Chinese Stir-Fried Noodles
Chinese Stir-Fried Noodles
Posted by Cookin’ Dad at recipegoldmine
com 1/20/2002 12:34 am
Dear Recipe Gold Mine Friends,
I have received a few e-mails in the past regarding how to make good Chinese fried noodles
Unfortunately, I have been super busy with work & haven’t had a lot of extra time to write long responses
Anyhow, I finally got around to responding
I have pasted the text of one message below
Hope it is at least a little helpful
Also, hope all of you had a great weekend!
Regards,
Cookin’ Dad
Milk & Honey,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you regarding the fried noodle recipe; year-end accounting robbed me of any free time last week (smile)
Anyhow, I do not have exact measurements for this recipe (most Americans don’t measure when they make spaghetti-smile) ; there are millions of variations, but I guarantee that you can’t go wrong with virtually any fried noodle recipe as long as you use the below KEY ingredients
I actually played around with several ingredients off & on during the past few months & this is what I came up with:
Fried Noodles (for 6 to 8 people)
Meats
Use about 1 pound of cooked, diced chicken, pork or beef strips or seafood
If you use chicken or pork, lightly salt meat (little less than 1/2 tps /lb) & apply about 2 Tbspwater to meat
Than slowly sprinkle equal amount of cornstarch & slowly massage mixture into meat
For pork, unless it is a very tender cut of meat, you’ll probably want to add about 1 tablespoon oil
Follow same steps for beef
For seafood, like shrimp, use same salt ratio, but cut the cornstarch & water by about 75%
Vegetables
I like to use carrots, thinly sliced mushrooms, green onions, bean sprouts (small qty
) Chinese or American celery
As a rule of thumb, I use about a 1
5: 1 veggies & meat ratio
However, much of this depends on individual tastes
The locals here often use at least twice as much veggies as meat
For 6-8 person recipe, I’d probably use about 3 cups of veggies
Wine
This is a KEY ingredient
Drizzle about 1 to 2 Tbspon meat halfway through cooking cycle
Soy Sauce
I like to use this, but you can use salt instead
The color of the noodles will, of course, be lighter
Chinese BBQ Sauce (pronounced shah chah jiang)
This is also KEY & adds a very unique touch to fried noodles
Your original recipe did not use this & the addition of this ingredient makes a huge difference
I know many of the older Taiwanese that I know around here like to add this ingredient
You can buy this at most Chinese/oriental grocery stores
Oyster Sauce
This KEY ingredient is slightly sweet & is an awesome combination with Chinese BBQ sauce
I use equal amounts of both in my fried noodles
Garlic
I use lots of this – about 1 tablespoon for stir-frying the veggies in this recipe
Sesame Oil
This adds a unique flair to this recipe
Drizzle on 1 to 2 tpss (try 1 tps first) of this on fried noodles after you finish cooking them
Simply toss & serve
Note: I don’t use black or white pepper in my fried noodles
If I want extra zip, I add 1 fresh, chopped Chinese red chile pepper (heat averse types can remove seeds before stir-frying)
Stir fry with garlic before adding veggies
Directions
Salt & marinate your meat for several hrs as per above directions
For best results, do this the day before
I usually do so & the meat is ALWAYS super tender
Boil noodles (not sure on cooked quantity – 8 cups?) until al dente
Drain, rinse & set aside
Next, while noodles are boiling, dice or thinly slice your veggies
The green onions can be finely chopped or cut in one inch strips which is much faster
Once veggies are chopped & your wok has started to lightly smoke, add about 2 Tbspoil
Be careful not to add too much or your veggies will be oily (Note: If you use carrots or American celery, you may want to par-boil (couple of min) them before stir-frying since they take longer to stir-fry than the other veggies (I usually do that); the color will also be better
Once oil is hot, add garlic & fry for about 10 to 15 seconds or just until you smell a very strong aroma, but garlic has not browned
Next add veggies & stir-fry about 3 min before removing from wok
If you choose not to use soy sauce, add salt just before you are finished cooking veggies
The next step is to add more oil to your wok & stir-fry meat
You can stir-fry meat with one whole, bruised, peeled garlic clove (remove after cooking unless you like to eat whole garlic cloves like my wife)
About halfway through cooking cycle, add dry white wine, sherry or rice wine (I use rice wine because it’s very cheap)
After meat has finished cooking, remove from wok
After wok has cooled for minute or so, wipe dry or if very dirty, rinse clean with warm water
Add about 3 Tbspsoy sauce, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce & 1 tablespoon Chinese BBQ sauce
Heat this mixture very briefly before adding veggies, meat & noodles
Toss well to coat & turn off fire
Add sesame oil & toss again
Taste noodles & add more oyster sauce & Chinese BBQ sauce
Do not add more than 1 tablespoon of each every time you add these as the noodles will become noticeably saltier VERY quickly
You can also add more soy sauce, but I usually try not to because it is very salty
Hope you find this helpful & please E-mail me if you still have questions regarding ingredients or measurements
Take care
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