Veggie Lo Mein (PF Chang's Copycat Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

How does lo mein get its flavor? ›

The defining feature of any lo mein dish is the sauce, so make sure you take the time to get it right. Using dark soy sauce will give the lo mein color and a bolder taste while adding light soy sauce will give the dish some extra saltiness and flavor without staining the noodles darker.

Lo mein sauce

It's a simple umami filled mix of light and dark soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and a hint of ginger. It's super easy to make a batch of lo mein sauce and keep it in the fridge so you can easily make lo mein whenever the craving hits.

“Lo mein usually uses the fat, chewy noodles, while chow mein uses the thin type of noodles that sometimes contain egg.” Lo mein uses fresh noodles that are boiled for a few minutes, while chow mein uses dried noodles that are parboiled for five to six minutes.

For this recipe, you can use virtually any kind of noodle you want. Lo mein traditionally uses Chinese egg noodles which is kind of like spaghetti since it's wheat based, but also has egg. I, of course, can't eat wheat, so I just used brown rice spaghetti which works really well.

The best kind of restaurant-style stir-fried lo mein is subtle in flavor, with plenty of wok hei, the smoky flavor that results from the powerful flame of a restaurant wok burner licking up and over the back of the wok, singeing the oil and noodles.

Cornstarch! In his book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Mark Bittman recommends mixing 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch with the same amount of water, and tossing this into the stir fry just when it's almost done. It thickens in seconds, picking up the flavors of everything already in the dish and coating evenly.

Oyster sauce is commonly used in Chinese food and adds a savory, salty, umami flavor. Both can be found in most grocery stores. If you like, you can add grated or minced ginger or garlic. Serve your homemade brown sauce with a beef, chicken, or pork stir-fry or chow mein dish.

You want to buy an egg noodle or pasta that's relatively thin and has some tooth. Some common names will be lo mein, chow mein, egg noodles or pancit noodles. Most markets have Japanese yaki soba noodles in the cold case, and those would work perfectly.

These long strands are particularly good at soaking up the favors of whatever they are cooked with, making them excellent substitutes in a dish that is covered in thick sauce — like lo mein. Vermicelli and rice-based noodles such as those that go into pad Thai are other alternatives that can work in a pinch.

Worst: Lo Mein

The noodles are made from white flour, which raises your blood sugar faster than fiber-rich whole grains. Plus, they're cooked with oil and soy sauce, so you get extra fat and sodium. Can't pass it up? Order the vegetable version, and only have half the order.

What is chowyuk? ›

Chow yuk in Cantonese means stir-fried. This dish is a broad term for stir-fried vegetables with any protein you like. The main focus is on the variety of vegetables. The protein can be pork, beef, shrimp, chicken, turkey, tofu, tempeh, and even ham.

"thick noodles") are thick Chinese noodles made from wheat flour and water. Two types of Chinese noodles are called cumian. One is Shanghai style, thick in diameter, used in Shanghai fried noodles. The other type is Hong Kong style, flat and wide, sometimes yellow-alkaline.

For uncooked lo mein noodles:

It's essential to use plenty of water (about 6 quarts should do it), since uncooked noodles will make the water starchy. Stir in the salt, followed by the raw noodles, and stir with chopsticks to break them up and prevent them from sticking.

Hoisin is made with sugar, water, soybeans, salt, sweet potato, sesame seeds, cornstarch, garlic, wheat flour, chili pepper and spices.

Preparing the Noodles

Prepare your noodles so that they are al dente and still have some bite. For most noodles, this means cooking them for a few minutes in boiling water, but thinner noodles, like cellophane rice noodles, usually just need to be soaked.

Carbon steel woks are known to impart a smoky, caramelized taste, but any wok works fine as long as the frying technique is right. To give your chow mein a smoky flavor, drizzle soy sauce around the edges of the wok as you fry the chow mein, making sure the surface is a little oily so the sauce won't burn.

Largely this is a matter of personal taste since both dishes can be made to your preference. If you prefer lightly sauced noodles with some crunch and vegetables with some snap, chow mein might be the way to go. If you like a more comforting noodle with richly flavored sauce, lo mein may be the better option.

There are two main noodle options for making lo mein: uncooked lo mein noodles, and cooked lo mein noodles. Both are egg noodles, so they should be yellow in color (note, they may also be labeled “Hokkien Noodles”).