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Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try making yourself.
2-3 servings
Ingredients
250g raw boneless chicken breast
300g dried egg noodles
seasonal vegetables:
1 broccoli head
½ a cauliflower
1/16 of a cabbage
¼ of a carrot
¼ of an onion
1 clove of garlic, crushed, or tsp garlic flakes
1 stick celery
½ a courgette
½ a coloured pepper
Canola oil for stir-frying
Marinade for chicken
1 tsp oyster sauce
Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp starch (potato starch or cornflour)
Chow mein sauce mixture
⅔ cup of chicken broth
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp starch (potato starch or cornflour)
To prepare ingredients
Cut chicken breast into thin 50mm strips for marinating.
Mix the marinade ingredients thoroughly, add the chicken strips and mix to coat with the marinade then rest for 30min.
Soak eggs noodles in boiling water for 20min then run cold water over and drain so noodles do not stick.
Cut broccoli and cauliflower into four bite-size florets each and blanch in hot water for 2-3 minutesCut all other vegetables into thin 5cm length slices.
Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.
To cook
Heat wok to low-medium heat Add two tablespoons oil and when hot, add chicken and stir-fry until cooked thoroughly. If chicken sticks to wok add more oil.
Set chicken aside.
Heat wok to medium and add oil, onion and garlic and stir-fry until brown. Add all other vegetables and stir fry until heated through but still slightly crunchy. Stir in the chicken and noodles and heat through.
Stir the chow mein sauce mixture, add to the wok and bring to boil. If sauce needs further thickening, use a little more starch dissolved in water.
Serve hot.
Requested by Merrilyn Harpur, of Timaru.
Neville Hall, of the Nanking Restaurant, in King Edward St, South Dunedin, has sent this recipe.
• If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin, fax 474-7422, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz, including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.