Chinese Noodles

One of the things I miss the most about "home" is the ethnic food. There's always been plenty of good restaurants that served delicious food of every kind; Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Greek, Filipino, Korean, everything!  And what we couldn't get at a restaurant my Mom was always able to make at home. Here in Kelowna, I have yet to find what I consider to be a *GOOD* Chinese food. We've tried many of them around town but nothing comes close to what I grew up eating. Even my husband who grew up in the Kelowna area agrees that the places here are no where near as good to what we had in the States. That left us no choice but to make our own! This recipe is so yummy but very fast and simple. It's become our "go-to" meal on the days we're just too tired to cook for real. This recipe makes a lot of food and the leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

Chinese Noodles
1/2 package of asian noodles (I prefer thin noodles, fresh in the refrigerated section. The brand we enjoy is called Double Happiness.)
1 clove of garlic, sliced or diced.
1 small piece of ginger, sliced thinly (We love ginger so we use a lot of it usually)
3 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
2 Tbsp Canola Oil
Protein of your choice, I've done this with shrimp, beef, chicken, tofu.
Stir fry veggies, we like cabbage, bok choy, baby corn, onions, etc. (Use whatever you'd like, it's a great way to clean out the vegetable drawers!)
1 tsp 5-spice
Salt & pepper
Cornstarch
Thai chili pepper or Sambal Olelek (option if you want some spice)

Start off by preparing your noodles based on the instructions on the package. Ours required that you soak them in hot water, others you need to boil, etc. Chop all your veggies into appropriate size pieces, same with your protein if needed. After your noodles are prepared pat them dry as best you can, same with your meat. Sprinkle the meat with some 5-spice and salt and pepper.

Put a large pan on medium heat and add 2 tsp. of canola oil and let it heat up. When it has, place the noodles in it and don't touch them! Let them sit for about 5min, use a spatula to check them to make sure they're not burning but make sure that you don't disturb them too much, you want them to form a sort of pancake of noodles. When the bottom is nicely browned you can flip the "noodle pancake" onto the other side and let that brown up as well. 

In another pan, preferably a wok if you have it, heat 1/2 Tbsp of canola oil at med-high heat. When that heats up toss in your meat, garlic, ginger, and peppers if you're using them and let the meat partially cook, usually about 3-4min depending on the type of protein you're using and the size of it. Once that's done take the meat out and put it in a bowl on the side.

Using the same wok, add another 1/2Tbsp or so of canola oil and toss in the rest of the veggies and stir fry them until almost done. Add your meat back into the wok and season with oyster sauce and a splash of sesame oil (sambal oelek too if you didn't use a chile). Meanwhile, in the pan with the noodles, once both sides are done browning, splash a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil onto the noodles and toss them until nicely seasoned. Be sure not to use too much oil or your noodles will be yucky and too oily. Divide the noodles onto bowls or plates and top with the stir fry mixture.

Super simple ingredients but it tastes just divine! You won't need to order take out anymore!

Splurge Meal @ HuHot

My boys are HUGE eaters, they always have been.  I've seen them polish off 3 heaping big plates of food at a buffet and then have dessert.

Recently, we've been trying to teach them portions and smarter choices.  That anything is okay in moderation and you are even permitted to throw all that to the wind...on occasion.  Yesterday's lunch was one of those times.

Rabbit and Horse both like Mongolian BBQ.  We've been to many mom and pop places in California.  Kenosha, unfortunately, is completely lacking in good or even decent Asian restaurants.  We go to a chain place here called HuHot Mongolian BBQ.  If I don't view it as real Asian food then it's a pretty decent place.

The reasons the boys like to go is 1)  It's a buffet.  2) They get to create their own dishes.

Rabbit and Horse putting together their meal

If you've never been to a restaurant of this type, this is how it works.  You grab a bowl and go up to the buffet line.  They have thin sliced meats (chicken, beef, pork at the very least), tofu, plain noodles, and cut up veggies (cabbage, bean sprouts, zukes, mushrooms, water chestnuts, onions, bell pepper, pineapple, tomatoes, cilantro and a whole lot more).  You pile up what you want in a bowl (or two bowls)  then you head over to the sauce bar.  Mom and Pop places usually have 4 or 5 including teriyaki and kun pao.  HuHot does out of the ordinary stuff, check out their website.  Ladle in at least 5 ladles of these, you can mix and match.  Then you can add additional seasonings like lemon juice, garlic or ginger water, wine, sesame or chili oil.

My food on the grill

When that's all done you take your bowl up to a counter.  The cooks throw it on a huge round flat grill.  Each to it's own section.  You can watch them cook it.  It's a show for the kids in itself .  On a busy night there might be 8-10 different meals cooking at one time. (the grill looks like a mess but they had just finished a few orders, they clean the grill before starting on the next order)  When it's done they scoop it into a clean plate and hand it back to you.  You can usually add different toppings such as crunchy chop suey noodles, peanuts, hot chili sauce, sesame seeds or coconut.  Then take it back to your table.

My finished plate.  I added coconut, sesame seeds and chili paste.

My boys love to cook and in this way they can experiment to their hearts content.  The boys ate 3 plates each but hey, they are on vacation.