Noodles & Minced Meat - My Kind of Fast Food

Several years ago I was introduced to Ginger-Scallion Sauce, and since then, it has become my go-to sauce whenever I want something tasty to eat, fast! There is essentially no 'cooking' involved in making the sauce, you simply grate, and or finely mince the ingredients and pour hot oil over everything. Easy, right? The best part is that this sauce goes well with many things - noodles (all types, including pasta), rice, boiled ground provisions, spread over thick crusty toast or even tossed with a garden salad. You can also serve it with seafood and poultry or over grilled skirt or flank steak. Grilled pork chops? Yeah, that too!

My friend Nadini introduced me these no-cook chowmein noodles and they come in 2 varieties - fine and broad; in this dish I used the broad noodles. Like the sauce, there is no real cooking involved. Just as you would pour boiling water over rice noodles to rehydrate them, the same process is involved here. You see what I am saying about fast food here?

Most of the time I never include meat in my ginger-scallion noodles, I eat it just so, and too much of it. LOL. However, the other day I had some cooked minced beef left over from another dish I made... I think you see and know where I am going with this. I simply heated a wok (or use any deep pan you have), drizzled in some oil, reheated the cooked mince, tossed in the ginger-scallion sauce and noodles, toss, toss, toss until everything was heated through and mixed together. Done!

SAUCE

• 4 - 6 scallions sliced thinly (white/purple and green parts)
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh root ginger
• 2 teaspoons grated garlic
• Finely minced hot pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon rice wine, apple cider or white vinegar
• Salt to taste
• 6 - 8 tablespoons vegetable/canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)

To make the sauce

1. Mix together the scallions, ginger, garlic, pepper, vinegar and salt in a deep, heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the oil until almost smoking hot and pour over the ingredients in the bowl and mix well with a fork.
3. Add sesame oil if using and mix in to the sauce. Set aside for 10 minutes so that the flavours can meld.

NOODLES

Use any noodles of your choosing and cook/prepare according to package instructions.

ASSEMBLY

Toss the noodles with the sauce (depending on how much noodles you cooked, you may not need to use all of the sauce. Store the remainder in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Will last for a week).

ADDITIONS

Ground meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey) and shrimp can be added to the noodle mixture as well as vegetables. Here's what's to do: stir-fry the meat or shrimp and vegetables, then add noodles and sauce and toss to mix.

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Guyanese-style Homemade Chicken Chowmein

I rarely cook chowmein. It's not because I don't like it but it is one of those dishes that when you do make it, it should be for more than one person. While there are many other dishes that fall into that same category, chowmein is one of those things that I don't particularly like reheated. I prefer it made hot and fresh!

The other thing about eating chowmein is that I prefer to have it from a restaurant. Eaten right there as it comes to the table with smoke still rising from the wok hay.

A couple of weeks ago I had this craving for chowmein. If I were in Guyana I'd know exactly where to go. Though there are many Chinese restaurants here in Barbados, the food leaves a lot to be desired. I am not kidding. I know that people tend to adapt the food to suit the palates of the population, after all, it is about making money. But honestly, does it have to be dumbed-down to the extent that all it becomes is a filler and void of taste? I went to one of Barbados' newer Chinese restaurants (yes, I have visited the others) hoping to get my chowmein fix. The roast pork was tasty as was the chicken but the noodles did not even have salt! Salt! Don't bother about any other flavour. What was worse for me is that I was not interested in any of the meat, I was there for the noodles!

My dining companions pushed the food around their plates. I couldn't take it anymore and blurted out how tasteless the food was. A collective sigh erupted around the table and then one of my friends said, "Thank God you said it! We didn't want to say anything because we knew how much you really wanted to eat chowmein... we didn't want to spoil it for you by saying anything."

There is this thing about me. I don't know if it is bad. If I crave something and go out to eat it and it ends up disappointing, I get really obsessive about making it, even if it is a distant version of the original thing, just as long as it tastes good. And that is how I ended up cooking this chicken chowmein two days after that awful tasting "thing" from the restaurant.

Guyanese Homemade Chicken Chowmein

Feeds 4

INGREDIENTS

For Chicken:

• Boneless thighs or breasts cut into 2-inch strips (I used bone-in chicken wings)
• 2 tablespoons Green seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (lighter in colour and used for seasoning; contains more salt)
• 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (thick, darker in colour; sweet)
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons grated garlic
• If you have - add some oyster sauce too

For Chowmein

• 1 lb of your favourite brand of dried chowmein noodles
• Water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 5 tablespoons oil, divided (2 and 3 tablespoons)
• 2 tablespoon chopped root ginger
• Minced hot pepper to taste
• 2 cups of bora (snake beans)
• 2 cups julienned carrots
• 1 heaped teaspoon Chinese 5-spice powder
• 3 - 4 whole green onions, cut into 2-inch length pieces

DIRECTIONS

For Chicken:

• Mix all the ingredients together and let marinate for 1/2 an hour.

For Chowmein:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok or large karahi or any deep wide-mouthed frying pan.
2. Add seasoned chicken, toss and let brown. Add 1 cup water and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and let cook until the chicken is cooked through and the liquid has significantly reduced and thickened. The cooking time will vary depending on the cut of meat (breasts will cook faster than thighs) and if the meat is bone-in. For the wings, I added 1 1/2 cups water. If you are using breast meat, no need to add water.
3. While the chicken is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt the water to taste, add chowmein and cook according to package instructions. Drain and rinse thoroughly with cool tap water. Drain well.
4. Remove the chicken and whatever and thickened sauce is there from the pan and set aside. 
5. Wipe pan clean and heat remaining 3 tablespoons of oil on high heat.
6. Add ginger and pepper and fry for 1 minute.
7. Add bora & carrots along with salt and pepper to taste. Stir fry for 3 - 4 minutes.
8. Add chicken and drippings and toss to mix.
9. Add noodles, 5-spice powder and green onions and toss everything to mix. Let cook together for 3 - 4 minutes, toss again then serve hot.

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About Cooking Shrimp & An apology

The other day, a friend of mine threw up her hands in exasperation and exclaimed, “I love eating shrimp but I hate cooking it! It always turns out hard!” “Ah,” I said, “that’s because you are overcooking it.” “So how long should I cook it for then?” “That depends,” I said, and explained further in this week's column.

N.B. Before attempting the dishes below, please ensure that you read my notes on cooking shrimp in the column as it gives suggested timelines and other tips.

To make: melt some butter along with oil, lots of minced garlic, hot pepper and green onions and toss with hot noodles (in this case I used Chinese Longevity Noodles).

To make: see column on how to prepare shrimp. Saute onions, garlic, hot pepper and fresh thyme then add chopped spinach and saute. Add back shrimp to pan just before the spinach is done cooking.

To make: season shrimp with lots of coarsely ground black pepper and salt. Pan fry quickly and set aside. Cook orzo, dress with marinara sauce. Add shrimp and serve.

To make: read column to prep shrimp. Saute onions, garlic, thyme, tomatoes, hot pepper then add bora (yard long bean) and saute covered on low heat until cooked through. Add back shrimp to pan just as beans are finished cooking.

To make: pan-fry shrimp and set aside. Saute onions and tomatoes along with lots of sambal. Add a little water or broth to make a thick sauce. Add back shrimp to pan, toss and let finish cooking. Be sure to read this week's column about the suggested cooking times.

To make: mix together chopped shrimp, fresh herbs, an egg, hot pepper, ginger, lemon juice, bread crumbs and make into patties. Coat with breadcrumbs, rest for at least 30 minutes and then saute (almost like a shallow fry).

Recipe here.

Pan-fried shrimp in prepartion to be added and incorported into a variety of dishes. Read this week's column for the full details.

APOLOGY

Sorry for not visiting your blog lately... I've been swamped with work and some other things. I just have enough time to post my weekly post... I hope to visit you soon. Thanks for the continued support, it is sincerely appreciated.

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We're not so different...

One main ingredient, with very similar modes of preparation, creates two dishes that represent two different religious foods in Guyana. The coming week will see countries with large Hindu and Muslim populations celebrating Youman-Nabi, the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad and the Hindu festival of Phagwah (Holi), also known as the spring festival. We Guyanese and Trinbigonians will be part of this international celebration. Our countries observe these religious events as National holidays. Click here to read the column and learn a little more about how a dish is perceived differently and yet offers lessons in similarity that we can all learn from as a people.

So without further ado, I present to you a dish made in these parts and simply called by the name of the noodle itself, vermicelli, also known as wet-vermicelli and in other places as Vermicelli Payasam. This for us in the Caribbean is a traditional Hindu dessert.

Now this version, called Vermicelli Cake, is what Guyanese in particular consider a traditional Muslim dessert. The recipes for both of these dishes are immediately available just shoot me an email and I'll send them to you.

Enjoy the celebrations and have a great weekend everyone.

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