Chicken Chowmein

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Who can resist noodles made Chinese way I mean stir/fry way(however Chinese cuisine is not merely about stir/fry, there is Cantonese and Mandarin Cuisine or Beijing cuisine as well. Chinese steamed egg and Sweet and Sour Pork/Chicken are typical Cantonese recipesHome made rice is served with every Cantonese recipes.
Pecking Duck is a typical Beijing cuisine which can be said more precisely as a "national food".I have seen a very interesting TV series about Peking duck in Discovery which reminded how particular they are about this recipe.Peking duck is eaten with pancakes,spring onions and hoisin sauce.)
However when I say Chinese Hakka noodles or the more popular term “Chowmein” what I mean is the Indianised version of Chinese Hakka noodles.Traditional Hakka Cuisine is entirely a different genre and has nothing which can be associated this to the usual stir/fry or even the famous manchurian or chowmein , that is so popular in India.This got it's name beacuse Chinese people who introduced some recipes where from the Hakka region in China.


Heavy dose of red pepper powder or green chilly gives every stir/fry a new flavour.This recipe is 100 percent a makeover of Chinese cuisine to more of a Indanised version, also known as Indian Chinese Cuisine .This comes as a savior to our options of having street food and that too in comfy of our home.
There is a place in Kolkata, Tangra which boast many local restaurants offering Indianised version of Chinese cuisine.
So,this recipe is an amalgamation of all the noted above . I have used all sorts of colourful vegetables.And chicken that is slightly pre-cooked in pressure cooker. My daughter love having these noodles so it keeps repeating every weekend nights and in comfy of our home. A very simple recipe to enjoy in comfy of our home.
Now to the recipe

Now to the recipe
Chicken Chowmein
Serves-4

Recipe requirements
1 chicken breast piece cut into bite size pieces or you may use the left-over pieces from the roasted chicken recipe here-- Roasted chicken
3-4 egg noodles -(I prefer the medium ones,if you wish you may use fine variety as well)
Vegetables for stir/fry
6-8 baby corn
10-12 mange tout/snow peas
1 tomato chopped
Mushroom - approx 250 gms
1 -2 cup of cabbage chopped finely
1 green bell pepper cut into long juliennes
2 garlic pods chopped finely, 2 medium size onions chopeed finely
Oil for cooking/sautéing the vegetables and chicken pieces
For the sauce
2 tsp of red pepper powder/paprika
1 tsp of black pepper powder
2-3 tbs of hoisin sauce
2 tbs of soy sauce
2 tbs of tomato ketchup or tomato paste
Method
Prepare the noodles
I know this is the easiest part, but not that easy if they turn out soggy. In a saucepan, add ample amount of water at least up to ¾ of the saucepan. Add in the egg noodles to it. Season it with salt (I always do it).Cook the noodles at med-low for 10-12 mints. Now drain all the water with the help of colander. Run tap water over it, shake well the noodles (This will give you the real restaurant smooth noodles) add in 1tbs of butter to it. Again shake well and keep it uncovered (you don’t want noodles to be over-cooked with the moisture it has) .Egg noodles here come in 3 variety-thick,medium and fine.I tend to prefer the medium variety which gives a nice texture to the overall stir/fry.
Now prepare the chicken and vegetables
Cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces. Now pressure cook the bite size pieces with some salt and black pepper to one whistle. Take out when it depressurizes. Or you may want to use any left-over roasted chicken pieces. For the recipe of stuffed and roasted chicken-visit here--Roasted Chicken
Now heat up a saucepan, add 2-3 tbs of cooking oil, add garlic sauté for 1 mints, add onion,then add all the vegetables(baby corn,mushroom,bell pepper,mangetout,cabbage,tomato).Stir/fry the vegetables at high for 5-7 mints or till they change colour to more bright. Make sure they remain crunchy.
Now add the cooked chicken pieces.
Add all the sauce-hoisin, soy, tomato ketchup. Adjust seasoning by adding red pepper powder, black pepper powder and salt. Mix in well.
Add the cooked egg noodles. Sauté the noodles with vegetables at high, mixing in well. If you feel,you may add 1 tbs of butter at this time.
Take out and serve immediately.

Sometimes I like to eat this simple vegetable stir/fry with cooked rice also.
Happy Cooking Friends