My family and I adore an old-school Chinese takeaway, and we always order a Chinese curry (see here) and a chow mein. Sadly, we don’t have a takeaway near where we live, so I’ve tried many times to make something we love (nearly) as much at home, and now I think I’ve finally cracked it. There is no smoky wok hei, which translates to “breath of the wok”, because that’s difficult to achieve at home, and I’ve used spaghetti instead of noodles because we like it. This is a personal recipe straight out of the Sodha family recipe book, and I hope you enjoy it, too.
Spaghetti chow mein
You’ll need Lee Kum Kee’s mushroom vegetarian stir-fry sauce to make this. It’s vegan, and easy to find in big supermarkets, Chinese specialists and online; Shaoxing wine and white pepper can be found in most large supermarkets and in Chinese shops.
Prep 10 min
Cook 35 min
Serves 4
Salt
300g spaghetti
Rapeseed oil
2 bunches spring onions, trimmed (200g net weight)
5 tbsp Lee Kum Kee mushroom vegetarian stir-fry sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp Shaoxing wine
3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp ground white pepper
150g oyster mushrooms, torn in half
1 large carrot (150g), trimmed and julienned
200g hispi cabbage, trimmed and shredded
25g chives, cut into 2cm lengths
Bring two litres of water to a boil, add two teaspoons of salt, then cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions, until al dente. Drain the pasta, then drizzle and toss with a little rapeseed oil to stop the noodles from clumping.
While the pasta is cooking, chop the spring onions – thinly shred the whites lengthways and finely slice the greens – then put them in a bowl of cold water. Mix them around in the water, then scoop out into a sieve, so leaving any grit behind in the bowl.
In a small bowl, mix the stir-fry sauce, both soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil and the white pepper, then set aside.
To cook the vegetables, put two tablespoons of rapeseed oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high heat and, once it’s hot, add the mushrooms and leave to cook without stirring for three minutes, until browned. Add the carrot and hispi, stir to mix, then cook for a couple of minutes, until the hispi has wilted down.
Throw in all the drained spring onions, mix well, then add the spaghetti and the sauce, and toss everything with a pair of tongs or spaghetti fork for a couple of minutes, until the spaghetti is well coated.
Stir through the chives, taste for seasoning and adjust if need be. Distribute between four bowls or plates and serve.
