The Foolproof Lo Mein My Dad's Made 100,000 Times

Step 1: Cook noodles

Cooking our fresh egg noodles (10 oz) should take about 10 minutes in total. There's a lot of waiting involved, so we'll be doing this in tandem with chopping our veggies and mushrooms.

• Set your stove on high heat, and boil at least 4 cups of water in a pot. The amount doesn't need to be exact, as long as it's enough to eventually submerge your noodles.
• When the water is boiling, add the noodles to the pot and stir constantly for 30-60 seconds to prevent the noodles from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Cover the pot, and wait for it to boil again (about 3 minutes).
• When the noodles are boiling, remove the lid, set the stove to a simmer, and stir the noodles for about 30 seconds. Cover the pot again, and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Once the noodles are done, drain the pot into a colander, and rinse the noodles in cold water for 10-15 seconds.

Step 2: Wash vegetables & mushrooms

In a bowl of water, gently scrub all of our mushrooms and veggies to wash away the dirt and impurities.

For our enoki mushrooms (3 oz), we'll chop off the roots before we wash them. All we need to do prepare is separate them from one another.

Step 3: Chop vegetables & mushrooms

Slice the shiitake mushrooms (3.5 oz), king oyster mushrooms (2 oz), carrots (1.5 oz), broccoli (2.5 oz), celery (2.5 oz), red bell pepper (2 oz) into thin strips, 1-2 inches long. Chop the green onion (1 piece) into pieces around the same length, and mince the garlic (1 clove).

Step 4: Heat wok, add oil when hot

Set the stove to its highest heat, and let the wok heat up for 2-5 minutes (depending on the strength of your stove). It should just start to let off a bit of smoke, and we should be able to feel the heat holding our palm 2-3 inches above the surface.

When it's hot enough, add vegetable oil (2 tbsp), and swirl it around the wok.

This step is important to help us get closer to that Wok Hei essence. If our wok isn't hot enough, the dish won't turn out as flavorful. My dad says it's almost like you'd be boiling your food.

If you want to save a bit of time while you wait, you can start boiling water for later.

Step 5: Cook garlic, vegetables

Add the garlic, and cook for about 20-30 seconds until you start to smell the garlic's aroma.

Then, add the vegetables and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Step 6: Add boiling water, cover wok, prepare slurry

Add boiling water (1 cup) to the wok, and cover for 2-3 minutes until it starts boiling again. While we wait, we'll mix cornstarch (1 tbsp) and water (3 tbsp) into a slurry.

This step is one of the things that differentiates lo mein from chow mein. For chow mein, we don't need to do this at all. For lo mein, the cornstarch helps tie all of the flavors together, and gives the dish a slightly creamier texture.

Step 7: Add flavors, noodles, cover wok

Uncover the wok, and add light soy sauce (0.50 tbsp), dark soy sauce (0.50 tbsp), oyster sauce (1 tbsp), sugar (1 tsp), and salt (1 tsp) into the wok.

As we explain in our Shrimp Chow Fun recipe, the dark soy sauce gives noodles a slightly darker color, as well as a subtly different taste profile.

Stir the flavors around with the vegetables for a few seconds, then add the noodles.

Cover the wok for about 3 minutes, just until it's about to boil again.

Step 8: Add cornstarch slurry

Stir the cornstarch slurry for a few seconds, in case it has settled, and slowly pour it into the wok. Mix everything together as we let the noodles cook for another 60 seconds.

This step is what differentiates my dad's lo mein recipe from a lot of other chefs, who would typically add the cornstarch to the vegetables before adding the noodles.

By letting the noodles stew in the juices and flavors for a few minutes, we're essentially marinating the noodles and allowing the noodles to absorb more of the flavor internally. If you add cornstarch early, it acts as a thickener and binding agent that prevents the noodle from absorbing the flavors.

Step 9: Add bean sprouts, green onions, sesame oil

Add bean sprouts (3 oz), chopped green onions, and sesame oil (1 tsp). Stir everything around for 60-90 seconds.

Step 10: Plate the noodles!

We're ready to eat! Plate the noodles into your favorite dish and call your loved ones over.