Shrimp Sugar Snap Pea Curry Noodles (咖哩蜜豆蝦炒麵, Gaa3 Lei1 Mat6 Dau6 Haa1 Caau2 Min6)

I happened to have some flat noodles and decided that I needed to make a curry dish. You can, of course, use any noodle that’s available to you, but for some reason flat noodles always seem to go well with curry. I always add some Worcestershire sauce to my curry dishes, which is not usually thought of as an ingredient to use with curry. I also added some heat to the dish by using a Jalapeño pepper, but that’s an individual preference, so feel free to omit this ingredient. I also used coin mushrooms, which are just small Shiitake mushrooms. If coin mushrooms are not available, just substitute cut Shiitake mushrooms.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

¾ lb.	375 g.	Shrimp meat (蝦仁, haa1 jan4), shelled and deveined
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
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)
½ lb.	250 g.	Sugar snap peas (蜜豆, mat6 dau6)
12	12	Dried coin mushrooms (金錢菇, gam1 cin4 gu1), rehydrated
1	1	Jalapeño pepper (魚豆腐, jyu4 dau6 fu6), halved lengthwise and cut into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) lengths
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 lb.	500 g.	Noodles (麵, min6)
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Curry powder (咖哩粉, gaa3 lei1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Worcestershire sauce (喼汁, kip1 zap1)
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.	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 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 – ginger crushed in garlic press, corn starch, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. Marinate the shrimp for one hour.
2. Pour boiling water over the dried coin mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms for at least one hour or overnight. Remove the coin mushrooms from the rehydration liquid and remove the stems. Reserve the rehydration liquid for later use in the cooking process. If coin mushrooms are not available, substitute Shiitake mushrooms.
3. Wash and remove the string from the sugar snap peas by grasping the sugar snap pea in one hand and pulling the sting the length of the sugar snap pea with the other.
4. Wash and cut the Jalapeño pepper in half lengthwise. Cut ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces from the Jalapeño pepper halves.
5. Wash and cut the green onions into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces.
6. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
7. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the curry powder, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

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). I used flat noodles in this dish, but you can use whatever noodles are available.
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat and before adding oil and then the coin mushrooms. Stir fry the mushrooms and then remove them to a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the Jalapeño peppers and the bowl with the ginger and garlic. Quickly stir fry the Jalapeño peppers, ginger, and garlic until fragrant before adding more oil and then the sugar snap peas. Stir fry the sugar snap peas to brown them. Add some of the mushroom rehydration liquid to facilitate heat transfer while browning the sugar snap peas. Transfer the sugar snap peas to the bowl with the mushrooms.
4. 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.
5. Add the green onions, shrimp, and the contents of the bowl with the mushrooms back into the wok and stir fry all the ingredients together until the shrimp just turn pink. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and stir fry the ingredients together. Transfer the contents of the wok to a serving bowl.