I’m using chicken here, and broccoli, spinach, and matchstick carrots for my vegetables. In stir fry’s like this, you really can use just about any vegetables. The more vegetables the better!
I buy my rice noodles at my local oriental market. If you don’t know where yours is, I highly recommend you find it and make the trip! You will not BELIEVE how much better the rice is, I swear, and rice noodles are to be found at regular-noodle price! (That is, not the specialty-noodle markup price you find in regular grocery stores.)
Rice noodles really only need soaked, not boiled. I’ve got water heating in my electric kettle, and a large mixing bowl set out to soak them in once the water boils. You want to make sure you STIR them several times while they are soaking, or you will have stuck-together noodles! If there aren’t package directions for soaking, or if they aren’t in English, set a timer for five minutes and keep testing until al dente from there.
Chicken: cut into stir-fry size pieces. You’ve all had Chinese take-out; you know what I mean!
Prep your veggies. I’ve got the broccoli cut into bite-sized, and I’m sticking the matchstick carrots in the microwave to steam for a few minutes. I buy jars of minced garlic, because I use so much of it, but if you have garlic cloves, go ahead and get them minced too.
I’m going ahead and whisking together the sauce, too: chicken broth (or broth base and water), fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce.
<IF YOU’RE GLUTEN FREE — WATCH OUT FOR THE SOY SAUCE.> Soy sauce, contrary to its name (I know, I know!), is usually made with WHEAT and not SOY. Tamari is a brand of gluten free soy sauce that comes in low sodium. That’s what I usually use.
The important thing when cooking in a wok is to have everything ready to go in before you start cooking! A wok cooks things quickly, not least because everything is cut to bite size usually, so you need everything ready before you start heating it.
I started by coating the wok in pan spray and adding half the garlic and ginger while it heated. That's my usual trick there, with the garlic, to let me know when the wok is hot enough to start stir-frying. Wait until your garlic is sizzling and starting to brown.
Cook the meats first, is the general rule when you're stir-frying. Add the chicken to the wok and keep stirring until it's cooked through. Some people remove the chicken at this point while they cook the vegetables; I've never found it's a problem to leave chicken or beef in the wok while I do that, though I will remove shrimp.
Add the broccoli, remaining garlic, and carrots; cook until tender-crisp. You really want to have it a little more on the 'crisp' side!
Once the broccoli is done, add noodles and spinach (and chicken if you removed it) back to the wok. If your noodles have stuck together (rice noodles will stick!), run hot water over them in the colander. Pour sauce over all. Stir until everything is well-mixed and the sauce is mostly absorbed.
HEALTHY CHICKEN LO MEIN
4C broccoli florets
1.5C matchstick carrots
16 oz spinach
(Other vegetables may be added or substituted)
14oz rice noodles
1lb chicken breasts, diced to bite-size pieces
1C Gluten Free chicken broth
3T Gluten Free soy sauce (I use Tamari)
2T Gluten Free fish sauce (I use Thai Kitchen)
2T sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 t ginger paste
Start water boiling to soak the rice noodles. When the water boils, pour over noodles in a large mixing bowl. Soak, stirring occasionally, until tender (usually 5-7 minutes). Drain in a colander.
While the water is heating, trim broccoli into florets. Microwave matchstick carrots for 3 minutes. Wilt the spinach in the microwave, tighly covered (usually 3-4 minutes). Mince garlic
Trim chicken and cut into bite-size pieces.
Whisk sauce together: chicken broth (or broth base/boullion and water), gluten free soy sauce, gluten free fish sauce, and sugar.
Coat a wok with pan spray. Add half the garlic and the ginger; heat until the garlic is sizzling and starting to brown. Add chicken; keep stirring until cooked through. Add remaining garlic, broccoli, and carrots. Cook, stirring frequently, until broccoli is tender cristp. Add spinach and rice noodles. Pour sauce over all, stirring until the sauce is mostly absorbed. Serve hot.
Servings: 8
Calories per serving: 250
No comments:
Post a Comment