This recipe is adapted from Cooks Illustrated and is basically the same stir fry as I make quite often, but with a crispy noodle cake as a base. I used fresh lo mein noodles. The crispy exterior and soft interior of the noodles make it a perfect match for the savory sauce and vegetables. This sauce is so flavorful and delicious, it keeps you coming back for more.
You can replace any vegetables for the ones listed. In the pictures, I replaced carrots and celery for broccoli, and used the baby bok choy. The choices are endless.
I think the crispy noodle cake adds a new dimension to the stir fry. The noodle cake is sift on the inside and crispy on the outside, so you get a crunch in every bite. Don’t eliminate it, you’ll love it. Just brown it in a non-stick pan. It’s much easier to get out of the pan that way.
Oriental Stir Fry with Crispy Noodle Cake
For stir fry, it is best to get all ingredients prepared and ready, as cooking stir fry is rather quick.
Oriental Stir Fry with Crispy Noodle Cake
- Stir Fry:
- 1 lb. boneless chicken, cut into very small bite size pieces
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1-1/2 Tbsp dry sherry
- 4 Tbsp chicken broth
- 6 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1-1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 Tsp sesame oil
- 2 Tsp cornstarch
- 6 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1 piece (2″ or so) fresh ginger, minced
- 4 Tbsp canola or peanut oil
- 1 lb, broccoli florets
- 1/3 c. water
- 1 red pepper, sliced into bite sized pieces
- 5-6 baby bok choy or 1 stalk bok choy, stalks & green separated and sliced
- handful or so of fresh bean sprouts (preferably) or half can of canned
- bean sprouts
- scallions, sliced
- Crispy Noodle Cake:
- 1 pkg fresh lo mein noodles
- 2 scallions, sliced
- canola oil
- Stir Fry:
- Marinate chicken in soy sauce 10 minutes to 1 hour.
- Meanwhile prepare sauce; Whisk sherry, chicken broth, oyster sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, & cornstarch. In a separate bowl, combine garlic, ginger & oil.
- Drain chicken, and cook on high heat preferably in a wok until browned. Transfer chicken to plate. Add a little oil to hot wok, and add broccoli, white stalks of bok choy and water and cover pan to steam vegetables for about 2 minutes.
- Transfer to plate. Add a little more oil to hot wok, add peppers, bok choy leaves and bean sprouts and cook until peppers are spotty brown (1-1 1/2 min).
- Clear center of wok & add garlic/ginger mixture and cook for 20 seconds and stir into vegetables. Add broccoli & beef and mix together. Add sauce mixture and cook to thickened. Sprinkle with sliced scallions and serve.
- Crispy Noodle Cake:
- Cook lo mein noodles in boiling water about 3 minutes. Drain. Heat oil on medium high heat in a 12″ skillet. Mix sliced scallions with noodles and place in skillet. Cook until slightly browned. To flip, place a dinner plate over skillet, and flip noodles onto plate. Then slide back in to skillet to brown the other side. When browned, remove from skillet and cut in to wedges. Serve with stir fry.
6 Comments
sal baje
August 1, 2013 at 4:26 pm“oriental” is regarded as a somewhat derogatory term, despite having been used commonly in the past. one would be hard pressed to find an person of asian descent in the US who identifies themeselves as “oriental”; we tend to state that we’re asian-american or from whichever ethnic/national group our people come from.
you might signal that you’ve entered the 21st century by changing the name of this recipe to “asian”.
Sandie
August 1, 2013 at 9:30 pmThanks so much for bringing my attention to that. I have taken the term out altogether. I’m sorry this was offending to you.
beth
November 8, 2013 at 3:46 amlovely recipe my family and I loved it
Sandie
November 8, 2013 at 9:38 amSo glad you liked it Beth. I totally love the crispy noodle cake!
Rebecca
March 23, 2014 at 12:39 amThe title of the recipe says chicken, then the instructions all say beef. The veggies are clearly selected to go with beef.
Sandie
March 24, 2014 at 10:56 amSorry, Rebecca. You can use chicken or beef. The original recipe called for beef, and I substituted chicken for the posted recipe. Either is fine. That’s what’s great about stir fry’s…anything goes!