Monday, April 6, 2020

Vegetarian curry noodles



One of our daughters is originally from China and she is obsessed with noodles. My wife makes awesome miso kimchi noodles, that is a go-to.

As one of my favorite foods from pre-veg days was Singapore chow mei fun (Singapore style fried rice noodles with curry sauce & meat), I wanted to try to make something similar.

Making this is fairly effortless now, so I don't follow much of a recipe - it's mostly an excuse to "eat down" whatever vegetables are still good, but a little long in the tooth. I'll try to call out the important bits.

I'm also awful with sizing things. Pours are a "bloop", spices are a "blop". You know when you've done wrong.

Ingredients

  1. Dry rice noodles & water to cook said noodles. Maybe 2-3 blocks of noodles.
  2. Oil
    1. canola, vegetable - the cheap stuff - used for frying
    2. sesame oil - the expensive stuff - used for final dressing.
  3. 2 eggs
  4. Spices
    1. curry paste or powder
    2. cardamom powder
    3. salt
    4. pepper
  5. Chopped Vegetables
    1. Ginger (if you don't have ginger, you can substitute with spice powder. I also really like buying tube ginger when I find it. So much easier than mincing ginger).
    2. Garlic and/or Onion - your aromatics
    3. (Frequently) Mushrooms
    4. (I would use, but she's not a fan of) Carrots
    5. (ALWAYS) Cabbage, pref nappa. 
    6. (Sometimes) Zucchini
    7. (Frequently) Bell peppers
    8. Other veggies - sure! I've even thrown in some chopped avacado after the cooking is done. Make sure to salt it with a nice chunky salt.
  6. Sour liquid
    1. I like & use mirin a lot - it's a good, kind of sweet flavor, but sometimes will use cooking sake. Whatever my hand hits first in our "cooking supports" cupboard.
About that cabbage - I fell like cabbage gets such a bad rap, and it's delcious. Stays crunchy on a fry, I love the texture. Cabbage all the things!

Steps
  1. Get water boiling for noodles. Don't put your dry noodles in yet - they will cook in about 2m, and you want them slightly not done, so they can finish cooking with the good stuff below.
  2. Get your wok on med/high heat with a bloop of frying oil. Let it heat up. If you don't have a wok, a regular pan is fine, as long as it has sides so stirring veggies doesn't make a stove mess.
  3. Beat eggs with curry paste/powder, salt and pepper.
  4. Cook your eggs, but not completely. Cooking will happen super quick & they should a bit liquidy . Throw them right back in the container you used for beating.   
  5. If you need an extra bloop of frying oil, add it here.
  6. Add your ginger, garlic / onion
  7. Throw a little bit more curry paste / powder & cardamom on. Stir together for about 30s, so they cook but do not burn.
  8. Throw in your other chopped veggies. This being a stir fry implies that you will stir, while they fry.
  9. Salt & pepper the mix. Cook maybe 2-3m. It's an art, not a science.
  10. Remember the boiling water? You're going to want to throw in the noodles here.
  11. Add a bloop of the mirin or sake (or whatever sour liquid you pick). Cover the veggies & let them steam in it. 
  12. When the noodles are not quite done, pull them out & throw them on the wok & mix with the rest of the stuff.
  13. Remember the eggs? Throw them in now too.
  14. Stir. Fry, maybe another 2-3m
  15. Turn off the heat. dress with a little bit of the expensive sesame oil. Mix. 
  16. Salt to taste to get flavors to pop.
Enjoy!

Photos
Ignore the mess. Life is suffering and chaos

stir fry



nappa cabbage!

noodles, quick boil

steam veggies in cooking sake

final mix with egg




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