Chicken Lo Mein with Pak Choi and Shiitake
Inspired by techniques from America's Test Kitchen and Serious Eats.
Tender egg noodles are tossed with chicken, shiitake mushrooms and pak choi in a glossy soy and oyster sauce.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Cook the noodles. Bring 3 litres of unsalted water to the boil and cook the noodles for 2-3 minutes until just tender with a little bite left. Drain and rinse briefly under warm water to wash off the surface starch, then shake dry and toss with the sesame oil. Unlike chow mein noodles, these are tossed rather than fried, so they need to be fully cooked through before they go anywhere near the wok.
- 2
Marinate the chicken. Toss the sliced chicken with the soy sauce and cornflour and set aside while you prepare everything else. The cornflour forms a thin protective coating that keeps the meat juicy through the quick high-heat stir-fry.
- 3
Whisk the sauce. Whisk together the oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauces, sugar, stock and cornflour in a jug. Keep it by the stove, as the cornflour will settle and need a quick whisk again before it's poured in.
- 4
Stir-fry the chicken. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the wok over high heat and stir-fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes until golden with no pink remaining — check the thickest piece reaches 74°C. Lift it out and set aside.
- 5
Stir-fry mushrooms and carrot. Add the remaining oil to the wok and stir-fry the shiitake and carrot for 2 minutes, until the mushrooms pick up some colour. Mushrooms release moisture as they cook, so letting them sit and colour rather than stirring constantly helps that liquid cook off instead of pooling.
- 6
Add aromatics and pak choi. Stir in the garlic, ginger and pak choi stems for 1 minute, then add the leaves for a final 30 seconds. The stems need the extra minute to soften, while the leaves wilt almost instantly and go limp and watery if left too long.
- 7
Toss noodles into the sauce. Add the noodles, chicken and sauce to the wok and toss everything together with tongs for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly and clings to every strand.
- 8
Finish with spring onion. Scatter over the spring onions, toss once more and serve straight away while the noodles are hot and glossy.
Storage
Keep in a covered container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat in a hot wok or microwave, stirring in a splash of water, until piping hot throughout (at least 74°C). Freezing isn't recommended, as the pak choi and noodles turn soft and watery once thawed. Cool leftovers in a shallow container and refrigerate within 2 hours (within 1 hour on a day above 32°C).
Why this label?
37.5 g protein for 552 kcal = 6.8 g per 100 kcal, so protein gives about 27% of the energy. High Protein needs at least 20% (5 g per 100 kcal), the condition in the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
EU nutrition claims
- Low saturated fat: 0.6 g saturated fat per 100 g, 2.9% of energy (limits ≤ 1.5 g and ≤ 10%)
- Low sugars: 1.4 g sugars per 100 g (limit ≤ 5 g)
Per 100 g of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 314 g a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Free sugars
1 g per serving
2 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 4 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- large pot (at least 4 litres)
- colander
- wok (35 cm) or large non-stick frying pan (30 cm)
- wok spatula or tongs
- small bowls for the prepared ingredients
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 552 kcal |
| Protein | 37.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 67.8 g |
| of which sugars | 4.4 g |
| of which free sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 14.5 g |
| of which saturates | 1.8 g |
| Fibre | 2.9 g |
| Salt | 2.69 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
6.8 g meets High Protein (≥ 5 g, 20% of energy)
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
