C is for Chicken Chow Mein for The Kids Cook Monday

We have been camping at the beach for the past week and while Bear and Bee's intake of fresh air, sunshine and fun has been high their fruit and vegetable intake has been on the low side.  So tonight's recipe was chosen as it includes a lot of colourful vegetables and is mild enough for most fussy eaters.

Chow Mein is a common dish on Chinese takeaway menus in Australia and is easy enough to do at home.  And while I don't suggest that my version is in any way authentic is does give a nod to the traditional dish and tastes great.  As long as you watch the salt content of the sauces and how much oil you use it is healthy too.

This is what you need to make Chicken Chow Mein (this is enough for 2 adults and 2 small children:
Click here for a free printable pdf recipe card for this recipe.

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
300g chicken breast fillets, cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon mild curry powder
 1/2 teaspoon chinese five spice powder (optional - I didn't use it as I didn't think my girls would like it)
2-3 cups chopped mixed vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, baby corn, red capsicum [red peppers], baby pak choy, green beans)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce (low salt version preferably)
1 pkt (220g) of shelf fresh thin noodles
2-3 tablespoons of crunchy fried noodles

This is what we did:

Bear and Bee chopped the baby corn, green beans, mushrooms and red capsicum (that I had cut into strips) into small pieces.

Bee and Bear chopping the baby corn.

Bear chopping the green beans.

Bee found snapping the green beans into little pieces much easier than chopping.

They both tried grating the carrot (I really need to invest in a rotary grater).

Be extra careful when letting young children use a grater.

I chopped the baby pak choy as by this time they had both lost interest.  This was fine as the next few steps involved the hot stove. 

I then heated the oil in a large frypan over high heat.  I added the chicken cubes and fried them, stirring constantly until they started to brown slightly on the edges.

Once the chicken cubes were almost cooked through I added the curry powder and ginger and stirred for 1 minute.

Looking good already.

All of the chopped vegetables were then added and stirred through.  These were allowed to cook for 2 minutes while I prepared the noodles according to the package directions.

The oyster sauce and soy sauce were poured over the chicken and vegetables in the pan and mixed well.  This only needs another 30 seconds to a minute to make sure everything is heated through.

The frypan was removed from the heat. The noodles were divided among some bowls and topped with the chicken and vegetable mix.  I served the chow mein sprinkled with crunchy fried noodles.

Delicious Chicken Chow Mein