If you’re on the hunt for a fakeaway, then give this vegetable chow mein a go! Ready in just 10 minutes – faster than it takes to order a takeaway – and absolutely delicious too.
This is a seriously simple little stir fry dish. With a handful of vegetables and a sauce made from just soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, it’s easy peasy to make but still packs a flavour punch.
I’m not a fan of those sauces you can buy in supermarkets with stir fry kits – they tend to be (although there are exceptions) claggy, thick and very sweet – think about those hoisin or sweet chilli sauces. If you make a stir fry like this, it takes no more time and tastes fresh, light and vibrant.
This dish is vegetarian but you could easily throw in some prawns or chicken breast before the mushrooms if you fancy a kick of protein (and aren’t vegetarian…).
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Sesame oil – sesame oil is fantastic for cooking stir fries in – it has a wonderful flavour. If you don’t have any, though, you can use vegetable oil.
- Ginger and garlic – absolutely necessary in this dish! To save time, you can use frozen chopped ginger and garlic.
- Mange tout, mushrooms, pak Choi, spring onions, bean sprouts – these vegetables work together really well. You can chop and change as needed – leave some out if you have to, and up the quantities of others. I would say that the mushrooms are required – they bring a great texture.
- Egg noodles – fresh are best, but you can precook dried and use those if you need to.
- Dark soy sauce, sherry vinegar, sugar – these are the ingredients for the sauce. Use dark rather than light soy sauce for the fantastic flavour. You can substitute sherry vinegar for rice vinegar if you have it. For the sugar, use white or caster sugar.
- Peanuts – optional.
Vegetable Chow Mein Top Tips
- Prep beforehand
This dish cooks really quickly, so make sure that you have all of your ingredients prepped and ready beforehand so that you can just throw them in when needed.
- Use a large wok
When you’re cooking a stir fry recipe for 4 people or more, like this one, you need to make sure you use a large wok. This will ensure that the stir fry is cooked evenly.
- Leftovers
You can store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Reheat thoroughly before eating.
Vegetable Chow Mein
Save This RecipeIngredients
- 2 tbsps sesame oil
- 1 inch piece of ginger chopped
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 200 g mange tout
- 200 g mushrooms sliced
- 400 g fresh egg noodles
- 2 tbsps dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp sherry vinegar
- 1 small pinch of sugar
- 4 spring onions sliced
- 50 g bean sprouts
- 1 pak choi chopped
- Small handful peanuts to serve
Instructions
- Heat the sesame oil in a wok over a medium high heat and stir fry the ginger and garlic for 30 seconds.
- Add the mange tout and mushrooms, stir fry for another 2 minutes.
- Add the noodles, soy sauce, sherry vinegar and sugar. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes until the noodles have loosened.
- Stir in the spring onions, beansprouts and pak choi. Cook for a further minute and it’s done. Top each bowl with a sprinkling of peanuts.
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