Can anyone remember a recioe that had many names but mostly Beef Chow Mein?

I remember it had beef mince, cabbage, curry powder, noodles (maybe chicken noodle soup), onions and as many vegetables as you wanted to add.

Thanks for any help.

This request took me way back to my early flatting days (more years ago than I can almost remember) when it made a regular appearance on our frugal budget menu. If you google Beef Chow Mein you'll get lots of hits, but this one [www.recipes.co.nz] sounds closest to what we used to make. I don't recall using anything as exotic (in those days) as oyster sauce and it was served with rice rather than noodles.
Lynne2

It was called Kai Si Ming. I have googled and there are varied recipes. We used chicken noodle soup mix as this recipe has, and the vegies usually were cabbage and carrots. This is the closest recipe I can find to how I did it 'back in the day' - minus celery as I could never and still can't abide celery.

A great tasty budget recipe when I was flatting

(two lots of editing sorry - my bad)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2020 08:05AM by Irene Field.

Hi Marnie, yes, it's come up occasionally on foodlovers and my mother used to make it for us in the 60s-70s (beef mince, vegs - onion, carrot, peas - but especially cabbage, packet of Maggi chicken noodle soup, small amount of rice, bit of curry powder...)

See [forum.foodlovers.co.nz]

LJB also mentions it here [forum.foodlovers.co.nz]

Heck yes, Chow Mien, Kai Si Ming - so good and one of the first things I learnt to make without screwing it up. Always Maggi chicken noodle soup, cabbage and carrots. Then there was curried mince made with curry powder, sultanas, served with sides of desiccated coconut, pineapple shreds and banana. Maybe something else but I can't remember. Think dad had it with mashed potatoes as even his sausage curries, spag bog, had mashed potatoes and peas. Married to an Englishman and he could not understand how much I loved these dishes. I couldn't understand how he raved over chitterlings and jot, which I had another name for.

I remember making this when I was first married 50 years ago. It was cheap and tasted good. Our tastes were so simple then.

Thanks very much everyone. I never knew there were so many different names given to the dish but I did see it in many local recipe books with all sorts of variations. I used the link Lynne2 posted as a base. Thank you very much.

I didn't have any chicken noodle soup in tbe house so I used spaghetti noodles broken into short lengths.
I found some stock hiding in the pantry.
I didn't have oyster sauce, so left that out.
No celery in the house, either.
It still tasted good.

J1, you always amaze me with your ability to find older links, even though I try Google, too.

Marnie I have a hand written recipe gleaned from my girlfriend (for whom I was one of her bridesmaids over 50 years ago) soon after she was married. I was very impressed with the flavours and it was a recipe I made often for my own family in following years. Similar lines to the recipes above with simple ingredients and I do remember always adding more rice than the recipe stated and adding more water if required:

Chinese Mince
Brown 1 lb mince in 1 oz butter.
Add 3 sticks chopped celery, 3 dessertspoons rice, 1 teaspoons rice, 1 teaspoon curry, 1 packet Ma**i Cream of Chicken Soup powder, 2 cups cold water.
Cook about 1/2 hour stirring frequently.

It is very much a mix and match recipe as you have done Marnie. I have been known to add soy sauce instead of salt too! A lovely recipe and I have very fond memories of the times I made it for the family. Haven't made exactly that recipe for a long time now.
Regards,
Dawn.

I am rejoining after many years away and it really is so good to be back! I remember Kai Si Ming - the recipe was included in a recipe book printed in either the late fifties or early sixties.

Welcome back MMD. Yes, a lot of group recipe books were printed with that recipe or similar a while ago. I looked in a recipe book my son had bought when he was in boarding school. It was there, also in many others. I really enjoyed looking through all the other "retro"recipes too and thought....well, why not? If I liked them then, they could be good to have occasionally now.

Dawn, thanks for that. Many good recipes were/are hand written and mean more than just the recipe. It's a memory of a friend or a relative as well. I found a whole section of things such as Val's boiled gingerbread, Karen's pasta dish, Viv's chicken dish and so on.
I will be adding your recipe to my list for the sheer simplicity of it. A lot of my passed on recipes have words in them such as ...or what have you....in them.

ps...I did buy a lot of minced beef right at the beginning of lockdown.