Thursday, July 7, 2016

Recipe Time: Beef Lo Mein and Mini Egg Rolls

Every now and then I get on a chinese food jag, where I crave it intensely for days on end...lo mein, chow mein, egg foo young, fried rice, chop suey...basically anything that's classic cantonese. I grew up in a part of Minneapolis that had plenty of these places and I took them for granted until I moved to a suburb that is not known for it's fine ethnic cuisine. Bowling alleys and burger places we have aplenty, but a little hole in the wall ready to supply me with cheap delecious comfort food? Those are in short supply.

After viewing a Sara Moulton's "Weeknight Meals" episode on PBS last weekend, I decided I'd make my own take-out thank you very much, so I did. And it was delecious.

 I used Sarah's recipe for little mini egg rolls, and these were easy and delecious. I always shy away from deep frying anything because it's a pain in the neck, seems vaguely wasteful (all that oil!) and stinks up the house. These little babies fry up in about three tablespoons of oil, and were pain-free in every way. The only thing I did differently was to finely dice all the veggies instead of julienning them - I think it's easier to fill the wrappers when everything is all nicely chopped up, plus it's just a weird texture thing for me.

After researching Lo Mein, I discovered that all recipes are pretty much the same. You saute meat and veggies, add noodles, and top with a sauce, which seems to always be made out of the same 4-5 ingredients. The main thing you need to know about Lo Mein is that it's really easy. And fast. I used A Pinch of Yum's recipe and made a few small changes:
  • My noodles came in an 8 oz package, so I used all of them and doubled the sauce recipe. 
  • I added sauteed sliced pork for extra protein
  • I'd up the amount of veggies - by the time you saute everything, it all wilts down. I added almost a whole head of napa cabbage, 4 carrots, 2 red peppers, 8 oz of mushrooms, and an onion. With all that cabbage, it was probably more like 6 cups of veggies, but I think it was just right.
  • Make sure you have all your ingrediants prepped and ready to go. Things happen fast when you start sauteing!
  • Key ingredient in asian cooking is the toasted sesame oil. You must have it, no other substitute will do.

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