Chili Lemongrass Shrimp Dough Sliced Noodles (辣椒檸檬葉蝦刀削麵, Laat6 Ziu1 Ning4 Mung4 Jip6 Haa1 Dou1 Soek3 Min6)

The white inner core of the lemongrass is sliced finely and stir fried with dried red peppers to flavor the oil used in this shrimp dish. Depending upon your tolerance for heat, you can use more or less red chili peppers. You can also use any noodle that‘s available to you, in this case I used dough sliced noodles.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb.	500 g.	Shrimp (蝦仁, haa1 jan4), shelled and deveined
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
2 stalks	2 stalks	Baby bok choy (小白菜, siu2 baak6 coi3), leaves separated
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (蔥, cung1), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal
8	8	Dried red chili peppers (指天椒, zi2 tin1 ziu1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces – to taste
3 stalks	3 stalks	Lemongrass (檸檬葉, ning4 mung4 jip6), inner core sliced thinly
1.5 lb.	750 g.	Dough sliced noodles (刀削麵, dou1 soek3 min6) – 3 packages
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), lightly crushed
2 slices	2 slices	Ginger (薑, goeng1), lightly crushed
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Dark soy sauce (老抽, lou5 cau1)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

 

Equipment

14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Preparation Instructions

1. If using frozen dough sliced noodles, thaw the noodles overnight in the refrigerator. Take the noodles out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
2. If using frozen shrimp, defrost the shrimp overnight in the refrigerator. Wash, shell, and devein the shrimp or prawn. In the USA, the names are used interchangeably and prawn usually means a large shrimp; either will work in this dish. Put the shrimp into a bowl and add the marinade ingredients – corn starch, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. Marinate the shrimp for one hour.
3. Wash and separate the leaves from the baby bok choy.
4. Wash and cut the green onions into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal.
5. Remove any stems from the dried red chili peppers and cut into ½-inch (15 mm) pieces. The amount of red chili peppers to use in this dish depends upon personal taste, so feel free to reduce or increase the amount.
6. Remove the tough outer leaves of the lemongrass, as these parts are inedible, exposing the softer inner core near the root. Cut the inner core into thin pieces.
7. Prepare the sauce in a small bowl by adding the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat a wok or pan over medium-low to medium heat and before adding oil. Add the shrimp to the wok in a single layer on the bottom. Once the shrimp just turns pink, flip the shrimp over and cook the other side until it just turns pink. The shrimp will look slightly undercooked and will remain tender when cooked later with all the other ingredients. Set the shrimp aside in a bowl.
2. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the red chili peppers and lemongrass. Stir fry the ingredients to quickly brown them and to flavor the oil. Add and stir fry the baby bok choy leaves to brown them. Remove the contents of the wok to the bowl containing the shrimp.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and then the noodles. The wok should be very hot before adding the oil and then the noodles. Noodles cooked in a restaurant wok (over much higher heat than that available in your kitchen) are served slightly burned, which gives the noodles an extra added flavor.  To try to emulate slightly burned noodles, try to put the noodles in one layer in the hot wok and add a small amount of liquid (water, stock, or Shaoxing rice wine - but not too much liquid otherwise you’ll steam the noodles) to facilitate the heat transfer from the wok to the noodles, and leave the noodles alone. You want the noodles to get burned before adding more oil to the noodles and turning them over, repeating the process.
4. Add the green onions and the contents of the bowl with the cooked shrimp back into the wok, and stir fry the ingredients together. Add the sauce to the wok and combine the ingredients. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve immediately.