Pan-Fried Soy Sauce Rice Noodle Rolls

Baby Jory is now beginning to giggle, which is probably why it is so hard to rip myself away to blog. I could spend hours just playing Peekaboo with the little boy and watching him laugh...

My parents gave me a package of rice noodle rolls recently, which made me curious to find out how to recreate this dim sum dish. I experimented a bit with some soy sauces and I thought the end product was pretty similar to the kind that you would find at a restaurant that serves dim sum. To add a bit more texture, you could also add some green onions and bean sprouts.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb Rice Noodle Rolls
1 tbs. Soy Sauce
1 tbs. Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbs. Kecap Manis
1/4 piece of Brown Candy
1 tsp. Sesame Oil
1 tsp. Oil
1 clove Garlic (minced)
2 tbsp. Dried Shrimp

DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, melt the brown candy with a bit of hot water. You may need to put it in the microwave for a minute so that it is completely dilluted. Once it is dilluted, add the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, kecap manis and sesame oil. Stir and set aside.

Heat up wok and add oil. Once oil is hot, add garlic and dried shrimp. Stirfry until slightly browned, then add the rice noodle rolls. Allow the rice noodle rolls to become slightly browned, then add the sauce mixture. Combine and allow the sauce to seep into the noodles.

Remove from wok and serve with Hoisin Sauce (mixed with a little Kecap Manis and Sesame Oil) and Peanut Butter (dilluted with a little water).

Jap Chae

This morning, I was feeling a lot of tenseness in the belly region, which I wasn't too sure about. I don’t think there was too much of a pattern to them so I couldn't really worry about them...that is...until it gets more severe and frequent. Thankfully, I made it through Korean night last night so I have a couple more dishes up my sleeve to relay. However, if there is several days break in posts, I’m pretty sure you can guess what happened.

I absolutely love Jap Chae…it’s basically my favorite Korean dish. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for hubby. I guess he’s just not much of a noodle fan (I hope baby sides with me on this one), but I guess he can’t complain since I did also make the short ribs too (see last post). While there are many steps involved, it is relatively easy to prepare as long as you have a big wok to combine all the ingredients at the end. I think the most difficult part is combining of the ingredients at the end, particularly right now when I can’t really lift anything. Thankfully, there are the sous chefs yet again who have come to the rescue, both with the prep work (cutting veggies – hubby) and the combining of all the ingredients in the wok at the end (mother in law).

INGREDIENTS:

1 package of Sweet Potato Noodles
1/2 lb. Beef (thinly sliced)
1/2 Onion (cut in strips)
1 Carrot (cut in strips)
1 Small Zucchini (cut in strips)
1 cup Mushrooms (sliced)
1 cup Black Fungus (Diced)
1 medium bunch of Spinach (stems removed)
4 Eggs
3 cloves of Garlic (minced)
6 tsp. Oil
1 tsp. Corn Starch
1 tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 tbsp. Sesame Oil
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Black Pepper

Sauce:
1 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup of Sesame Oil
6 tbsp. Brown Sugar
2 tbsp. Kecap Manis

DIRECTIONS:

Marinate beef with corn starch, 1 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. sesame oil, sugar and black pepper.

Boil sweet potato noodles according to package instructions and drain. If you want to save time, use the same hot water to boil spinach. You can also just boil another pot of water to cook the spinach. Once spinach is cooked, drain, squeeze out water and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the sauce ingredient: soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar and Kecap Manis.

Once noodles are dry, transfer into a large bowl. Spoon sauce over noodles until everything is coated and noodles are not sticking together. You should still have some of the sauce left over for stir-frying.

In a small bowl, beat eggs. Heat up wok and add 1 tsp. oil. Fry egg and once cooked, remove from wok. With a pair of scissors, cut up egg into strips once they have cooled down a bit.

Reheat wok and add 1 tsp. oil. Add onions and stir-fry. When they are beginning to soften, add carrots. Once both are a little browned and softened, remove from wok.

Reheat wok and add 1 tsp. oil. Add zucchini and stir-fry briefly as they cook very fast. Allow water to evaporate, then remove from wok.

Reheat wok and add 1 tsp. oil. Add mushrooms and black fungus, then stir-fry. Once mushrooms are cooked and water has evaporated, remove both ingredients from wok.

Reheat wok again and add 1 tsp. oil. Add 1/3 of the minced garlic and sauté until browned, then add marinated beef. Stir-fry until beef is almost cooked, then add a spoon of the sauce mixture. Once cooked, remove from wok.

Finally, reheat wok for the final time and add 1 tsp. oil. Add remainder of minced garlic and sauté until browned. Add half of the beef, onions, carrots, zucchini, mushroom and black fungus and spinach. Stir-fry briefly to reheat all ingredients, then add all the noodles. Allow noodles to reheat, then add the remainder of the beef, onions, carrots, zucchini, mushroom, black fungus and spinach. Pour the remainder of the sauce on top, then combine all ingredients, preferably with tongs as the noodles can be heavy.

Remove from wok onto a large plate. Add egg strips on top and serve with Gochujang (Korean Hot Pepper Paste)!

Singapore Fried Rice Noodles

During a recent visit to the OBGYN, I was informed that the baby is in the correct positioning, and that I am basically ready to have this baby at any time! Frightening...yes...it also leaves me with visions of my water breaking in the middle of cooking one of my theme nights...yikes! I guess we will soon see what happens. So if there is a gap in my blog entries, you can pretty much guess what is happening...

While I acknowledge Singapore Fried Rice Noodles isn't actually a Singaporean dish, but rather a Chinese dish with Singaporean influences, I couldn't help but include it in this week's theme. I guess the combination of both curry and noodles couldn't be resisted!

adapted from Rasa Malaysia
INGREDIENTS

2 cloves Garlic (minced)
1 tbsp. Ginger (minced)
8 dried or fresh Shiitake Mushrooms
12 ounces dry Rice Vermicelli
1 medium onion (sliced)
1 cup Bean Sprouts
1 cup Carrots (sliced)
2 stalks of Green Onions (cut into 2-inch pieces)
1 pound Char Siu (Chinese Barbecued Pork), cut into matchsticks
4 Eggs
5 tbsp. Oil
3 tbsp. Oyster Sauce

For sauce:

3 tbsp. Madras Curry Powder
2 cloves Garlic (minced)
1 tbsp. Ginger (minced)
1 cup Chicken Broth
4 tbsp. Soy Sauce
4 tsp. Sugar
2 tsp. Hot Chili Paste
2 tbsp. Oil

DIRECTIONS

If using dried shiitake mushrooms, soak them in hot water for half an hour. Drain, then cut off the stems. Slice the mushrooms thinly.

Put the rice vermicelli in a large bowl and soak in enough hot water to cover, until the noodles are soft. Drain noodles and set aside.

In a small pot, heat up 2 tbsp. of oil over medium heat. Add the curry powder, the ginger, and the minced garlic, and saute until fragrant. Add the chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar, and chili paste. Stir to combine and then cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat and set aside.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs with a fork. Heat 1 tbsp. of oil and a large wok and fry eggs. When eggs are cooked, remove from wok and cut into strips once cooled.

Heat 2 tbsp. of oil in a large wok over high heat. Add in the remaining garlic and ginger, and stir-fry until the garlic starts to become golden. Add in the onion, sprouts, green onions, carrots and mushrooms. Stir-fry for 3 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften. Set the vegetables aside in a bowl.

Heat the last 2 tbsp. of oil in the wok over high heat. Add in the char siu and stir-fry. Add in the noodles, the vegetables and the eggs. Pour sauce mixture and the oyster sauce, then mix the ingredients thoroughly to coat all the noodles and incorporate all the vegetables and eggs.