A common tradition for the upcoming Valentine’s Day is to cook a meal for someone you love. But whether you’re cooking for yourself or your loved ones on Valentine’s Day or any day, sophomore Ariana Wilt for her MYP Project will be sharing five different cultural recipes this week: one for each day. Before she shares how to make each dish she’ll tell you a little bit about the cultural story behind each dish. Let us know if you make one of these dishes in the days or weeks ahead.

Do you love Chinese food? Her first dish is for our Chinese food lovers:

Vegetable Shrimp Chow Mein

This dish originated in China in the 1850’s.  The dish is popular throughout the Chinese diaspora and appears on the menus of most Chinese restaurants abroad. Chinese stir-fried noodles with vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu is a well loved dish in China and America.

Ingredients:

8 ounces yellow Chinese egg noodles
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 medium carrot, julienned
1/4 pound broccoli florets, cut into one-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 medium bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 bag of shrimp

Directions:

Step 1
Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Rinse under cold water, drain and set aside.
Step 2
In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin, rice vinegar, brown sugar and water. Set aside.

Step 3
Heat the oil over high heat. Stir in the garlic, onion, and ginger. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the garlic and onions are soft and fragrant.

Step 4
Stir in carrot, broccoli and bell peppers and shrimp. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Step 5
Add the noodles and sauce mixture. Toss everything together until combined and heated through, about 2 minutes. Serve hot.