Ken Hom's chicken chow mein recipe

Ken Hom's chicken chow mein recipe takes 40 minutes in total to prepare, so you can have a delicious meal made from scratch on the dinner table in less than an hour.

This chicken chow mein recipe by chef, author and television-show presenter Ken Hom is a quick and easy veg-filled dinner with lots of flavour.

A stir-fry like this chicken chow mein requires a wok to prepare. So make sure you’ve got one in your kitchen before you start chopping up the ingredients!

First off you’ll need to cook the noodles in boiling water, but don’t forget to set 10 mins aside to marinate the chicken. Noodles can be dried or fresh, but fresh noodles will taste much better! For the marinade, which really packs a pungent flavour in the chicken, you will need soy sauce, dry sherry, sesame oil, salt and freshly ground white pepper.

Although this recipe includes chicken and certain vegetables like mange tout and onions, you can swap or add any ingredients you’d like. So you can experiment by adding fish, meat, poultry or other vegetables to the dish.

Enjoy this quick and simple dish after a busy day. Why not finish your stir-fry with a homemade fortune cookie - just like a proper traditional Chinese meal!

Ingredients

• 225g (8oz) dried or fresh egg noodles
• 4tbsp sesame oil
• 5 dried red chillis
• 100g (4oz) boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into fine shred 5 cm (2 in) long
• 2½ tbsp groundnut oil
• 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 50g (2oz) mange tout, finely shredded
• 50g (2oz) Parma ham, or cooked ham, finely shredded
• 2tsp each of light soy sauce and dark soy sauce
• 1tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
• 1tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground wite pepper
• ½ tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp finely chopped spring onions

For the marinade:

• 2tsp light soy sauce
• 2tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
• 1tsp sesame oil
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground white pepper

Method

1. Cook the noodles in a large pan of boiling water 3 -5 minutes, then drain and plunge them into cold water. Drain thoroughly, toss them with three teaspoons of the sesame oil and set aside.
2. Combine the chicken shreds with all the marinade ingredients, mix well and then leave to marinate for about 10 minutes.
3. Heat a wok over a high heat. Add one tablespoon of the groundnut oil and, when it is very hot and slightly smoking, add the chicken shreds. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes and then transfer to a plate. Wipe the wok clean.
4. Reheat the wok until it is very hot and then add the remaining groundnut oil. When the oil is slightly smoking, add the garlic and sti fry for10 seconds. Then add the mangetout and ham and stir fry for about 1 minute.
5. Add the noodles, soy sauces, rice wine or sherry, salt, pepper, sugar and spring onions. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
6. Return the chicken and any juices to the noodle mixture. Stir fry for about 3-4 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
7. Add the remaining sesame oil and give the mixture a few final stirs. Turn it on to a warm platter and served at once.