This chicken lo mein is bold and full of flavor without being overly sweet. A perfectly satisfying one-dish meal!

Growing up, there were many Sephardi girls in my class, and their mothers would cook the most incredible Middle Eastern dishes. My favorite was salade cuite, which means “cooked salad” in French and is pretty much the same thing as matbucha. (There are some slight nuanced differences that I never quite picked up — it’s one of those secrets; you need to be a part of the culture to get it!) Whenever we would ask any of these Sephardim for a recipe for one of their delicacies, they would hesitate to give it over. I think they thought that there was no way that someone who was Ashkenazi could possibly make the recipe with the respect it deserved. We just didn’t have it in us…

Perhaps I am a little scarred from this, but I am always reluctant to make recipes from different cultures. Can I really do it right? But Chinese is different, since I think it’s safe to say that Asian cuisine has become an American staple that’s been around since the 1800s.

Truth is, Chinese food has never been my favorite. I’ve often jokingly wondered whether I am even Jewish since I don’t like Chinese food, while whenever anyone mentions sesame noodles or General Tso’s chicken, it’s always accompanied by yummmms! In my mind, I think, eh, it’s okay, but never something I crave.

At the same time, I love a good one-dish supper, something I can throw together easily with lots of bold flavors. I had decided to make a stir-fry, but I was really craving pasta, so I made it a lo mein. After making it, I was thrilled to realize that it’s not Chinese food that I don’t care for, it’s the excessive sauce and especially the sugar. Making my own Chinese-style dishes allows me to control the ingredients and make them the way I like it.

For this kind of recipe, you can add, replace or sub any of the ingredients. Love garlic? Double it! Enjoy the salty soy sauce? Add more!

I used a linguini for this, but you can use any type of pasta — thin spaghetti, Japanese noodles, ramen noodles, brown rice pasta—or even rice, if you’re not in a pasta mood.

If you’re making this in advance, for best results keep the pasta separate from the stir-fry until ready to serve, as the pasta will absorb the sauce after a while, resulting in a chicken lo mein that’s a bit dry. Another option is to make one and a half times the sauce to keep it extra moist.

I would not freeze this dish, but you can make it a day or two in advance and keep it in the fridge.

I use my heavy-duty frying pan for this recipe. I don’t own a wok, but I love, love this big ol’ frying pan. It’s a beast, but I use it all the time and it washes so well.

The recipe calls for toasted sesame oil. While you can make it with regular oil instead if you don’t have any, you cannot compare the flavor the toasted sesame oil gives.

Light and Tasty Chicken Lo Mein

This chicken lo mein is bold and full of flavor without being overly sweet. A perfectly satisfying one-dish meal!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb pasta,* cooked and drained according to package instructions

Chicken:

1½ lbs. chicken cutlets, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp toasted sesame oil

Stir-Fry:

2 Tbsp neutral oil (I used avocado)
¼ red onion, sliced
2 small zucchini, sliced into rounds
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 red or yellow pepper, sliced
1 cup shelled edamame beans

Sauce:

½ cup soy sauce
½ cup beef stock, or 1 tsp consomme powder dissolved in ½ cup water
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp ground ginger, or 1 cube frozen ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place chicken pieces on the baking sheet. Toss with flour and then drizzle with sesame oil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
Meanwhile, In a large frying pan or wok, heat oil over medium flame. Add all the stir-fry vegetables and sauté until lightly browned and cooked through. (You don't want them too soft — they should still have a slight crunch to them.)
In a small bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients, making sure there are no clumps.
Pour the sauce into the vegetables, mixing gently until sauce thickens.
Add chicken and pasta and toss gently until everything is coated well with the sauce. Serve warm.

Notes

If you are not serving immediately, you can transfer to a pan and cover tightly. Reheat until just heated through.

*You can use any type of pasta — Japanese noodles, ramen noodles, linguini, brown rice noodles, etc. Feel free to swap or add any of your favorite vegetables.

Recipe by Faigy Murray | https://mykitchenmystudio.com/light-and-tasty-chicken-lo-mein/

Light and Tasty Chicken Lo Mein