I've never made chow mein. But, if I'm not mistaken, it is sort of a Cantonese style dish with a light sauce. It that is correct, I would not recommend adding hoisin sauce, which is sometimes thought of as Chinese ketchup. It's good, but doesn't seem right for that kind of dish. I think you have enough flavoring ingredients in the recipe. Perhaps it just needs more salt. There was a time when restaurants would have used MSG, but I doubt that any do now. Soy sauce adds saltiness but maybe not quite enough. You don't want to overdo the soy sauce so maybe just more salt would make the dish less bland. The only other things that come to mind are aromatic vegetables. Does it have onion, carrots or celery in it? Jim

"Posted by teresa_nc7 ----- Bok Choy is a two-fer vegetable for me - I cut off the leaves and then slice the stalk just like I would celery and put it in a stir fry with onions and garlic; then I cut the leaves into ribbons and add them after the stalk and onions are tender. ------------ " Absolutely. I do the same not only with bok choy, but also with many other veggies as well. You will notice from my posts that's what I like to do. I have found that the leaves and the stems are really two different vegetables. They taste, look, and cook differently. Also, like white meat and dark meat, people have different preferences. dcarch

When I make my own ponzu, I use 1 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp lemons, and 1 cup soy sauce, but you can adjust it any way you like. Sometimes I use all lime juice and sometimes I use all lemon juice, depending on what I have. Right now, the new lemon and lime trees I have do not have ripe fruit, but I should be getting Meyer lemons this autumn and limes hopefully by winter. Lars

I usually just "wing" Chow Mein, therefore I am not sure how authentic mine is. Here is a recipe I have not tried, it's from a very old cookbook my mom gave me back in the 70's. Chow Mein with Pork and Shrimp from Madame Won's Long Life Chinese Cookbook 1/2 lb Chinese fresh water noodles 9 T oil 4 oz fresh shrimp, shelled, deveined and cut into pieces 1-1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cornstarch 1/2 lb lean pork, shredded 1 T sherry 2 T light soy sauce 1/2 tsp sugar 1/2 lb bok choy 2 dried black mushrooms, soaked in boiling watr 20 min., stems removed , shredded 2 T chicken stock 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp water Drop noodles into boiling water, boil 5 minutes. Rinse under cold water, drain. Mix noodles with 1T of oil. Mix shrimp with 1/4 tsp salt and cornstarch. Heat 1 T of oil in wok to 400F and stir fry shrimp until they turn pink, about 1 minute. Remove, set aside. Heat 2 T oil in wok to 400F. Stir fry pork until color changes. Add sherry, 1 T soy sauce, and sugar. Stir fry 1 minute. Remove, set aside. Heat 2 T oil in wok to 400F. Stir fry bok choy 1 minute. Add pork, mushrooms, 1 tsp salt, 1 T soy sauce. Add stock, cook 3 minutes. Thicken with dissolved cornstarch. Add shrimp, bring to a boil. Remove, set aside. Heat 3T oil in wok to 350F, stir fry noodles (they will form a cake) until outside is golden brown but inside is soft. Cook 5 minutes on each side. Remove to platter, place shrimp/pork mixture on top of noodles. Serve Linda