Five Spice Chicken Lo Mein

Five Spice Chicken Lo Mein

After our recent shopping expedition to the Talin Market, I decided to use a couple of our purchases (five spice powder and Asian noodles) for last night's dinner. We purchased some boneless chicken thighs that were on sale and snow peas to add to the veggies. The result was fairly simple and quick to make since the noodles cook up in only 3 minutes!

Five spice is a mixture of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon,  sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. You could mix it up yourself, but star anise can be tricky to find in regular grocery stores and the seeds would need grinding. So, I prefer to buy a commercial mixture.

The noodles I used were Sangil brand, which is distributed by Hosan Co., Ltd., and are made in Korea. But, other varieties will certainly work. Be careful not to overcook them. If they are too soft, they will fall apart when you mix them with the other ingredients.

Five Spice Chicken Lo Mein

Ingredients:

3 boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
4 oz snow peas
4 Tbsp canola oil (2 for marinade, 1 to stir with noodles, 1 for stir fry)
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp and 1 tsp five spice powder
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

8 ounces Oriental style noodles

Steps

1. Chop or slice the vegetables and place in separate bowls.
2. Slice the chicken thighs and place in a plastic container to marinate.
3. Combine the 2 Tbsp canola oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and five spice powder and mix thoroughly. Then, pour over the chicken and stir to color and coat the chicken pieces. Cover and place in a refrigerator to marinate for about 10-15 minutes.

Chicken in the marinade

4. Heat one gallon water in a pot to boil. Add the noodles and cook for 3 minutes. Then drain and toss in a bowl with 1 Tbsp oil to coat the noodles and keep them from getting sticky.
5. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a wok over high heat. Add garlic and  heat. When the garlic sizzles, sprinkle in 1 tsp five spice and stir quickly to toast the spice.
6. Strain the chicken and add to the wok. Stir frequently for about three minutes to cook the chicken. Remove it and place in a bowl.

Stir fry the chicken

7. Boil the liquid in the wok for about a minute until it starts to thicken.
8. Add the onion and stir fry for 1 minute.
9. Add the bell peppers, mushrooms, and snow peas. Stir fry for 1 minute.

Stir fry the vegetables

10. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the chicken and any remaining marinade and stir thoroughly to mix.
11. Turn off the heat and add the noodles and mix thoroughly.

Mix all the ingredients

This makes quite a lot and could easily have served 6-8 people, so you might want to reduce the ingredients by one half or even one third.

The result had a mild but pleasant taste from the five spice and we really enjoyed it.

I hope you will, too!