Must-Try Chow Mein Recipe From India's Streets (Quick & Easy)

Today I'm making street-style chowmein from my hometown of Kolkata, where street vendors have reinvented chowmein with a punch of Indian spices. Let's make it. Like any stir-fry, this one comes together quickly in the pan but requires a bit of prep. Did you know that Kolkata has the only Chinatown in India and India's largest Chinese-Indian community? I have vivid memories of going to restaurants in that part of town with my family and I was amused at the variety of dishes they had to offer. I think it's safe to say that Indian Chinese or Indo-Chinese is my favourite cuisine. I love how they combine Chinese sauces with Indian spices. In fact, one of the sauces I'm using today was invented in Kolkata's Chinatown to cater to the fresh spicy flavours that Bengalis love. Add as much garlic as you like. We're chopping the vegetables to mimic the shape of the noodles and make sure that they're all similarly sized so they all cook evenly. I'll link the noodles I use and these are perfect for chowmein but any wheat thin noodles will do. I don't want to fully cook the noodles because they might overcook while I'm stir-frying them and I want them to retain some of their chewiness. Oil the noodles so that they don't stick together. I use some green chilli oil but any neutral oil works. Also, I probably should have beaten this egg so do that before you add it to the pan. You could also add chicken, beef or any other protein of your choice at this stage. This comes together in just a few minutes so it's very important to have all your ingredients at hand. We're cooking this in the wok at high heat to replicate the smoky flavour of wok hei. Nothing needs to be cooked for more than 30 seconds. We want to retain the crunch of the vegetables. The high heat ensures that all the vegetables and the noodles get a charred flavour. The sauce is super simple and here is the green chilli sauce I was talking about. You can find it in any Indian grocery store. Look at that! The colour and the aroma remind me of the streets of Kolkata. Let's try our street-style chowmein from Kolkata. As usual, this is an Indo-Chinese dish and so there is a touch of Indian in this in the form of garam masala which is unusual for chowmein but it's a very small quantity and it really adds a nice fragrant touch. Have you tried this before, Ross? I can't say I have, not that I recall. You were too busy trying gravy momos. Oh yeah, delicious. All right, let's try it. Let's give it a go. This is fantastic. This is definitely spicy. My mom would not be able to eat this whatsoever. I like the spiciness of course and this is just a fantastic take on the classic chowmein that we all love. Doesn't seem like a lot of work and it comes together pretty quick. Yeah, I mean it's got that spiciness from the black pepper as well as the green chillies we added as well as the green chilli sauce which is another Chinese condiment that originated in Kolkata because Kolkata has one of the largest China towns in India. Yeah, I think that green chilli sauce is delivering most of the spice. All right, try this out at home and let me know what you think. See you next week. If you loved this recipe, you're going to love my other Indo-Chinese recipe, sweet and spicy honey chilli potatoes.