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Noodles

Noodle Soup!

Dec 7th, 2008
by dave.
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Noodle Soup

With the weather turning cold, I’ve been turning to much more comfort food type dishes lately. After making chili a while ago and a new batch of wontons, I’ve been on a soup noodle kick as of late. There’s a myriad of different kinds of noodle soups available at all of the different eateries around town (I’ll have another post detailing many of the different kinds as soon as I finish sampling them :P ), but I decided that I should be able to have this at home too.

So in celebration of the first snowfall of the winter, I set off to make myself a steaming hot bowl of soup. With a trip to Super 88, I had all of the necessary ingredients for just a few dollars. There’s not much of a recipe but I’ll try my best to detail the steps I took.

Rice Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
Rice Noodles (Pho noodles) – 4 ounces (or more, depending on whether you want more or not)
12-16 oz Chicken Broth (I just used one can)
6 oz Water (half the can of chicken broth)
beef balls
fish balls
fish cakes
pork wontons
bok choy
dash of 5 spice powder

Method:
1. Depending on if you have fresh rice noodles or not, you may be able to skip this step. If you have dried rice noodles, follow the directions on the package. Strain noodles and put in a bowl.
2. Blanch the bok choy, set aside.
3. Heat up the chicken broth and water, add the dash of 5 spice powder. Bring close to a boil.
4. Add the wontons, beef balls, fish balls, and fish cakes. Cook wontons through.
5. Add the bok choy in for a minute or so.
6. Pour soup over the noodles in a bowl and chow down

Beef Chow Fun

Jul 18th, 2008
by dave.
2 comments

One of my favorite Chinese dishes growing up was Beef Chow Fun or rather beef stir fried with bean sprouts and haw fun (wide rice noodles). It was a great complement to a traditional Chinese lunch or dinner along with a steamed dish and some veggies (chinese broccoli, pea sprouts, etc). I could really not get enough of this dish, as well as the version made with more gravy (I’ll try making that another time), and we used to order it every time we went out to eat (Not to mention it was also my sister’s favorite dish!).

I’d come across many different recipes for Beef Chow Fun but they all came out much different than I was used to. Then I found a version in Grace Young’s Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen and it came out amazingly. Not as greasy or as dark (probably the soy sauce I used) as in a restaurant, which was a plus, but it still had the same texture and flavor!

I always try to get fresh haw fun from the grocery store, I usually don’t like using the dried haw fun and it never seems to come out right! Fresh haw fun should be cooked the day it’s purchased, otherwise the noodles start to harden and will break apart on you in the wok.

Beef Chow Fun

Ingredients
8 ounces mung bean sprouts (I used closer to 6), rinsed and cleaned
2/3 – 3/4 lb beef flank steak, sliced
1/4 tsp baking soda
2-3 tbsp light soy sauce (or dark soy sauce, can use less)
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp ShaoHsing cooking wine
1 tbsp Chinese dried black beans (fermented dried black beans), rinsed and mashed
1 lb fresh rice noodles (haw fun)
3 tbsp canola oil
3-4 thin slices of ginger
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 scallions, ends removed, cut into inch slices
2-3 tbsp oyster sauce

Method
1. Mix together the baking soda, 1 tbsp soy sauce, cornstarch, and rice wine. Add the beef, stir to combine and set aside.
2. Heat a wok over high heat until hot but not smoking (Good test is if a droplet of water evaporates in a couple seconds). Add 1 tbsp oil, the ginger, and garlic to the wok and stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3. Add the beef and spread it out evenly in the wok, let cook for about a minute. Add the mashed black beans and stir fry for another couple minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
4. Add the rest of the oil with the noodles, spreading them out in the wok. Cook for about a minute and then add the bean sprouts. Stir fry for another couple minutes and add the rest of the soy sauce, toss to coat the noodles.
5. Add the beef back in, toss, then add the scallions and the oyster sauce.
6. Stir fry another couple minutes and serve.

Mixed Greens and Chicken Udon Stir Fry

May 18th, 2008
by dave.
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I ended up with a couple different packets of noodles once, some udon and some other rice noodle that I don’t have a name for. Had some watercress, chives, and scallions in the fridge so I threw those together with some marinated chicken. It was my first time putting a dish together without any real recipe and it actually turned out alright (no fires or explosions thankfully)

The Amoy Chicken Marinade is a great soy sauce, it’s a little bit sweeter than normal soy sauce and works really well with chicken (hence being chicken marinade :P ). I threw that in with some sesame oil, more sugar, a little fish sauce, corn starch, and some sherry and marinated it overnight.

Mixed green and chicken stir fry

Marinade
3-4 tbsp Chicken Marinade
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tsp sugar
1-2 tbsp sherry/rice wine
1 tsp fish sauce

Ingredients
1 lb Chicken, cubed
Some mixed greens (broccoli, chinese broccoli, watercress, chives, scallions, spinach…)
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic
2-3 packets of rice noodles (depending how much you like noodles)

Method:
1. Mix the marinade together with the chicken. Let marinate in the fridge overnight (or a couple hours will do)
2. Heat the wok on medium-high with a little oil. Toss in the garlic for about 30 seconds, then add the chicken.
3. Stir-fry for a few minutes until the meat is browned on both sides, then add the onion and mixe greens.
4. Stir-fry a few more minutes until the greens get softer and add the noodles.
5. Make up a smaller batch of the marinade and toss it in with the noodles.

Thai Noodles – Noob style!

Mar 31st, 2008
by dave.
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I originally got into Thai food like most other people…through Pad Thai at various locales around the area. And like other inquisitive eaters before me, I had to try making this awesome new dish.

Turns out it’s not as easy as it looks. Getting the ingredients isn’t necessarily the hard part…but I’ve never managed to get the sauce to taste right. I’ve given up since and searched for some of the easier dishes to make, leading me to today’s post. I found multiple recipes for Pad See Ew over the past few months and compiled them all together for a “distinct” version I guess.

I’m a huge fan of fresh rice noodles…in fact, it’s probably one of my favorite noodles to supplement a dish with. And also, living near Super 88 is a huge plus, where they have fresh rice noodles daily! I always buy the precut ones since I’m lazy but you can also get the wedges and cut them yourself (If you like different shapes anyway)

Pad See Ew

Main Ingredients
1 lb fresh rice noodles (sliced into bite sized pieces)
1 lb beef (I like to use sirloin tips or flank)
2 large bunches of broccoli florets (more if you like broccoli :P )
2 eggs

Marinade
3-5 garlic cloves minced
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp rice wine (I use Shaoshing)
1 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 spring onion (I’ve used 2-3 scallions as well)
3-4 thai chillies (chopped, with seeds)

Extra Sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp ketjap manis

Method
1. Slice the meat, mix in marinade. Let marinate for about 20-30 minutes (overnight is ok but unneeded)
2. Slice up the broccoli florets into bite sized (or smaller) pieces. This way the pieces of broccoli will soak up the sauce faster.
3. Heat wok to medium-high, and stir fry the marinated beef until slightly browned.
4. Add broccoli, stir fry for about a minute to get the broccoli mixed well.
5. Add noodles and the sauce. Mix well.
6. Make a little well in the middle of the wok, crack the two eggs in and stir fry until egg is fully cooked through and mix well with the rest of the dish.

Enjoy!

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