Single Meal - Shrimp Knife Cut Noodles (蝦炒刀削麵, Haa1 Caau2 Dou1 Soek3 Min6)

With this recipe, I’m introducing a new type of meal. You’ll notice that the title of this recipe is prefaced with, “Single Meal”. Most of my previous recipe postings were for four or more servings per recipe, which is great if you’re cooking for a family or cooking enough to have leftovers for the week. Whenever you see, “Single Meal”, in the recipe title, the portion has been reduced to produce one or two meals, so the name is a bit of a misnomer since it really is more than a one meal recipe. The idea here is to produce recipes, for instance, for a lunch or dinner with enough leftovers for another meal. The meals can be scaled up to produce larger portions, usually by increasing the ingredients and/or sauce amounts.

For this recipe, there was a predecessor: Shrimp Dough Sliced Chow Mein (蝦炒刀削麵, Haa¹ Caau² Dou¹ Soek³ Min⁶), which used frozen dough sliced noodles. I first got introduced to this dish at the local Chinese Muslim restaurant. Ordering this dish and green onion bread makes for a great meal. Dough sliced noodles are aptly named since the noodles are sliced from a block of dough. The noodles have a chewy doughy texture, unlike normal chow mein noodles.

This recipe uses dried knife cut noodles (which is just another name for the same noodles). The good news when using dried noodles is that there’s no overnight thawing required to use the noodles (although they still must be rehydrated). The bad news about these noodles is that my local Asian market had the noodles on closeout, so once I run out, that’s it unless I find a replacement brand. Luckily I bought enough of the dried knife cut noodles to last a while, so hopefully another brand will become available in the meantime. Your local Asian market might stock these noodles, so you might not have the same problem.

Rehydrating the dried noodles is easy. All you need is a covered container, boiling water, the dried noodles, and a microwave oven. All you need to do is to pour boiling water over the dried noodles in a covered container. Place the container into a microwave oven and microwave on high for about 3-4 minutes, until the noodles boil for about 30-60 seconds. The strength of your microwave and the thickness of the dried noodles will dictate the amount of time needed to rehydrate the noodles in the microwave, so you’ll have to experiment to find the time needed microwaving. The noodles should be al dente, in fact they should seem a little undercooked. Stir frying the noodles in a wok later will complete cooking.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

½ lb.	250 g.	Peeled raw shrimp meat (蝦仁, haa1 jan4)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
½ Tbs.	7.5 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)
4 oz.	125 g.	Snow peas (荷蘭豆, ho4 laan4 dau6)
3	3	Dried Shiitake mushrooms (冬菇, dung1 gu1), rehydrated and cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
1 stalk	1 stalk	Green onion (葱, cung1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
2	2	Eggs (雞蛋, gai1 daan6), scrambled
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), cut into thin pieces
7 oz.	200 g.	Two 100 g. packages dried knife cut noodles (刀削麵, dou1 soek3 min6)
		Water to rehydrate the noodles
		Oil for cooking

Sauce Ingredients

1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Lee Kum Kee Brand Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce (蠔油, hou4 jau4) or equivalent
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
1 Tbs.	15 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)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

Equipment

		Garlic Press
		Microwave safe covered container
		Microwave oven
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

Preparation Instructions (One Day Before Cooking)

1. To give shrimp a “crunchy” texture, like that found in restaurant dishes, use the technique described here: Technique: How To Make Shrimp Crunchy.

Preparation Instructions (Cooking Day)

Lee Kum Kee Premium Brand
Oyster Flavored Sauce (蠔油, hou⁴ jau⁴) 

1. Take the eggs and shrimp out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
2. Don’t forget to shell and devein the shrimp, and marinate the shrimp as described in: Technique: How To Make Shrimp Crunchy.
3. Pour boiling water over the small dried whole Shiitake mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms for at least one hour. Remove the Shiitake mushrooms from the rehydration liquid and remove the stems. Cut the Shiitake mushrooms into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces. Reserve the rehydration liquid for later use in the cooking process. If you need to rehydrate the Shiitake mushrooms quickly, use the method described here: Technique: How to Quickly Rehydrate Dried Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇, Dung¹ Gu¹).
4. Wash and remove the string from the snow peas by grasping each snow pea in one hand and pulling the tip the length of the snow pea with the other.
5. Cut the ginger into thin slices and put into a small bowl.
6. Wash and cut the green onions into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces on the diagonal.
7. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce or equivalent, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. If using dried noodles, cook according to the instructions on the package until the noodles just become al dente, drain the noodles, and set aside. If using thawed, ready-made, or fresh noodles, “fluff” to separate the individual noodles (i.e. you don’t want to put a single mass of noodles into the wok). If you need to quickly rehydrate dried noodles, use the method described here: Technique: How to Quickly Rehydrate Dried Noodles.
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil. Add the eggs and scramble them while the wok is heating up. To get fluffy scrambled eggs, use this technique: As the eggs set, remove the pan or wok from the heat while continually scrambling the eggs with a spatula. Once the eggs stop setting off the heat, put the wok back onto the heat until the eggs start setting again. Continue taking the pan or wok on and off the heat as the eggs set until fully scrambled. Transfer the eggs to a bowl when complete.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil. Add the shrimp to the wok in a single layer on the bottom and stir fry until the shrimp just turn pink. The shrimp should look undercooked. You may have to cook the shrimp in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Transfer the shrimp to a bowl (not with the scrambled eggs).
4. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the Shiitake mushroom pieces. Stir fry the mushrooms and then remove them to the bowl with the shrimp.
5. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the bowl with the ginger. Quickly stir fry the ginger until fragrant before adding more oil and then the snow peas. Stir fry the ingredients together and then place into a bowl with the shrimp.
6. 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 some of the mushroom rehydration liquid (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.
7. Add the green onions, scrambled eggs, and the contents of the bowl with the shrimp back into the wok and stir fry all the ingredients together. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and mix the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish.