Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Chinese �Carry-Out� Noodles

This is from Eating Well Is The Best Revenge by Marian Burros, copyright 1995. This dish is good for dinner, but I really love it as leftovers for lunch the next day.

Chinese "Carry-Out" Noodles

On a recent Saturday afternoon I had an urge for the kind of noodle dish you usually carry out from Chinese restaurants. They sometimes seem the perfect comfort food. I'm not talking about trendy, cutting-edge Asian noodles, but the old-fashioned kind you might have had in a chop suey parlor forty years ago: lots and lots of very thin or very fat noodles with bits of chicken, onion, and bok choy added. The ratio of noodles to other ingredients was about 500 to 1.

To satisfy my yen, I created a slightly more expensive version, with more chicken, more onion, and more bok choy, reducing the ratio of noodles to other parts to about 50 to 1. It still hit the spot and can be put together in very short order using two pots. This version probably also has less fat but more flavor than the oilier original.

Ingredients:

4 ounces (1/4 pound) whole onion or 3 ounces chopped ready-cut onion (1 cup)
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1 clove garlic
4 ounces (1/4 pound) skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 1 small breast)
Fresh or frozen ginger, to yield 1 Tablespoon coarsely grated {I use 1/2 Tablespoon}
2 large stalks bok choy (or 1 stalk celery)
8 ounces (1/2 pound) fresh angel hair pasta {see Notes below}
1/4 cup no-salt-added chicken stock or broth {I use the kind with salt}
2 Tablespoons dry sherry
1 Tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce {I use the full-sodium kind}
1-1/2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 scallions {green onions}
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Bring water to boil in a covered pot for the pasta.

2. Chop whole onion. Heat the canola and sesame oils in a large nonstick skillet until very hot; add the onion and saute.

3. Mince the garlic, add it to the onion, and continue cooking.

4. Wash, dry, and cut the chicken into bite-size pieces; add to the onion and continue cooking until the chicken browns.

5. Grate the ginger and add to the skillet.

6. Wash, trim, and cut the bok choy into small pieces; add to the skillet and stir.

7. Cook the pasta according to package directions.

8. Add chicken stock, sherry, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce to the skillet and stir well; reduce heat and continue cooking.

9. Wash, trim, and slice the scallions.

10. Drain the pasta and stir it into the chicken mixture until it is well coated. Season with salt. Sprinkle with scallions and serve.

Approximate Nutritional Information per Serving (based on low salt ingredients):

600 calories; 10 grams fat; 35 milligrams cholesterol; 710 milligrams sodium; 30 grams protein; 95 grams carbohydrates.

This means 90 calories from fat - 15% of calories from fat.

Notes:

Fresh angel hair pasta is what you find in the refrigerator case. It cooks in about 2 minutes. I don't like angel hair and I don't like fresh pasta, so I use dried linquini or thick spaghetti. If you want to use fresh pasta, be sure to check the label: I think fresh pastas are more likely to contain egg yolk than dried ones. As far as timing goes when using dried pasta, I get the water boiling, then put the pasta in to cook when I start heating the oils. That seems to work out about right.

I prefer a soupier mixture, so I double the amount of chicken broth, sherry, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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