The recipe I decided on, chicken lo mein, needed some ingredients that aren't used in the typical American household. I needed oyster sauce and toasted sesame oil, as well as some mushrooms, fresh ginger, and sugar snap peas. Luckily, the local international grocery had all the things we needed. My dad and I laughed as we walked down the sauce aisle, filled with 200 kinds of fish sauce.
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| The Asian ingredients (left to right): Rice Wine, toasted sesame oil , oyster sauce, soy sauce |
Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I couldn't make the chicken lo mein that day or the next. So finally, today, I could cure my craving for Asian food. I waited until my dad, who recently took over all the cooking in our house, got home from work. I figured that 1) I wanted him there if I needed any help and 2) My dad gets home at 4:30 pm, which was a good time to start dinner.
I mixed together the sauce (oyster sauce, rice wine, soy sauce), which was the easiest part of the recipe. I began to chop the vegetables, and I learned three things:
1. The small hands of a 6th grader cannot chop veggies very efficiently.
2. You have to peel the skin off ginger before you cut it.
3. Onions really do make you cry.
Finally, I had the chopped vegetables on plates piled up neatly, with a small amount of help from my daddy. The recipe said to make the noodles first, but it didn't affect how the recipe turned out, and it was easier if I made it after dicing the veggies. My dad decided to ditch me, and said before he left, "Don't worry, you've got it covered."
I was really worried I would mess up the pasta, but to my surprise, I cooked it with perfect execution. We had thin spaghetti in the house, so that was what I used. The water didn't explode while it was boiling, the pasta wasn't crunchy, and the hot water didn't melt our drainpipes. Woo-hoo! It turned out perfect (for real). I used olive oil to make sure the noodles didn't stick, and then ran cold water over the whole thing to cool it down. But my tiny bubble of success was about to be popped as the looming threat of cooking the vegetables and chicken hovered over my head.
We don't have a wok, (my mom used to) so I used a skillet instead. This was it. It would prove or disprove my success as an Asian chef. Just a few cups of veggies. I measured in the right amounts of oil, and threw in the ginger. So far, so good. I cooked it for thirty seconds, then put in the onions, which I stirred for an additional two minutes. Then mushrooms (two minutes). Sugar snap peas (one minute). Finally, I was done, and everything looked cooked and edible.
Following the recipe's instructions, I removed the vegetables from the skillet, and placed them in a separate bowl. I took about half the chicken I had defrosted earlier, and my father had so skillfully cut, and dumped it into the pan. I set the kitchen times for three minutes, and began to cook the chicken.
It was hard. The chicken cooked quickly, but it was very difficult to flip over so the whole piece would cook. I had splotchy pink-and-white meat, and I wasn't happy about it. I used a wooden spoon, which was quite ineffective, and yelled at my innocent little brother to get me a spatula. In the process, I accidentally flicked myself with hot oil, which doesn't really help in a crisis. Finally, the chicken was done, but I had another half a plateful waiting for me. Oh, the joys of cooking.
In the end, I had well-cooked chicken, and threw everything into the skillet- veggies, pasta, sauce. I just kinda tossed it around until everything was heated, and this is what it looked like.
Not bad, huh? It was delicious, and my family really liked it too. It took me 1 1/2 hours to make it, which is way too long. I thought about making it again, and really contemplated it. I finally decided Asian cooking just isn't worth it. All that time and energy for one meal. Not to mention the boatload of dishes I had to do once I finished! I know some people like that kind of stuff, because they want a challenge. Not me, thank you very much. I like my simple American cooking and my lemon bars with only five ingredients, and none of them need to be prepared. It's fun every once in a while, but I'll leave it to the Chinese. By the way, if there are any Asians reading this, and you know the secret to easy Asian cooking, please tell me! But if not, don't expect any more posts on difficult foods, because I am DONE.
Here's the link to the recipe
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