Chicken Crab Chow Mein (蟹鷄炒麵, Haai5 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

Noodles with meat and seafood are a tasty combination. For this recipe, chicken and crab are combined in this dish. If you’re fortunate enough to live in an area where fresh Dungeness crab is seasonally available, by all means take the effort to extract the meat from the cooked crabs to make this dish. If you’re not so fortunate, canned or frozen crab can be substituted. I think I’ve commented on this before, but noodle dishes seem so simple to make, but require many steps to make, and are always worth the effort.

Enjoy!

This dish is not in the Recipe Index due to blog problem.

Ingredients

¾ lb.	375 g.	Cooked Dungeness or other crab meat (蟹, haai5)
¾ lb.	375 g.	Chicken thigh (鷄髀, gai1 bei2) or breast meat (雞胸肉, gai1 hung1 juk6), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Baking soda (蘇打粉, sou1 daa2 fan2)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
½ lb.	250 g.	Baby choy sum (Chinese flowering cabbage, 小菜心, siu2 coi3 sam1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
2-3	2-3	Cabbage leaves (青椰菜, ceng1 je4 coi3), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
1	1	Onion (洋蔥, joeng4 cung1), halved and cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
7.4 oz.	210 g.	One 15 oz. (425 g.) can peeled straw mushrooms (草菇, cou2 gu1), drained
10.5 oz.	297 g.	One 20 oz. (566 g.) can bamboo shoot strips (筍, seon2), drained, or use fresh if available
12 oz.	350 g.	Bean sprouts (芽菜, ngaa4 coi3)
8 oz.	227 g.	One package fried tofu (油炸豆腐, jau4 zaa3 dau6 fu6)
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces on the diagonal
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 lb.	454 g.	One package chow mein noodles (炒麵, caau2 min6)
		Oil for cooking

Sauce Ingredients

2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Kim Ve Wong brand Thick Soy Sauce (膏油醬, gou1 jau4 zeong3) or equivalent, or dark sauce (老抽, lou5 cau1)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

Equipment

		Garlic press
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

Preparation Instructions

Kim Ve Wong Brand Thick Soy Sauce
(膏油醬, gou1 jau4 zeong3)

1. If using frozen crab meat, thaw in a covered container overnight in the refrigerator. Take the cooked crab meat out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking. Fresh cooked Dungeness crab is seasonally available where I live, but you can use any cooked crab meat, canned or frozen, in this recipe.
2. Prepare the chicken thigh or breast meat by removing any bones, excess fat, and skin. Cut the chicken into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces. Wet with water and add baking soda to the chicken, allow to tenderize for 15 minutes, and then wash the baking soda from the meat. The baking soda can be omitted but results in the tender meat experienced in restaurant dishes.
3. Marinate the chicken in a covered container for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. If marinating the chicken overnight, take it out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
4. Wash and cut the baby choy sum (Chinese flowering cabbage) into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces.
5. Wash and cut the cabbage leaves into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces. The number of leaves depends upon the size of the cabbage used.
6. Remove the onion’s tough outer skin, cut in half, and then cut each half into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces.
7. Open and drain the liquid from the straw mushroom can, or use fresh if available.
8. Open the fried tofu package and discard any liquid.
9. Open and drain the can with the bamboo shoots, or use fresh if available (wash first). Remove as much water as possible to facilitate stir frying.
10. Wash the bean sprouts and remove as much water as possible to facilitate stir frying.
11. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
12. Wash and cut the green onions into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces on the diagonal.
13. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the Kim Ve Wong brand Thick Soy Sauce (or equivalent) or dark soy sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. If using dried noodles, cook according to the instructions on the package until the noodles just become al dente, drain the noodles, and set aside. If using thawed, ready-made, or fresh noodles, “fluff” to separate the individual noodles (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of noodles into the wok).
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil. Add the chicken pieces to the wok in a single layer on the bottom and brown the outside. You may have to cook the chicken in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Transfer the chicken to a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the straw mushrooms. Stir fry the mushrooms and then transfer to the bowl with the chicken.
4. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the fried tofu. Stir fry the fried tofu and then transfer to the bowl with the chicken.
5. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the onion. Stir fry the onion and then transfer to the bowl with the chicken.
6. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the cabbage. Stir fry the cabbage and then transfer to the bowl with the chicken.
7. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the baby choy sum (Chinese flowering cabbage). Stir fry to brown the choy sum. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic mixture to the wok, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic become fragrant. Add the contents of the wok to the bowl with the chicken.
8. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the bamboo shoots. Stir fry the bamboo shoots and then transfer to the bowl with the chicken.
9. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the bean sprouts. Stir fry the bean sprouts and then transfer to the bowl with the chicken.
10. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and then the noodles. The wok should be very hot before adding the oil and then the noodles. Noodles cooked in a restaurant wok (over much higher heat than that available in your kitchen) are served slightly burned, which gives the noodles an extra added flavor.  To try to emulate slightly burned noodles, try to put the noodles in one layer in the hot wok and add some liquid (water, stock, or Shaoxing wine; but not too much liquid otherwise you’ll steam the noodles) to facilitate the heat transfer from the wok to the noodles, and leave the noodles alone. You want the noodles to get burned before adding more oil to the noodles and turning them over, repeating the process.
11. Add the green onions, crab, and the contents of the bowl with the chicken back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and mix the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve immediately.