half the ginger and half the scallions and saute 30 seconds. Add in the shrimp and cook until they just start to turn pink and curl up, about 2 minutes. Transfer the shrimp and aromatics to a plate and reserve.

In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and add the remaining garlic, ginger and scallions. Saute 30 seconds, and then add in the mushrooms, celery, carrots and cabbage. Saute the veggies until they begin to brown and caramelize, 4 to 5 minutes.

Whisk the cornstarch into 2 tablespoons cold water. Once dissolved, add to the sauce. Add the sauce to the pan with the vegetables and bring to a simmer. Toss in the reserved shrimp, aromatics and noodles and serve!

 The recipe I found was for Simple shrimp Lo Mein and was less complicated than this “better” recipe.  

I used green beans instead of Napa cabbage and the simple recipe had no hot sauce, so I did not use that either but the rest is the things were similar, except I used a shallot instead of the green onions.

I julienned a carrot and the shallot and de-stemmed the haricot vert. Then I chopped about 2 Tbsp. of fresh ginger and 1 Tbsp. of garlic.  I asked Suzette if she wanted the shrimp peeled and she did, so I peeled about 1 lb. of shrimp but was able to keep much of the red tomallay.

I then sliced 2 white mushrooms and took the mung bean sprouts out of the fridge and fetched sesame oil, Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, sake, and oyster sauce and made the sauce for the Lo Mein by combining these ingredients.

I then heated 2 Tbsp. of peanut oil in  the wok and stir fried the carrots, green beans, shallot, shrimp, ginger, garlic and mushrooms for a few minutes until they were cooked and tender.  I then added about 1/3 lb. of the fresh chow Mein noodles I had cooked in boiling water for a couple of minutes and tossed them with the cooked ingredients to heat them.  Finally I added the sauce and tossed everything in the sauce to further mix and integrate the ingredients into a unified dish. 

The result was very pleasing.  We drank beer with the Lo Mein.  Suzette liked the dish and that we had made a new recipe.  I liked the fact that I had kept the tomallay intact with shrimp, which gave the dish a reddish hue and more flavor.

Bon Appetit