Stirred Veggie Lo-Mein Delight

I like noodles. I like them hot or cold, with or without sauce, so it should not be a surprise that I'm posting a noodly dish here that uses my childhood favorite vegetable, the Taiwanese Cabbage, which is sweeter, larger, and crunchier than normal cabbage.

Here's a recipe that's good for a medium sized family or something to eat over several days. You'll need a big non-stick pot to cook this! Like the name suggests, this dish will take a lot of stirring, so get ready to use those arm muscles!

I like this dish because it's light, a bit sweet, a bit salty, but won't leave you screaming for a glass of water.


Ingredients:
1 bag of shanghai noodles (be sure to check for no eggs!)
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup veggie crumbles
1 package flavored tofu
1 long carrot
7-8 leaves of taiwanese cabbage
5 chinese pickled turnips
1 tbsp of soy sauce or soy sauce substitute
vegetable oil
2-3 dashes salt to taste


1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of hot water until soft.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil and add the noodles. When it boils again, add a cup of cold water. Repeat two more times. Drain noodles.
3. Chop flavored tofu, mushrooms, carrot, and pickled turnips into thin strips.
4. Chop the cabbage into thin strips. Make sure to put the hard stems of each leaf in a separate pile.
5. Heat pot and add oil to lightly coat the bottom. Stir-fry shiitake mushrooms until lightly burnt. Add the veggie crumbles and turnips. Cook until lightly burnt.
6. Add the tofu. Add the tablespoon of soy-sauce. Stir-fry until that's also lightly burnt. (Do you see a pattern here?)
7. Add the carrots and the stems of the cabbage. Stir and then add about 1/4 cup of water. Close lid and let it steam for about a minute.
8. Remove lid. Add the cabbage by the handful while continuing to stir. (If you add it all at once, it's harder to get it all evenly cooked). Add 2-3 dashes of salt to taste.
7. Turn down the heat to low. Remove about 1/2 of veggies onto a separate dish (this will aide in mixing the noodles). Unclump the noodles and add by the handful while stirring.
8. After the noodles have been added. Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and stir.
9. Add the veggies that were removed before and stir until well incorporated.

Serves 4-6.

Happy eating!