I have a bunch of celery in my fridge, so I decided that sometime this week I should make Chow Mein. I don’t however, have any Chow Mein Noodles. I could stop at the store on my way home sometime this week, but I had another thought.
After making onion rings, I had a some oil leftover. It’s not really oil that one could use for baking, but it could be used for frying/sauteeing (if you pour the oil through a strainer to get out any large bits and into a container and leave it in the fridge, most of the rest of the solids suspended in the oil will solidify at the bottom, so you don’t have to worry so much about there being anything else in the oil). So I decided to do a little research on Chow Mein Noodles, because I was pretty sure they’d require frying.
It turns out, authentically, they’re fried egg noodles. However, you can fry just about any noodle and it will do the job. So I fried some whole wheat spaghetti. It worked out quite nicely, and goes like this:
Vegan Chow Mein Noodles
2 oz whole wheat spaghetti or fettucini or other wide noodle
1/4 inch of oil in a pan, heated
1. Break the noodles into smaller sections, then cook according to package directions. Drain very well (you can leave them in a strainer for a little while).
2. Add in one layer to the hot oil. Make sure they’re spread out. Fry until crisp, about 3 minutes for spaghetti.
3. Remove noodles from oil, and drain very well on paper towels.
4. Use in Chow Mein, or store in an airtight glass container in the fridge. They will probably keep for some time like this, at least 2 weeks (but possibly longer).
