Chow Mein

Instructions

One to two hours before cooking, rinse the mung bean sprouts and leave them to drain thoroughly.

Cut the seitan into thin strips and toss it with the marinade ingredients (the shiitake mushrooms, sesame oil, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, salt, pepper and water or broth), stirring in the ½ teaspoon cornstarch last. Let it marinate for 20 to 25 minutes.

While the seitan marinates, make the sauce. Dissolve the 1 tablespoon cornstarch in the 4 tablespoons water, then whisk in the 1 tablespoon soy sauce, salt, pepper and the water or broth, and set aside.

Also while the seitan marinates, soften the noodles in boiling salted water, then plunge them into cold water to stop the cooking and drain them well.

Wash the vegetables. Cut the celery and bok choy into ½-inch pieces on the diagonal, or slice broccoli thinly on the diagonal after peeling the stalks until no more strings come away. Wipe and slice the mushrooms, cut the bell pepper into chunks, chop the red onion and dice the green onion.

Heat a wok or frying pan over medium-high to high heat with 2 tablespoons oil. Fry the noodles in batches until golden, then remove them.

Heat another 2 tablespoons oil and cook the red onion and seitan, saving the leftover marinade. Let the seitan brown briefly, then stir-fry until the redness is gone and it is nearly cooked through, and remove both from the pan.

Cook the remaining vegetables one kind at a time, except the green onion, adding oil as needed and a pinch of salt to each if you like. For bok choy or broccoli, add ¼ cup water and cover the pan while it cooks. Remove each vegetable when done.

Re-stir the sauce. Return everything to the wok, leaving a well in the middle, and pour in the sauce and the leftover marinade. Stir quickly until it thickens, then mix everything together and stir in the green onion.

Spoon the vegetable and sauce mixture over the noodles, scatter the toasted sesame seeds on top and serve hot.