One of you has requested that I do a post about how to make Lo Mein.  Luckily, my stomach has requested that it be filled with Lo Mein, so it all works out.  I’ve never made it before, so I went straight to the internet.  After reading a lot of recipes, I decided that I liked this one. This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but don’t let that scare you.  There are four components to this dish, and they often share ingredients.  We’re going to make each component separately, then combine them.

As I do with all of the recipes I post, I’m going to tell you that you can swap ingredients in and out as you wish.  Maybe you like those tiny corncobs, but dislike mushrooms.  Go for it!  You can cut back on the oil, too.  It seems like a lot, but then you never do see how much goes into your takeout!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb pork tenderloin

Marinade

• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine

Vegetables

• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 5-6 large mixed mushrooms
• 1/2 cup of bamboo shoots
• 1 red bell pepper (or 1 carrot)
• 1 small onion, cut into wedges
• 2 green onions, shredded
• 1 medium zucchini, or 1 stalk of celery

Sauce

• 4 tsp cornstarch
• 1 cup of chicken broth
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 4 tbsp peanut oil

Noodles and Seasoning

• 1 lb Chinese Lo Mein noodles
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar

Directions:

Phew, that’s a long list!  Trust me, though, it’s worth it.  Plus, with these ingredients, you will be set up to cook all kinds of Chinese dishes.

We’re going to start with the marinade and the pork.  Slice the pork into thin strips.  You’ve seen how chicken and pork are cut up in your Chinese takeout, so that’s what we’re going for.

Now we mix up the ingredients for the marinade.  Make sure that the cornstarch is all mixed in, because sometimes it clumps.

Now we just need to combine them, and let the pork marinate for about 30 minutes.  I usually put it in a Ziploc and throw it in the fridge.

Next, chop up the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, red pepper, and zucchini.  We’re going for about the same size as the pork.  Set these aside.

Now, mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce.  You really just need to smash the garlic cloves and throw them in, but you can mince the garlic if you like.  I just smashed them.  It’s a good idea to take them out when you serve this, or someone might accidentally eat an entire clove of garlic.  Not that I did just that…

Next, cook the noodles.  They cook just like spaghetti.  In fact, you can use spaghetti if you can’t find actual Lo Mein noodles.  When they’re done, drain them and put them back in the pot.  Then add the ingredients under Noodles and Seasoning.  Toss it well, and put a cover on it.  We’ll want to keep them warm for the next 5-10 minutes.

Put 2 tablespoons of oil into the wok and heat it on medium-high to high heat.  Once the oil is hot, dump in the vegetables.

Toss them gently for about 2-3 minutes or until they seem done.  (I know you’ve had Chinese food before, try a piece.)  Sprinkle some salt and a teaspoon of sugar on them and set them aside.

Add another 2 tablespoons of oil to the wok and add the marinated pork.

It’s only going to take a few minutes for those thin strips to cook.  When the pieces are no longer pink, and the edges have browned a bit, we pour in the sauce that we mixed earlier and stir it up.

The sauce will thicken up in only about 20-30 seconds.  Once that happens, dump in the cooked veggies and mix everything together.

Serve the pork and vegetables over the noodles and prepare to be blown away!  I definitely plan to cook more Chinese after making this, so you’ll surely be getting more posts from me involving Chinese cooking.