I have come across quite a lot of complaints on foodie forums, that creating a great Asian fried noodle dish requires too much effort. This is only half true. I agree, Asian stir fried dishes generally involve longer ingredient lists, more chopping, and more attention than, say, a casserole dish. But what you can do is to optimize your workflow to create a delicious dish with minimal effort and ingredients to bring out the best flavor.
How to make great fried noodles in less time
Although there are many types of noodle in Chinese cuisine, and although different recipes call for very specific noodles, I found that rice noodles are the perfect option for a quick weekday meal, because you can skip the process of boiling water and you’re unlikely to ruin the dish by picking the wrong type of noodle. To prepare rice noodles properly, make sure you cut them into shorter sticks before soaking. If you’re using a wok and steel spatula, you can chop the noodles during the stir fry, but if you’re using a nonstick skillet with tongs (like I do in this recipe), you’ll need to do this step before cooking, so the noodles won’t get too tangled. Soak noodles in hot water for 5 to 7 minutes, until al dente. Drain and rinse them with cold water, to stop the cooking process. You can add a few drops of oil and toss the noodles, so they won’t stick together.
Chinese cooking often requires ginger, garlic, and green onion. This means a lot of cutting and extra prep time. To shorten the ingredient list, you can skip the garlic and use plenty of green onion (using 6 to 8 green onions in a stir fried dish for two is the proper amount). You can skip ginger too, but I recommend you to use it whenever you can. Quick tips:
Read this post on how to prep and freeze ginger, so you can shorten your prep time even further.
You can create a great fried noodle sauce by using the right amount of soy sauce, sugar, and salt. I used the combination of light and dark soy sauce to add a nice brown color to the noodles, but you can simplify this by only using one type of soy sauce. If you want to make your noodles even more flavorful, you can skip the salt and use 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce or use hoisin sauce, instead. The other way to add flavor to the sauce is to make homemade chicken stock using leftover bones (you might need to dilute it with water since homemade stock can be very thick). It makes the dish much richer than it would be if using store-bought stock. Like I mentioned in the soy sauce fried rice recipe, using a bit of animal fat (chicken fat, duck fat, or bacon fat) will create a super rich flavor. It is not necessary in this recipe, but if you happen to have some animal fat in the fridge, don’t forget to use it! Many fried noodle recipes require you to cook the meat and vegetables separately so that each ingredient will be properly cooked (such as this beef chow fun recipe). I tried to shorten the process in this recipe by using ground meat and mustard greens, which don’t need to be taken out of the skillet. Ground meat is less prone to becoming overcooked than sliced meat. However, I do find it very helpful to do a brief marinade to make the meat tender and more flavorful. If you’re using ground turkey, pork, or beef, you can skip the potato starch, because these eats contain more fat and will stay tender during cooking.
Proportioning a well-balanced fried noodles dish is like choosing pizza toppings – less is more. If you crowd your pan with too much stuff, the noodles will easily become mushy and/or flavorless, because crowding the pan takes so much heat out of the metal that the ingredients don’t get seared properly. The order should be: soak the noodles => marinate the meat => mix the sauce => prep and chop the herbs and veggies while soaking the noodles => stir fry It might take a bit more time if you’re cooking this dish for the first time, but once you get used to the process, prep should take you ten minutes and cooking five minutes.
Bonus tips for tweaking the fried noodles
How to make this dish gluten-free
Use gluten free tamari soy sauce to replace the soy sauce and skip the potato starch in the marinade. Like I mentioned above, you can create tenderer meat by using ground turkey, pork, or beef. I found ground chicken to be too lean. Skipping the cornstarch will result in tougher chicken.
How to make this dish vegetarian
To make the dish vegetarian, skip the ground meat and use mushrooms or chopped tofu instead. Replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock.
More delicious noodle recipes
Easy Singapore Noodles Real-Deal Beef Chow Fun 15-Minute Garlic Noodles Easy Soy Sauce Noodles Real Deal Sesame Noodles Hokkien Noodles (Hokkien Mee)
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
