Cantonese soy sauce chow mein noodles
Learn how to make this dim sum favorite Cantonese soy sauce chow mein noodles at home. This dish is the weekend breakfast or afternoon meal when you need something fast and simple that tastes great.
Equipment
- 1 Wok
Ingredients
- 1 bag fresh chow mein noodles 454g
- 150-200 g mung bean sprouts
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2-3 small shallots
- cooking oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil garnish at the end
- toasted sesame seeds garnish for the dish
Sauce
- 3 Tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1.5 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 3 Tbsp water
- 2 tsp white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Boil a large pot of water. Once the water is boiling, turn off the stove and then dump your pack of fresh chow mein noodles into the pot to blanch it. Loosen up the noodles so that they don't stick together using chopsticks or tongs.
- Let the noodles blanch for about a minute in the hot water before removing it from the pot and straining out all of the water. Do not rinse the water under cold water while straining it!
- Now add in a little bit of oil and then loosen up the noodles to prevent them from sticking together using chopsticks or some tongs.
- Then, transfer the noodles to a tray, and line the noodles evenly on the tray to allow it to cool down and not clump together.
- We're going to air dry the noodles. This helps maintain the chewy and bouncy texture of the noodles as opposed to running it under cold water.
- Next up, we're going to prepare our vegetables and sauce. Grab 3-4 stalks of green onion and cut them into 3-4 inch sections and keep the green and white parts separate.
- Next, cut half of a medium sized yellow onion into strips and using your hands, separate each piece and then set it aside. Then grab 2-3 small shallots and cut them into strips as well.
- Next, wash and rinse your beansprouts under cold water and then drain it. Once all of the vegetables have been prepared, set them aside.
- In a small bowl, add in your light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, and water. Mix everything well together and then set it aside.
- Once our noodles have fully cooled down, it’s time to cook the ingredients.
- We’re going to start by heating up a wok on medium high heat. Once you start to see smoke coming out of the wok, add in about a Tbsp of oil to the wok.
- Now add in your beansprouts and stir-fry it.
- We’re only going to cook this for about 30 seconds or so, just to get rid of the raw taste and maintain the crunchiness of the bean sprouts. Once done, remove it from the wok.
- Next, add in about ½ Tbsp of oil to the wok, let the oil heat up over medium heat, and then add in your onions, followed by the shallots, and the white part of the green onions.
- We’re going to stir-fry this again for about 30 seconds to 1 minute to get rid of the raw taste of the vegetables.
- Once you start seeing the onions turn somewhat translucent, remove everything from the wok. Next we're going to cook our noodles.
- Add in about 1 ½ Tbsp of oil to the wok. Now add in about half of your noodles. We're going to cook the noodles in 2 batches to avoid overcrowding the wok.
- Now using chopsticks, make sure that the noodles aren’t all clumped together and then try to shape the noodles into a circular shape.
- Then let the noodles sit and cook for about 3 to 3 and a half minutes.
- This step is crucial to making your noodles nice and crispy on the outside while still soft on the inside. If you prefer softer noodles instead, then just let them cook for about 2 minutes.
- Once 3-3.5 minutes have passed and you notice the bottom is starting to get slightly crispy, flip the noodles over.
- Now add a little bit of oil to the edge of the wok and let the noodles cook on this side for another 3 to 3 and ½ minutes. Then loosen up the noodles using chopsticks.
- Now add back in the vegetables that you cooked earlier. Mix everything well together then add in your sauce in batches as well so that it gets evenly coated on the noodles.
- *And remember, since we're making 2 batches of noodles, you'll need to divide the vegetables and sauce in 2 as well.
- Stir-fry everything for about a 1/2 minute and then add in the green parts of the green onion that you cut earlier.
- Give it a quick few tosses then add in your sesame oil as a garnish. Turn off the stove and give it a few tosses to incorporate the sesame oil into the noodles and then remove it from the stove.
- Optional: You can sprinkle in some toasted sesame seeds onto the noodles as well if you'd like.