This rich and savoury mushroom chow mein is packed full of veggies. So comforting and bursting with umami flavour. Did I mention that it’s a quick and easy and a brilliant vegetarian option too? Perfect for mushroom lovers like me!
I’m using chestnut mushrooms for this chow mein but you can use your favourite variety and don’t be shy with them! You might think 400g (14oz) of mushrooms looks like a lot, but they cook down, so I usually end up throwing extra in.
Who doesn’t love a comforting stir fry? SO much flavour!
This meal is such a good way to use up those leftover veggies in the fridge. Plus it’s really quick to make, so it’s perfect for those hectic weeknights!
📋 Ingredients
- Mushrooms – I used chestnut mushrooms in this recipe but you can use your favourite mushroom variety. These are my favourite options: white button mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, or oyster mushrooms.
- Chinese rice wine – this is made from fermented glutinous rice and has a slightly sweet flavour. You can use white rice wine, or Shaoxing rice wine (which is amber in colour and slightly richer). If you don’t have rice wine, you can replace with sherry or mirin – but use ¾ of the amount of mirin as it’s a fair bit sweeter, and we already have sweetness in the kecap manis.
- Kecap manis – this is a sweet soy sauce with a syrupy consistency that adds a lovely sweet and savoury flavour to sauces.
- Chow mein noodles – these are wheat-based noodles, often made with egg, but not always. They’re usually quite thin and pale in appearance. I buy the dried ones online, as they’re difficult to find any of my local supermarkets. You can use fine egg noodles instead, but I find them a little more eggy. If I can’t find chow mein noodles, I tend to replace with ramen noodles (from ramen noodle packets, but with the flavour sachet discarded).
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- First, make the sauce by mixing the sauce ingredients together.
- Boil the noodles as per the packet instruction, drain, and rinse in cold water so the noodles don’t stick together.
- Stir-fry the mushrooms with a little seasoning, then we fry up the rest of the vegetables.
- Add in the noodles and sauce mixture.
- Toss together and stir-fry for a few minutes until the noodles are hot.
- Serve with sesame seeds, spring onions, and chilli flakes.
👩🍳PRO TIP You can swap out the vegetables for whatever you like. Sugar snap peas (snow peas), sliced green beans, courgetti (zoodles) all work great.
I like to top it with sesame seeds, spring onions, and chilli flakes (for a little kick).
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Start by making the sauce. In a small bowl, mix together the cornflower, soy sauce, and Chinese rice wine, until the cornflower is fully incorporated.
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA), 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
Add the kecap manis, hoisin sauce, vegetable stock, sesame oil, and white pepper. Mix together to combine, then set aside.
2 tbsp kecap manis, 2 tbsp hoisin sauce, 90 ml (1/3 cup) vegetable stock, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1/4 tsp white pepper
Boil the chow mein noodles as per the packet instructions, then drain and run under cold water to stop them sticking together.
200 g (7 oz) dried chow mein noodles
Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and stir-fry for 3 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft.
3 tbsp oil, 400 g (14 oz) chestnut (cremini) mushrooms, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Add the onion, garlic, and carrot, and stir-fry for a further 3 minutes, regularly tossing everything together with a spatula.
1 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1 large carrot
Add the red pepper, cabbage, beansprouts, and spring onion and fry again for 2 minutes, keeping everything moving in the wok with your spatula.
1 red (bell) pepper, 1/2 savoy cabbage, 200 g (7 oz) beansprouts, 10 spring onions (scallions)
Add the noodles and pour over the chow mein sauce.
Stir-fry everything together for 2-3 minutes, tossing regularly with a set of tongs, until the noodles are hot.
Serve topped with spring onions, sesame seeds, and chilli flakes.
spring onions (scallions), sesame seeds, chilli (red pepper) flakes
Calories: 480kcal | Carbohydrates: 72g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 0.2mg | Sodium: 1400mg | Potassium: 1055mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 4964IU | Vitamin C: 89mg | Calcium: 108mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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