Growing up in a Chinese restaurant, lo mein is one of our stables that many customers order. Back when we had the restaurant in the buffet style it was also one of the dishes I replaced many times on the buffet table. I also know it is a favorite among families with small kids as I've had to clean many a high chair and the floor surrounding it with napkins to pull these noodles off. But out here in the middle of nowhere it is hard to get the egg noodles that restaurants make their lo mein out of but I've managed to make it taste somewhat like those noodles I knew. Although to be honest, the standard is pretty low as lo mein is more of an American Chinese food rather than an authentic Chinese dish.
This should only take about 20 minutes and normally serves 4 (around 2 if you're in our family *lol*)
The sauce is the most important part:
3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or a combination of light/dark soy sauce like what this Minnesota blogger did: http://pinchofyum.com/lo-mein)
1 tablespoons of honey or 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha, or whatever spicy sauce you'd like to add in
8 ounces noodles
1 tablespoon sesame oil (extra virgin olive oil is fine too but sesame oil is better)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion
2-3 cups of julienne cut or chopped vegetables (peppers, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms) you can also use other vegetables like spinach and snow peas (which is what I did in this picture)
Any proteins you like to add is optional. Make sure to cook it before you put in the vegetables in step 3, take it out when you do the vegetables and then add it back in with the noodles.
1. Mix the sauce together, put aside
2. Make the noodles according to package instructions, drain
3. Heat oil in wok or whatever large hot pan you have on hand. Put in onions and garlic until they caramelize. Then add in the vegetables (put those that are slow to cook first, like carrots, peppers and broccoli first and then the faster to cook ones like mushroom and spinach). Around 3-5 minutes.
4. Put the noodles in and sauce (the noodles should turn medium brown, you might have to mix more sauce if you don't get this color) gently combine. Then serve :)
Here are my results:
