Chow mein is stir-fried noodles. There are many ways to stir fry noodles, but steaming it is arguably the easiest and healthiest way to make it. Ingenious, is what I'd say about this recipe!
Ingredients:
1 lb. shrimps:
Best with raw shrimps;
We used deveined and shell-on black tiger shrimps for this recipe;
For the lunch box, peeled and deveined shrimps are preferred.
1 pkg thin pasta noodles such as capellini or angel hair
Seasonings:
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Optional: 2 stalks of scallion, chopped
Optional: 2 cloves of garlic, minced
Steps:
Mix the shrimps with all the seasoning except olive oil, set it aside.
Bring a big pot of water to boil, put in the whole package of noodles, let it cook for only 1 or 2 minutes, so the noodles just turn soft. Drain the noodles using a colander.
Prepare a steam pot, and a steam bowl.
In the steam bowl, assemble the following: the drained noodles on the bottom layer, then the seasoned shrimps, finally drizzle the olive oil evenly over the entire bowl.
Turn the heat up to high, steam for 35 to 45 minutes.
Mix the noodles with shrimps before serving.
Watson's Notes: I prefer the thinner noodles as they soak up flavor more easily, but you can certainly replace them with thicker ones like spaghetti. If you prefer noodles to be firm, aka "al dente", simply decrease the steaming time to 25 minutes or even shorter, as the shrimps are easy to cook and should take only 10 to 15 minutes. On the contrary, increase steaming time to have a softer version of noodles. Clearly one greatest thing about this recipe is flexibility. For example, use soy sauce or oyster sauce in replacement of salt for a more authentic Chinese taste. Opt for butter instead of olive oil to achieve "garlic shrimp pasta". Although I wouldn't try the soy sauce and butter at the same time...