Chow Mein | Street Style Veg Chowmein Recipe

Chow mein recipe with step by step photos – Delicious Indo Chinese recipe of veg chowmein noodles. A Vegan Dish.

Veg chow mein is basically stir fried noodles with lots of veggies. Smooth velvety noodles with crunch from the veggies. The recipe comes together in minutes, provided someone chops the vegetables for you :). If you have a food processor, then good. Your chopping time is reduced.

Chow mein is also a popular Indian street food like Hakka noodles and this recipe taste like the chowmein served in street style carts.

I have already shared few more popular Veg Noodles recipes On the blog like:

Serve these chow mein with or without any sauce or accompaniments. They taste good as they are.

How to make chow mein

A) preparation and cooking noodles

1. Bring 5 to 6 cups water to a boil. Also add ¼ tsp salt in the water.

2. Add the noodles. No need to break them.

3. Cook the noodles.

4. allow the noodles to cook completely. We don’t need to cook them al dente, since towards the end we will be just tossing the noodles. Different types of noodles require different cooking time. So prepare noodles according to the package instructions.

5. Drain the cooked noodles in a colander.

6.  rinse the noodles in running water very well. This method stops the cooking process.

7. Add ½ tsp oil to the noodles.

8. Toss them well, so that the oil gets coated evenly on the noodles. This method gets rid of stickiness from the noodles. Cover and keep the noodles aside.

9. When the noodles are cooking, you can chop & grate the veggies. Keep aside.

10. Prepare corn flour paste with 2 teaspoons corn flour and 2 tablespoons water. Keep aside. Corn flour in India is what is known as corn starch outside India.

Making chow mein

11. heat oil in a pan or wok. On medium heat, first saute the green chilies, ginger and garlic for about 30 seconds. Green chilies add quite some heat in the dish. Skip if you do not prefer them or if making for kids.

12. Add chopped onions. Saute for a minute.

13. Add sliced button mushrooms and finely chopped french beans.

14. Stir and saute on a medium flame till the edges of the mushrooms get lightly browned.

15. Add grated carrots, shredded cabbage, chopped celery and sliced bell pepper.

16. Stir and increase the flame to a high. Stir fry everything on a high flame for 2 to 3 minutes.

17. Add soy sauce. At this step you can also add tomato sauce or red chili sauce/green chili sauce. Since I have already added green chilies, I have not added chili sauce.

18. Then add black pepper or white pepper.

19. Season with salt.

20. Stir everything and then add the cornflour paste. Stir the cornflour paste before adding it to the vegetables.

21. Stir and saute for a minute on medium flame.

22. Add the cooked noodles and increase the flame again.

23. Stir and quickly toss the noodles with the veggie mixture. A lot of hand work is required while tossing and mixing the noodles.

24. Lastly add vinegar and give a final mix to chowmein. switch off the flame.

25. Serve vegan chow mein steaming hot in serving bowls. You can also garnish with about 1 to 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds and spring onion greens.

Tips for making chowmein

• The veg chow mein recipe is very versatile with you adding your choice of noodles and veggies.
• If you include eggs in your diet, you can also use egg noodles. Whole wheat noodles or flat noodles also can be added. Here I added hakka noodles.
• To include proteins in this vegetarian recipe, I have added mushrooms. If you are not fond of mushrooms, then you can add tofu or sprouts.
• This chow mein noodles recipe can also be made into a no onion no garlic version. Just skip onion and garlic.
• To get a sweet tangy taste, you can add tomato ketchup.
• Remember to keep all the sauces and seasonings ready when you begin to stir fry the veggies.
• I also add some corn flour paste in the noodles for a smooth velvety texture in the chow mein. You can completely skip adding cornflour paste.

Few more similar recipes you may like are:

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