A camp safe and simple way to make a kiwi takeaway favourite

Ingredients

• 1 large whole chicken ~2 Kg
• 4 medium onions
• 1 kg cabbage
• 750 g cauliflower
• 1 stick celery
• 2 carrots
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 5 tablespoons oil
• 2 teaspoons chicken stock powder
• 250 g dried noodles

Method

Cook the chicken earlier in the day by boiling or steaming until tender, let cook a bit, and remove meat from the bones

Slice all the vegetables

Heat oil in a large deep frypan, large heavy bottomed pot, or wok. When hot, add oil, and add onions. As they start to cook, place all other vegetables in with them. Gently toss the vegetables until partly cooked then add the chicken stock, soya sauce, and prepared chicken meat

Cook until the meat is hot

If your chow mein has made a lot of liquid during the cooking of it, it may be thickened by adding a mix of cornflour (starch) or flour, and water, but do be careful not to over-cook, as the vegetables should be crisp when served

For the noodles, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add noodles to rapidly boiling water. Cook until tender (between 2 to 8 minutes depending on thickness of noodle)

Overcooked noodles will go mushy, so keep them on the firm side. Drain into a colander, and serve immediately, or add a knob of butter or a little oil to prevent the noddles from sticking to each other

Serve noodles on top

This dish without noodles, often with more vegetables variety and/or quantity is called a Chop Suey. Both these names refer to europeanised Asian dishes