welcome friends today we are making a sort of Hong Kong inspired shrimp lo
mein or shrimp chow mein dish and when I say Hong Kong inspired this
is something that over 20 or so years of Julie and I traveling to Hong Kong
we've had several times and when we first started going there about 20 years
ago there were hawker stalls everywhere that sold this kind of dish but lately
they're disappearing the last time we were there it was really hard to find a
street hawker making this it's almost lost not completely lost sure there's
still lots of people but it's not as prevalent as it once was
and I'm using XO sauce which is absolutely amazing but it's an acquired
taste not everyone is going to like it so in here I've got some shrimp hit it
with some salt and pepper and a little bit of sesame oil just to kind of get it
going and I'm going to heat up my wok okay hit the wok with a little bit of
oil and in go the shrimp now if your wok is good and hot the shrimp are gonna
cook really quickly and you just want to get some sort of pinkish opaque and we
pull them out check your wok if it needs a little bit more oil put in a little
bit more oil I'm using grapeseed oil because it has a high smoke point and it
adds no flavor next in are some peas and some sliced carrots I've done them into
these matchsticks really nice and fine
now these vegetables you just want to cook them until they're tender crisp you
still want a bit of snap left in them you don't want them soft so we're just
going to stir that around for a few moments just to get them to the right
place one of the things I've learned about wok cooking is the key is
temperature control one of the reasons that walks are so thin is that you want
to be able to move the temperature up and down really quickly you want to be
able to ride the temperature based on what's happening
inside the walk one of the reasons why I don't understand cast iron walks I mean
it takes forever to get it up to temperature and then once it's at a
really high temperature it doesn't drop really quickly so a good carbon steel
walk is what you're looking for something thin that you can change
temperature with really quickly so I just put the garlic in there next in are
some green onions spring onions and some bean sprouts and while those are in
there just starting to heat I've got these are fresh lo mein or chow mein
noodles they're only going to take seconds in the pot you can use whatever
noodles you want I really like these fresh ones because they're available to
me they're really easy to get I can get them at the grocery store just up the
street just coming together looks really good back in go the shrimp toss those in
now the noodles so you want to drain them as much as you can but I mean
you're really not gonna get all the water off that you should get them right
in there now we start tossing that around make sure your heat is good and
hot and I find cooking the noodles I'll let me Newt like that they don't stick
together now sauces go in a little bit soy sauce
a little bit of oyster sauce oyster sauce smells so good and then the XO
sauce
now you can make XO sauce yourself at home I've never found one that I like
that I've made at home which is kind of strange because usually homemade stuff
is way better I don't know there's something about the store made sauce
that is just incredible so if we toss this all together just to combine it and
get all of those flavors in with the noodles now by no means what I say that
this is the definitive dish I don't believe there is a definitive dish
everyone's going to have their favorite Hawker that makes it the way they want
to have it and there are huge variations in the vegetables that are in it in the
sauces as well what additional sauces are put in and you can make this any way
you want just take this method really and cook your own and make it your own
I mean you have to eat it I really like that
thanks stopping by so you can soon
you