Lobster Noodles (龍蝦麵, Lung4 Haa1 Min6)

Happy New Year! For the first dish of the New Year, here’s a lobster noodle dish. The traditional recipe puts the cooked lobster pieces with the shell over a bed of cooked noodles using a chicken stock based sauce. This recipe is differs from the traditional in three major techniques, the first being stir frying the ingredients like a chow mein dish, the second being using shelled lobster meat, and the third being a sauce made from lobster stock to further emphasize the lobster flavor. The stock is made by boiling the lobster shells after removing the meat. Any lobster stock not used in this recipe can be used in other dishes.

I found that using kitchen shears is the best way to remove the meat from the lobster shells, especially the small legs that contain that hard to get at lobster meat. If a whole lobster is too much of a challenge, you can substitute lobster tails. Since I’d rather eat lobster without having to pick out the shells, I remove the meat from the shells before cooking. The cooked lobster shells provide a deep red color to the traditional dish, but I’d rather eat the lobster than look at it.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb.	500 g.	Whole lobster (龍蝦, lung4 haa1,), meat removed and shell used for stock
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 in.	25 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
3 cloves	3 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) lengths
1 lb.	500 g.	Shanghai noodles (上海麵, soeng6 hoi2 min6) or equivalent thick noodle
		Oil for cooking

Stock Ingredients

		Lobster shell
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), lightly crushed
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Brandy (白蘭地, baak6 laan4 dei6)
		Water to make stock

 

Sauce Ingredients

2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Oyster sauce (蠔油, hou4 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Brandy (白蘭地, baak6 laan4 dei6)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Water
1+ cup	250+  ml.	Lobster stock

 

Equipment

8 qt.	7.5 L.	Pot to make stock
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Preparation Instructions

1. Remove the claws and tail from the whole lobster. These parts can be removed with a sharp cleaver or by hand with a quick twist. Use a sharp cleaver to cut the body in half lengthwise. Remove and discard the black/green intestine that runs the length of the lobster body and tail. Use kitchen shears to cut and remove the shell from the lobster parts, including the small legs. Try to keep the lobster meat as intact as possible and cut the larger parts into 1-inch (25 mm.) pieces. Put the lobster meat into a bowl and the lobster shells into a stock pot.
2. Add the lightly crushed ginger, brandy, and water to the stock pot with the lobster shells. Bring the stock pot to a boil over high heat and then simmer over low heat at least one hour. Any lobster stock not used in this dish can be used in other dishes.
3. Add the corn starch and soy sauce marinade to the lobster meat, and mix thoroughly.
4. Crush the garlic and ginger with a garlic press into a small bowl.
5. Wash and cut the green onions into 2-inch (5 cm.) lengths.
6. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, brandy, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. In another small bowl, prepare the corn starch slurry by mixing the corn starch and water together.

Cooking Instructions

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package and until the noodles are al dente. Drain the noodles and set aside. If ready-made or fresh noodles are used, “fluff” the noodles to separate them (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of noodles into the wok).
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat and before adding oil. Add the small bowl with the crushed garlic and ginger to the wok. When the garlic and ginger become fragrant, add the lobster meat and stir fry. Set the lobster aside in a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat, add more oil, and then add 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 a household kitchen, is 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 some lobster stock 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 lobster back into the wok and stir fry all the ingredients together. Add the sauce ingredients and lobster stock to the wok. If more sauce is desired, add more lobster stock. Mix the ingredients together, add the corn starch slurry, and then put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish.