One night over Fall Break, I decided to play sous chef while my mom made lo mein. This dish is a staple in my house. It’s simple, healthy, vegetarian (for my sister) and everybody likes it.
The name “lo mein” originates from the Cantonese word “lòu-minh,” which simply translates to “stirred noodles.” Lo mein has been a Chinese dish for over 2,000 years, when water and wheat were first combined to make the noodles. Today, lo mein dishes appear in a variety of Asian cuisines. With noodles made from different ingredients, like egg and rice, they are often mixed with vegetables, and/or tofu, meat and poultry.
My mom said she has used a modified version of a recipe from a website called momsdish.com — which I thought was comical and fitting — for at least five years. She pointed out this could be a handy recipe at school since it only uses one pan and takes less than half an hour to cook.
I was instructed to put a little bit of sesame oil on the cast iron skillet at a medium heat, and then to add broccoli. As I stirred the sizzling broccoli with a wooden spoon that’s older than me, I noticed the big red plate of peppers, onions, mushrooms and carrots on the counter next to me.
I asked my mom if I could dump the vegetables in with the broccoli, and she said no. Each vegetable must be cooked individually since they take different amounts of time to cook, and this way it’ll preserve their flavors.
While at first daunted, once I got to the mushrooms, I realized it really doesn’t take long to cook vegetables, and I was enjoying myself. After all the veggies were cooked individually, we mixed them together in the skillet.
The water in the pasta pot was bubbling, and it was time to cook the noodles. Realizing we were all out of lo mein noodles, we regretfully substituted them with linguini.
Once the noodles were done, we strained them and then added the veggies. We quickly made a sauce using soy sauce, sesame oil and brown sugar. We poured in the sauce, mixed everything together and had ourselves an easy, home-cooked meal.
Ingredients for vegetable lo mein:
8 ounces lo mein noodles (or linguini)
2 cups chopped broccoli
1 large sliced red bell pepper
1 cup shiitake mushrooms
1 shredded carrot
1 medium sliced onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of oil for frying
Ingredients for sauce:
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Directions for cooking:
Fry vegetables individually in a cast iron skillet with a tablespoon or two of sesame oil until cooked through. Add all the vegetables to the skillet. Add garlic and mix. Cook the noodles in a pot of boiling water until done. Whisk sauce ingredients together. Add everything into a pasta bowl and enjoy.
