Prawn Chow Mein

5 from 4 votes

Prawn Chow Mein is a quick and easy stir fried noodle recipe. With succulent juicy prawns, a ton of vegetables, and a slick sauce.

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Total Time20

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: asian

Keyword: king prawn chow mein, prawn chow mein

Servings:

Calories: 646kcal

Author: Adrianne

Ingredients

Chow Mein Noodle Sauce

1 teaspoon cornstarch Note 1
2 tbs Chinese cooking wine Note 2
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoon soy sauce

Prawns

1 ½ tablespoon peanut oil
500 grams/1 pound king prawns Note 3
4 cloves garlic thinly sliced, Note 4
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Vegetables

1 large red capsicum deseeded and sliced into long thin strips
2 large carrots peeled and finely sliced into long thin pieces
3 cups cabbage roughly shredded
8 green onions roots and tips trimmed and sliced into long segments

Noodles

500 grams/ 1 pounds chow mein noodles Note 4

Instructions

Prawns: use a cutting board and start to prepare the prawns by twisting their heads off. Then peel the shell leaving the end segment and tail intact. Once done use a small knife and cut along the back of the prawns and remove the digestive tract. Then repeat this process for all of the prawns.
Sauce: make the sauce by adding the Chinese cooking wine to a small jug with the cornstarch. Whisk these together until there are no lumps. Then add the oyster sauce and soy sauce and whisk again till consistently combined.
Cook prawns: place a large saute pan on the stove top, turn the heat to high and add the peanut oil. Then add the garlic, prawns, salt and pepper. Cook the prawns for 2-3 minutes using pair of tongs to flip and rotate them as they cook. Once the prawns have cooked use a slotted spoon to lift them up and out of the pan and place them onto a paper towel lined plate. The sliced garlic can stay in the pan.
Vegetables: without rinsing or cleaning the pan add the onion, cabbage, carrot and capisum. Stir fry the vegetables for 2-3 minutes until they have a wet sweaty look.
Noodles: read and follow the package directions to cook the noodles, then use a colander over the sink to drain them and discard the water.
Combine: next add the cooked noodles to the pan with the vegetables and pour over the sauce. Then add the cooked prawns to the dish and toss and combine. Let the dish heat through.
To serve: use tongs to portion the prawn chow mein into serving bowls and provide chopsticks for serving.

Notes

Note 1 - Cornstarch: the cornstarch helps to thicken the sauce. To 'activate' it, we want to add it to the Chinese cooking wine and whisk these 2 together to remove any lumps. Once done, we can then add the oyster sauce and soy sauce.
Note 2 - Chinese cooking wine: also known as shaoxing wine. This will be in the Asian foods section and labelled as such.
Note 3 - Prawns: King prawns, banana prawns or tiger prawns will work. You can remove the tails when preparing the prawns if you wish too.
Note 4 - Garlic: we use fresh garlic cloves and finely slice these. They add an excellent texture to the recipe. Or you can use finely diced garlic cloves or minced garlic (not more than 1 tablespoon).
Note 5 - Noodles: many local grocery stores now sell chow mein noodles in the fridge section. If you can't find them or want to use a different type of noodle, you can use ramen noodles, udon, egg noodles or hokkien noodles.
Serving size: this is a large recipe which will feed 4. I can see however, if you are super hungry, you could serve larger serving sizes and have it across 3 servings.

Nutrition