One of My Favorite Easy Weeknight Meals
By Andrew Zimmern
Way out on Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, I ate in a middling restaurant pretty frequently before it closed. Like a lot of restaurants, it did a few things so well, so perfectly, that I kept going just for those dishes. One of them was these noodles, to which you can add shrimp or roast pork (really, anything you like), but I keep it pretty basic here. I make these once a week without fail. The whole chiles don’t make it spicy. If you want it that way you need to crush one or two up. I buy thin egg noodles at my local Asian market and keep them in the fridge. They will last two weeks if you have a refrigerator that has a good dehumidifier; otherwise you can freeze them, and they defrost quickly. This dish requires about 10 minutes of prep, and that’s it. One of my favorite easy weeknight meals … enjoy!
Instructions
Start with two to three portions of fresh Chinese thin egg noodles. Really, any noodles will do, from Japanese buckwheat to udon to Korean sweet potato noodles to Vietnamese rice noodles and on and on…
- Blanch the noodles. Rinse to stop cooking and reserve.
- Heat a wok on high heat. Add some peanut, safflower, grapeseed or other strong, clean oil.
- Cook your aromatics briefly: garlic, ginger, dried chiles (sometimes I toss in some fermented black beans).
- Add your noodles, tossing every few minutes until you see some nice toasting in some spots.
- Add your carrots or any other longer-cooking veg. Toss. Add your other veg that take less time. Toss.
- Add your herbs or bean sprouts and toss VERY briefly. I added Thai basil here because anytime I have some on hand, I add it to everything.
- Add your liquid seasonings, in this case 2 tablespoons each of oyster sauce, dark soy, light soy, sugar (sometimes I also add some rice wine).
- Toss briefly and serve almost immediately.
