Chicken Lo-Mein: NY Chinese Take-Out

I spend a lot of time extolling the virtue of NY Italian food and the impact it had on my culinary development.  However, there is a dish that I grew up with, that was not homemade, but an important thread in my culinary history: Chicken Lo-Mein.  When I was growing up we only had a couple of places we ordered take-out from (far less than my family does now) - there was Joe's Pizza and Imperial Wok.  We had pizza at Joe's once a week on Thursdays after tennis lessons with our friends and about twice a month my dad decided we would order Chinese. 

I had two staples that I liked to order; chicken fried rice and chicken lo-mein.  I don't think my tastes were wild and crazy at the age of eleven so I kept it simple and easy.  And since then, I have lived in San Francisco and been exposed to the insanely wide variety of Asian cuisines, fell in love with Thai fried rice with tofu and Pad Kee Mao and so on and so on.  But my basic, simple, chicken lo-mein could never be replaced in my heart.

Unfortunately however, there weren't that many great Chinese places in San Francisco (lots of Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Japanese, etc.), Chinese take-out seemed to almost be unique to New York.  When I moved to Austin, the situation only got more dire.  We have even less Asian take-out and just about one decent Chinese place.  No offense to some of the staples here like Mama Fu's and Madam Mam's, but its just not the same.  Thank goodness for Titaya's Thai Cuisine that absolutely hits the mark for Thai fried rice and Pad Kee Mao, but I am sorely out of luck on Chicken Lo-Mein.  It just constantly blows my mind that I just can't get it here - you can walk in to almost any Chinese place in New York and get a solid serving of Chicken Lo-Mein that tastes the same.

Anyway, I am getting too deep on my feelings for Chinese take-out.  The point is, I only get to eat lo-mein when I go home to see my mom, which is just not enough.  This was the first year we didn't go to New York for Christmas in my entire life (which was wonderful for some reasons and sad for others, but that's another story for another day) and so I didn't get an opportunity to feed my craving.  I've been thinking about it for weeks and finally decided to give it a go making it at home.

Y'all it was so worth it.  SO WORTH IT.  This was an insanely easy concept once I didn't some reading and comparing of recipes and decided on a game plan.  I wanted chicken in mine, so I chopped up the chicken into bite sized pieces and tossed it in the crock-pot and let it ride all day until I was ready to make dinner.  Then it was as simple as boiling the noodles and then sauteeing the veggies and tossing it all together.

Chicken Lo-Mein

Serves 8

For the Chicken:

  • 4 skinless chicken breasts (or breasts and thighs) sliced thin into bite sized pieces
  • 1 cup Teriyaki sauce
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sesame oil, divded
  • 1 tbs. ground ginger, divided
  • 2 tbs. sugar

For the Sauce:

  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 3 tbs. sugar
  • 1/4 cup sesame oil
  • 2 tbs. ground ginger
  • 2 tbs. Sriracha mayo

For the Lo-mein:

  • 16 oz. Lo-Mein egg noodles
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 1 cup chopped green cabbage
  • 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
  • 1/2 white onion, diced
  • 2 tbs. minced garlic
  • 1 cup snow peas (optional)

Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce in the bowl of a crock-pot.  Add the chopped chicken and stir to coat.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours until cooked tender.  Remove from crock pot with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil and cook the lo-mein noodles according the directions on the package.  Drain cooked noodles into a colander and rinse well with cold water.  Set aside.

Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large saute pan or braiser over medium-high heat.  Add a few tablespoons of sesame oil and the garlic.  Saute until fragrant, just a minute or two.  Add the onion, carrots, mushrooms and snow peas.  Saute until onions are translucent.  Add the chicken to the pan and cook for a few minutes.  Add the cabbage and saute until wilted.  Pour 1/3 of the sauce over the veggies and chicken and saute until evenly mixed.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the lo-mein noodles, using tongs to toss the noddles with the veggies and chicken.  Add the remaining sauce as you go, tossing to distribute the sauce evenly and cook for a few minutes more until the flavors are blended. 

Serve immediately, or refrigerate and consume in the morning after a rough night out.