A Month-of-Mediterranean: Lo Mein

I think next February, I’ll take a culinary tour around the Pacific Rim for this blog series. What do you think? So many Pacific Rim dishes are nutritious and delicious. I’ve always liked a variety of Asian foods, but DH doesn’t really like many Asian cuisines except for some Thai foods. Odd, huh?

He’s not a picky eater, so I’ve never been able to understand why he doesn’t enjoy those tastes as much as other cuisines. And Asian foods are so varied. Chinese is different from Japanese which varies from Vietnamese and . . . The spices may overlap, but there are differences. And when meat is used, and it is used much less than in the Western Hemisphere, that can vary, too, from more pork to chicken to beef.

I love hunting down copycat recipes for favorite dishes at restaurants. My chicken lettuce wraps are an amalgamation of the various recipes out there. I wanted easy-to-make but close-to-the-real-thing lettuce wraps. I kept experimenting until I finally have my version. Same with lo mein. I always get lo mein when I eat Panda Express. I like it so much more than the fried rice. And, guess what, lots of people have been trying to recreate the taste of their lo mein. This is my take on Panda Express’ delicious lo mein.

Lo mein can be a vegetarian/vegan main dish or you can add bits of animal protein if that’s how you swing. It also can be served as a side dish alongside a main dish of chicken or pork.

The veggies and low fat content make this Mediterranean Diet-compatible. Another case of eating around the world can be healthful as long as you stick to the guidelines. An added benefit is that once the chopping is done, this cooks up fast!

Panda Express Copycat Lo Mein (serves 4)

¼ cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons chunky garlic (Garden Gourmet)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon ginger paste (Garden Gourmet)

¼ teaspoon freshly-ground pepper

1  7-ounce package Fortune Yakisoba Stir Fry Noodles, discard seasoning packet

1 medium onion, sliced

4 hearts of celery stalks, cut in small chunks

2 cups Napa cabbage, shredded (or use regular cabbage)

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup water

Mix soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, and pepper. Let sit while you chop vegetables.

Remove noodles from outer packaging and punch five or six holes in the plastic around the soba noodles. Do not open package yet. Microwave for 90 seconds. This will loosen the noodles.

Cut up all the veggies before pouring olive oil into the skillet. Heat skillet on high to get it hot, then turn to medium high for cooking.

Dump celery and onions into the skillet and stir to coat. When onion start to soften, add cabbage. Stir for a couple of minutes more to wilt the cabbage.

Pour noodles onto the vegetables and add sauce over the vegetables and noodles.

Add water. Stir to combine and heat through. Serve immediately.

NOTE: Next time I’m using regular cabbage. It is thicker, so the texture will be different, but more importantly, regular cabbage has more flavor, and more nutrients. Napa cabbage was okay, but we wanted more cabbage flavor.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

Yay! He liked this Asian dish! Lots of veggies which always pleases him, and the sauce is tasty, too.

Worldly Wednesday: Lo Mein and Coconut Shrimp

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Here we are. End of the month. End of the daily recipes for another year. I really hope you found this month an interesting journey. Making life easier—for myself and others--is a goal of mine. And systematizing meal planning is one way I made my life easier. I make calendars for meals so I know what to buy and what I’ll be cooking. I hope you will have an easier, less stressed cooking life, too.

Being Worldly Wednesday is a great way to end the month since I have readers from around the world. I hope you enjoy this last offering. This year. Next year will be a whole new category for February recipes.

I hope you will stop in again, even if it’s not February, to see what’s going on here. The normal posts are about mysteries, recipes, or recipes in mysteries. You just never know!

And if you come back regularly, you’ll find out when Pastabilties is released from Red Adept Publishing this fall as well as the other books in the series. On to the last recipe for February’s Month-of-Recipes.

Half of our current household loves foods of the Pacific Rim. Half does not. The “does not” half will eat Asian foods if served, but the “does not” half never requests them. Too bad! I served this lo mein with shrimp since I knew “does not” wanted more to eat than the noodles. You could make this a Meatless Monday meal without the shrimp.

 

You’ll also note in the picture below that I roasted EVO coated Brussel sprouts that baked alongside the shrimp. Same time! Easy way to cut down on the pans needed for dinner.

Did you ever wonder about the difference between chow mein and lo mein? In chow mein, the noodles are fried first and the sauce added. In lo mein the boiled noodles are tossed with a sauce and done. Lo mein is the easier, quicker dish, right? Also, a more healthful option.

One thing about cooking with rice noodles for this dish is how easy it is compared to cooking wheat-based pasta. After the water comes to a boil, you add the noodles, and take the pot off the heat and let it sit for 8 minutes or so. Drain and use immediately or they get too soft and gushy.

Lo Mein (serves 6-8)

1 pound rice noodles

¾ cup soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 teaspoons fresh ginger (raw or Gourmet Garden in produce aisle)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, rough chopped

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

½ head cabbage, rough chopped

In a small dish, mix soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Set aside.

Cut up onion, celery, and cabbage as the water comes to a boil for the rice noodles.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add celery and cook for three minutes, stirring so it doesn’t brown.

Add onion and cabbage to the skillet and stir to mix up vegetables.

Put rice noodles into boiling water. Cook according to package directions by removing boiling pot from the heat.

Stir veggies in skillet and cook for another five minutes until onion is tender and cabbage is wilted.

Drain noodles and dump into skillet on top of veggies. Pour sauce over the top and toss to coat veggies and noodles. Serve immediately.

Coconut Shrimp (serves 6) 

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/c cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups flaked sweet coconut

3 egg whites, whipped to foamy

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Rinse and dry shrimp.

Mix cornstarch and salt in a shallow dish for coating the shrimp. Put coconut in a separate shallow dish.

Beat egg whites until foamy and put in a shallow dish between the cornstarch and the coconut.

Dredge shrimp in the cornstarch and shake off excess. Dip into the egg white and roll in the coconut. Place shrimp on baking pan. Repeat with all the shrimp.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Check for doneness and toasting of coconut. Serve alone or with your favorite dipping sauce. One good sauce is orange marmalade, horseradish, and Dijon mustard combined to your taste. More marmalade if you want it sweeter; more horseradish for more bite.

NOTE: I cheated this time. I always keep frozen appetizer-style foods in the freezer in case someone drops by, and I need to serve something with drinks. One of those is breaded shrimp. I used a box of the breaded shrimp and dipped them into whipped egg whites and coconut before baking. Not as good as my recipe above, but very fast to do.

DH’s Rating: 4 Tongues Up

DH: “You know I don’t particularly like Asian food. This is tasty, it’s just not my favorite. And it was too salty.” Me: “So should I make it again? Use low-sodium soy sauce?” DH: “Mmmm. Maybe.” Me: “What did you like best about it?” DH: “The shrimp.”  Sigh.