Healthify Me! Healthified Chicken Chow Mein

Chicken chow mein is a favorite of most. Carb-y, greasy, it sticks to your ribs and brings much comfort. It is also loaded with fat and sodium and a “gravy” I’ve found on most. A few pieces of celery and a bit of carrot, onion and bean sprouts make up the vegetable part. Well, we love it and I wanted to “Healthify” Chicken Chow Mein so we can eat it more often and have it be a part of a healthy diet!

I needed it to be quick and easy also, so it is. I started with swapping the noodles with whole grain spaghettini, which cooks in 5 minutes. I also wanted to load it up with vegetables, which I always try to do for my recipes. I rely on pre-chopped organic vegetables a lot for my cooking, they are so easy! This time I grabbed a bag of shredded cabbage (for coleslaw), shredded carrots, bean sprouts from the salad bar (sometimes they are by the tofu if they aren’t in the salad bar) so the only chopping I had to do was the celery, onions, garlic and chicken.I had some leftover chicken I used (would be a great place to use up that chicken if you’re roasting a chicken every week like I suggest)! You can easily substitute thinly sliced chicken breasts or even shrimp or beef would be great! The sauce is simple, light and delicious, not heavy like a gravy. It is simply Tamari, white wine (or sherry), sesame oil and a bit of water mixed with some cornstarch. That is it! You dump it all in a screaming hot pan while your pasta is cooking, scoop the pasta straight out of the water into the pan when it is finished, add your sauce and toss. Quick! Really delicious too.

I say this makes 4-6 servings (with only 5 oz of pasta!!!) but 3 of us ate this and were stuffed and had well over half left which we will enjoy today for lunch! The vegetables are so filling with that little bit of pasta, you won’t need to eat much to feel satisfied!

Healthified Chicken Chow Mein

Serves 4-6

5 oz whole grain pasta (I used spaghettini because it cooks so fast)

2 tsp healthy oil/fat of your choice

10 oz shredded cabbage (for coleslaw)

5 oz shredded carrots (or shred 4 carrots yourself)

1 bunch green onions (scallions)

1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced

4 stalks celery, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb chicken, cooked and cubed or raw, thinly sliced

5 oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained

3 cups bean sprouts

Kosher/sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

3 Tb Tamari

1 Tb White wine (or sherry)

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 cup water

2 tsp cornstarch

Get your pasta on to boil. In a large skillet or wok, preheated over high heat, add your oil, swirl around the pan. Toss in your cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic and chicken. Stir fry about 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are starting to brown. Add your water chestnuts, bean sprouts and by now the pasta should be done, add it to the pan with the vegetables. Season with salt (not much, if at all since you are adding Tamari) and fresh ground black pepper, toss together. Combine the Tamari, wine, sesame oil, water and cornstarch, mix together and pour over the pasta/vegetables. Stir (using tongs in one hand and a turner in the other is the best way to do this I find) to combine, let the sauce come to a boil and thicken which should give you a nice sauce that is sticking to everything beautifully, takes about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and serve! Enjoy!

 

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