Chicken Vermicelli

Yummy yummy yummy! You want something Asian?! Well here it is. This chicken vermicelli dish is going to give you a full tummy and wallet. It also rubs that particular Asian hankering inside ;). With just a few ingredients lying around in my house, I decided to make something creative and fun based off a lovely vermicelli dish made for me by my lovely momma for the past two decades of my life. From her kitchen and mine, here's a dish to keep you happy.

Ingredients:
1.)  2 bundles of Chinese Vermicelli (also called cellophane noodles). There are a large variety of vermicelli such as rice vermicelli and Italian, but make sure you head over to your local Asian supermarket and pick up a pack.
2.) ~1/2 cup of bean sprouts (I just grabbed a fist full)
3.) ~1/2 cup of minced chicken (I minced 1 whole chicken breast)
4.)  ~2 tbsp of sesame oil
5.) ~1.5 tbsp of soy sauce
6.) salt and pepper to taste
7.) ~1/2 tbsp of sugar
8.) ~1.5 tbsp of white or black sesame seeds

Chinese vermicelli usually come in small stiff bundles like these.
Picture Source:  upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Dongfen.jpg

Directions:
1.) Take the bundles of vermicelli and soak in some warm to hot water. This should soften the vermicelli to cook.

The vermicelli comes in bundles--pictured is two.

Once softened, drain the water. The vermicelli should be stiff, but flexible.

2.) Place half cup of minced chicken in a mixing bowl, add 1 tbsp of sesame oil, 3/4 tbsp of soy sauce, sugar, and a dash of black pepper. Let the chicken marinate for a bit. Note: In this recipe, I'm using regular soy sauce (not low sodium, at all!) so I'm not adding salt to the chicken in this instance since the soy sauce has a lot of salt already.

Diced 1 chicken breast and marinate. I only used half the amount pictured.

3.) Heat up some oil in a wok and add (half) chicken. Remember to move the chicken around to prevent burning, but leave long enough to start browning. Once the chicken starts to brown, add the bean sprouts. Cook both ingredients until the beansprouts start to soften but not become limp.

Heat some oil in a wok.

Cook the chicken. Once, the chicken starts browning, add bean sprouts and cook until soften.

4.) Turn the heat slightly down and add vermicelli. Note: vermicelli cooks very fast and will instantly stick to the bottom of the wok. Keep scraping the bottom of the wok while cooking.

Add vermicelli once the bean sprouts have soften.

The vermicelli took less than a minute to cook. As you can see, the vermicelli sticks to the bottom very easily.

5.) Add a pinch or two of salt and pepper, remaining sesame oil, sesame seeds and soy sauce. Mix ingredients together to create an equal distribution. Remove from heat, top with sesame seeds and serve. Enjoy!

Remove from heat, top with sesame seeds, and serve.

Afterthoughts: In step three, I only added half the chicken I prepped since I didn't want that much chicken in my vermicelli. However, please feel free to add as much or save the remaining chicken for some other time. I also wished I had given more time for marinating the chicken, but it came out rather delicious regardless. This is a rather large portion for one person or a bit small for two, but whichever works for you. I hope you enjoy!

Costs:
1.) 1 packet of vermicelli - has about 8 servings = $1.10 so, ~$0.30 was used
2.) Chicken breast = $0.75
3.) Soy sauce, sesame seeds & oil = ~$1.00
Total Costs: ~$2.05 for about two servings