Tuesday 31 May 2016

Lo Mein - easy vegie noodles

As Sylvia went to bed last night I said, you know, those noodles had sriracha in them.  Yeah I saw you, she said.  It was a little victory.  I had served her a bowl of low mein that was exactly the same as ours.  If you are a regularly reader you might know that Sylvia like very plain food.  But I know she likes noodles and tofu.  So I took the chance she would eat it.  Knowing that she had seen me put some spicy sauce in, made me feeling better about having watched her distastefully peel each speck of spinach off each piece of tofu.

I was even happier that Sylvia had eaten a reasonable amount of this meal because it was really easy to make and E and I loved it.  I am not familiar with Lo Mein.  It seems like one of those meals that I have seen being eaten out of cardboard boxes with chopsticks on American sitcoms such as Seinfeld or Friends.  So it is far more glamourous and delicious than anything I have ever ordered in a local Chinese restaurant.  I hope it will become a regular meal in our home.

I am sending these noodles to Kimmy for Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Other Noodle Dishes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Avocado, pickled ginger and tofu soba noodle salad (gf, v)
Mee goreng (v)
Miso soup with tofu, vegetables and noodles (v)
Oriental fried noodle salad (v)
Pad see ew with tofu omelette (gf, v)
Tamarind tempeh with noodles (v)
Vegetarian pad thai (gf, v)

Lo Mein
Adapted from Damn Delicious
Serves 3-4

1 tablespoons rice bran or other neutral oil
1 red onion, sliced into half moons
200g seasoned firm tofu, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, julienned
1 red capsicum (pepper), julienned
2 cups button mushrooms, sliced
3 handfuls baby spinach, roughly chopped
440g ready to eat hokkien noodles

Sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce, or more, to taste
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste

Stir together the ingredients to make the sauce.  Fry red onion in 1-2 teaspoons of oil for a few minutes over medium high heat.  Add tofu and fry for a few additional minutes.  Add garlic, mushrooms, red capsicum and carrot.  Cook over medium high for 4-5 minutes or until softened (and add another teaspoon or so of oil if needed).  Stir the spinach in for a minute or two until starting to wilt.  Add noodles and sauce.  Stir for about a minute.  We left ours for 5 minutes before serving.

Variations: heaps of other vegies could be used such as green peas, snow peas, bok choy, edamame, corn, asparagus and spring onions.

On the stereo:
Love and It's Opposite: Tracy Thorn

11 comments:

  1. What a fantastic dish - just our sort of meal too although I would share your sense of triumph if I snuck sriracha past Mr Bite (even more so if he'd seen it going in and when paired with tofu). I make similar versions of this meal but will save yours to try.

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    1. Thanks Kari - I really liked the ground ginger in the sauce because I have fallen out of the habit of keeping fresh ginger in the house but I really should change that! And it is not much sriracha or I would be unable to eat it either so perhaps Mr Bite might eat it

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  2. Oooh sounds good. And a kid-pleaser to boot! What's not to love? I'm not sure I've ever even tried Lo Mein. Fast Chinese food has never been my fancy, I like the idea of making something like this though.

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - I thought everyone in America had had Lo Mein - obviously I have watched too many American sitcoms and think you all live like in Friends or Seinfeld :-)

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    2. Haha I think most people have probably tried Lo Mein. I think I haven't because I grew up in a very small Canadian town that only had take away pizza. No interesting restaurants like they show on tv ;p
      Btw - I'm featuring this on Healthy Vegan Fridays this coming week. I'm pinning & sharing!

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    3. Ha ha kimmy - I grew up in a place with just a fish and chip shop for takeaway (unless you include the occasional meat pie and sausage roll at the milk bar) so perhaps I have an excuse for not trying lo mein too :-)

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    4. I made this for supper tonight! I subbed tempeh for tofu as that's what was in the fridge and it was really good! And pretty quick to throw together =) YUM

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  3. These noodles sound very tasty - and I love the Kitty!

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - kitty is party of a kids chop sticks set but I don't think those chopsticks help kids learn to use them - I find them harder than regular chopsticks

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  4. Yum. Lovely and colourful. It's cheer in a bowl! Wonder if I could convince my suddenly picky toddler to try this?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lisa - I feel your pain when it comes to picky kids - good luck

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