Hello, buddies. What a magnificent Sunday it is! Sunday afternoons are meant to whip up easy and delicious recipes in the kitchen. Chinese food is so quick, ones you are done chopping the veggies, its just a matter of minutes to put the food on the plate. The stir-fry technique is one of my favorite cooking techniques of all time. It’s a lifesaver and the food cooked that way is so fresh and crisp.
So after making Veg Hakka Noodles last week, I made Chicken Schezwan Noodles today with home-made Schezwan Sauce, the recipe of which I will share soon.
I had capsicum, carrots, french beans and cabbage in the refrigerator, so I added those. You can add the veggies of your choice. You can create vegetarian versions by not adding chicken. You can increase the quantity of veggies in that case, also toss in some mushrooms, baby corn or paneer.
Here are some important tips about boiling the noodles for the newbies. When preparing the noodles, adding them to cold water instead of boiling water, and then proceed to boil the noodles. This has been working better for me too.
If you want to create the veggie version and want to add mushrooms, sauté them separately with some oil in a pan and then add them along with the veggies. This is because they release a lot of moisture and will make other veggies soggy.
For the purpose of measurement, 1 cup = 250 ml. This recipe yields 2-3 servings. You can have it with any dry or gravy-based side dish of your choice. For me, this is a meal in itself. I had it just like that without any side-dish. The noodles are very saucy and the veggies and chicken raise its nutrition quotient. Besides, the homemade Schezwan Sauce is much better than the store-bought ones. You might like this recipe of Veg Manchurian, if you want a side-dish.
Ingredients
- Noodles – 1 pack of 150 grams
- Chicken – 250 grams
- Water – as required, to boil the noodles and chicken
- Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
- Spring onion greens – 3 springs, finely chopped
- Garlic – 10 cloves, finely crushed
- Ginger – 1 inch piece, finely crushed
- Green chilies – 2, split lengthwise (OPTIONAL)
- Capsicum – 1 medium, finely chopped
- Cabbage – 1/2 cup shredded, lightly packed
- English carrot – 1, finely chopped
- French beans – 10, finely chopped
- Schezwan Sauce – 5 tbsp
- Ajinomoto / Chinese salt – 1/4 tsp (OPTIONAL)
- Black pepper powder – 1/2 tsp or to taste
- Salt – to taste
- Oil – 1 tbsp + some more for preparing the noodles
How to Make Chicken Schezwan Noodles
- In a pressure cooker, take the chicken and add enough water to it. Add in 1/3 of the crushed ginger and garlic and some salt. Pressure cook the chicken for 1 whistle and switch off the flame. Let the pressure release on its own.
- Remove the chicken from the cooker and break it into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Set it aside.
- Take enough water in a large, wide pot and add in the noodles.
- Keep the pot on the heat and allow the noodles to boil. It depends a lot on the type of noodles how much time this process takes. Mine took about 7 minutes.
- When the noodles are just cooked, strain them using a colander. Hold the colander under the gently running tap to stop the cooking process. Allow the water to drain. Apply some oil to your fingers and gently run them through the noodles so that they won’t stick to one another.
- In a wok, heat oil. Toss in the onions and stir fry them on medium heat till they lose the raw smell and turn translucent.
- Add in the green chilies, ginger and garlic and sauté for a few seconds till the raw smell disappears.
- Add in the chicken and black pepper powder. Sauté the chicken for a minute, so that it gets some color.
- Add in the veggies; French beans, carrot, cabbage and capsicum and stir fry for another few seconds. Do not overcook the veggies. They should retain their crunch.
- Add in the homemade Schezwan sauce and ajinomoto and toss everything well.
- Adjust the salt. Go easy on the salt because the Schezwan sauce already has salt in it.
- Add in the boiled noodles and toss and stir fry them for a minute. The noodles should be well coated in the sauce and heated evenly. Add in the spring onion greens and give it a final toss.
- Chicken Schezwan Noodles are ready to be served. Garnish with a few more spring onion greens. Serve hot as it is or with your favorite side-dish. Enjoy!
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