Yat Gaw Mein Soup (aka Yakamein) is a Chinese influenced clear broth soup enhanced with deep Creole flavors.
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This Chinese and New Orleans fusion dish is prepared with noodles and this particular yat gaw mein with chicken stripes.
See further below how I make my one-pot yat gaw mein soup so that you get to enjoy this fantastic dish as well!
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I stumbled upon yat gaw mein on Reddit in a post, and then I saw this.
That was all the motivation I needed that night to make this wonderful clear broth soup of two (or many?) names.
You can make this richly flavored one-pot clear broth soup as well at home, because getting yat gaw mein as a takeout will prove to be difficult if you don't live in New Orleans or Baltimore.
This is an all year round light clear broth soup, which you can turn vegetarian by skipping the meat and by using vegetable broth.
Use glutenfree noodles to prepare the yat gaw mein Gluten-free.
📕 What is Yat Gaw Mein/Yakamein?
Yat Gaw Mein or Yakamein is a soup prepared with a flavored clear broth and enhanced with wheat noodles, some proteins and most importantly with creole seasoning flavors.
Yat Gaw Mein/Yakamein can be prepared with chicken, shrimp, pork or beef.
The soup most probably was introduced by Chinese to the New Orleans area (because of the Chinese name).
I couldn't really find a 100 confirmation about the origins of this noodles soup.
It all seems to be rather blurry.
So, some say this is what's left of the now extinct china town of New Orleans.
The noodle soup, however, is super popular in the area, and for a good reason!
The Yakamein Lady, Chef Ms. Linda from New Orleans, made this dish the next big thing by introducing it to Anthony Bourdain in Parts unknown years ago.
I wish I could taste her soup someday in the future!
Besides Yat Gaw Mein is also known as old sober soup.
It has been called an elixir and it's known to cure hangovers.
Luckily this soup might just take over the world at some point.
Not because of its supposedly healing ways, but because this soup is just another amazing "Thank god it's Friday" night dinner.
🍜 Ingredients to make Yat Gaw Mein/Yakamein
My Yat Gaw Mein recipe was tweaked a couple of times until I got to include and adjust the number of following ingredients.
These are common ingredients for anybody who has been preparing Asian food at home or if you have been following my recipes so far.
You will need:
- Wheat Noodles - no rice noodles. I use common egg low mein style Chinese egg noodles but you can use the flat variation too.
- Chicken - boneless
- Ginger & Garlic - use a smooth paste so that it mixes into the clear broth
- Spring Onion - turns the soup into a fresh treat
- Chicken broth - Adds depth to the soup
- Creole Seasoning - essential to make this soup a true yakamein. 3 min homemade creole seasoning
- Soy Sauce - can't do without this
- Chili Sauce - optional but ads another touche to the yat gaw mein
- Egg - cooked with a custard-like egg yolk (4 min egg)
🔪 How to make Yat Gaw Mein/ Yakamein?
Yat gaw mein is a one-pot clear broth soup dish, which means it's a quick and easy soup meal as well.
The common "Asian food prep rule" applies here too.
Keep your ingredients cut and ready so that you can just add the ingredients quickly one by one.
Organization is key here, although it's an easy soup to make from scratch, but you want to save time as well while preparing this flavorful creole soup!
🧰 Useful tools to make Yat Gaw Mein/Yakamein: Recipe
- 8-inch stainless steel knife – You can’t cook properly without a good knife
- Walnut wooden cutting board – those are sturdy and will last you a lifetime
- Serving Bowls – Very aesthetically pleasing soup bowls
👁️ Similar soup ideas Recipe:
- Thukpa - Tibetan noodle soup
- Chinese Noodle Soup
- Hot & Sour Noodle Soup
Dear Reader, does yat gaw mein remind you of something?
📖 Recipe
Yat Gaw Mein Soup with Chicken - Yakamein Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Green Onions aka Spring Onions
- 4.30 ounces Chicken Boneless
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic *see Notes
- 1 Tablespoon Creole Seasoning
- 3 cups Water mixed with concentrated Stock
- 1.76 ounces Lo Mein Noodles see note
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Chili Sauce optional
Instructions
- Keep all your ingredients ready. Cut your spring onion bulbs into slices, keep the spring onion greens at the side and chop. The stalks will be used to garnish the soup.
- Cut your boneless Chicken into bite-sized strips and keep aside.
- For the Egg, keep a pot on the heat and bring the water to a boil (make sure there is enough water to cover the egg). Place your egg into the cooking water. cook for 1 minute covered, turn off the heat and time for 3 more minutes. In that time your egg will get cooked so that the yolk will remain soft. Take out from the water and, crack briefly and keep in a bowl with cold water. Keep aside.
- Now grab your pan to make the yat gaw mein, heat up, pour in the oil and throw in your sliced onion bulbs. Stir-fry for a little and add the ginger and garlic, stir-fry for another minute. Reduce the heat if it splashed a lot.
- Next, add the chicken pieces and stir cook for a minute or two on both sides. Then season with the Creole seasoning. Stir cook for another few seconds before pouring in the broth and the water. Mix well.
- Keep on medium to high heat so that the soup starts to cook. Add your wheat noodles and soy sauce at this point and mix well again.
- Allow the yakamein to simmer for 10 minutes. Serve in soup bowls with a half of the egg and the chopped green spring onion.
Notes
- Use Ginger Garlic Paste, which you can buy too, or use fresh ginger and garlic. The ratio is ⅓ ginger and ⅔ garlic.
- You can make this soup vegetarian by keeping out the chicken and using veg broth instead of the chicken broth
- For the Noodles use only wheat noodles. You can use regular egg Chinese low mein noodles or flat egg noodles.
