Introduction: Chow Mein Noodles
Chow Mein is a great make-ahead-of-time lunch. This recipe uses normal spaghetti noodles, which are easy to find and cook.
Step 1: Ingredients
Ingredients:
1/2 a head of cabbage, shredded
2/3 cup of soy sauce
1 (16 oz) pkg. of spaghetti noodles
1 Tbs. Brown Sugar
1 medium sweet onion
3 cloves of garlic
4 carrots, peeled and grate
2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger root
Step 2: Prepare Soy Sauce Mixture
First, peel the ginger root to get skin off. Then chop into small chunks.
Then peel garlic cloves (in picture, note I used a silicone sleeve thingy to peel the garlic cloves, it works really well), and chop into medium chunks, too.
Place Ginger, Garlic, Soy Sauce, and brown sugar into wet-ingredient blender. (you can use a blender, or whatever else works, too.) Blend for 20 seconds, or until everything is finely chopped up.
Step 3: Prepare Vegetables
NOTE: To make things much easier, you could possibly buy cabbage already shredded, and carrots, already shredded, but I just did it manually:
Peel all the carrots with a vegetable peeler, and cut the ends off. Shred with a food processer shredder attachment.
Next, peel outer leaves off cabbage for sanitary reasons, and cut half (the half you'll be using) into small chunks, small enough to fit in the processor's chute. If you prefer to chop the cabbage, then do it.
If not, use the easier way: the food processor. With the blade attachment, shred cabbage, and place into a bowl for keeps until you need it.
For onions: Cut onions into inch long thin segments.
Step 4: Boil the Noodles
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Break your raw noodles in half before placing them in the boiling water. Cook for the time indicated on the back of your package. (9 min, average).
Step 5: Sauté Vegetables
WHILE your noodles are boiling, pour two tablespoons of olive oil into a large skillet over medium heat.
When heated up, Put carrots and onions in, stirring, until cooked mostly, about 3 minutes. Then place cabbage in, and stir for one or so minutes. Remove from heat--but be sure it's warm for when you want to use it.
Step 6: Back to Those Noodles
When noodles are done cooking (you'll know if they are tender when bitten) then take them out, and pour into a colander in an empty sink to drain. Pour into large serving bowl.
Step 7: Finishing Up
Finally, pour soy sauce mixture into Vegetables, and stir until combined. Then pour the whole vegetable thing into the prepared noodles, mixing until combined. If you wish, you may pour more soy sauce in for more flavor.