Yield: 3 to 4 Servings

Scott Nowell

This should bring delight to your taste buds, then tears to your eyes. Zha Cai is Szechuan preserved vegetable, usually mustard root. Get is at an Asian market.

• 1lb fresh lo mein noodles
• ½lb chicken breast, cut into strips
• 8oz mushrooms, halved or cut into bite-size pieces
• ½cup carrot, cut on the diagonal
• ½cup broccoli, cut on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces
• ½cup baby corn
• 2oz (about ¼ cup) minced preserved vegetable (ya cai or Zha Cai)
• 1onion, shredded
• 1clove garlic, minced
• 1TBS soy sauce
• 2TBS hot bean sauce
• ½tsp salt
• 5TBS cooking oil

Marinade:

• 1tsp Shaoxing wine
• 1tsp soy sauce
• 1tsp cornstarch

Sauce:

• ½cup stock
• 1tsp soy sauce
• 1TBS chili oil
• 1tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
• 1tsp sugar
• 1tsp sesame oil
• 2tsp cornstarch

Marinate chicken:

Mix marinade ingredients. Marinate chicken for at least twenty minutes. While marinating chicken, mix sauce ingredients. Set aside.

Parboil noodles in a pot of boiling water for three minutes. Drain.

Heat wok. When heated, add 1 TBS of oil. Add garlic and chicken and stir-fry. When done, remove from the wok to a platter.

Reheat the wok and add 1 TBS of oil. Add mushrooms, onions, carrot, broccoli, baby corn and Zha Cai and stir-fry until tender and crisp. Sprinkle ½ tsp of salt over the vegetables and mix it in.

Remove the vegetables to a platter. Clean out the wok with a paper towel. Heat wok again and add 3 TBS cooking oil.

Place noodles in the wok, using chopsticks to break them up. Add 2 TBS hot bean sauce and 1 TBS soy sauce. Stir-fry until the noodles are heated through. Add cooked chicken, shrimp and all the vegetables. Re-stir sauce mixture and add. When it comes to a boil, test and adjust the seasoning if desired, then remove and serve.