A Traditional (and easy!) Singaporean Noodle Dish: Kway Teow

I asked my Singaporean friend at Le Cordon Bleu, Christine, to teach me a typical Singaporean noodle dish. The next Monday at school, she brought in homemade kway teow and let me have a taste, and I told her I wanted to learn it!



The next Sunday she came over. We went to an Asian grocer, picked out all of the ingredients with her expert guidance, and came home and cooked a delicious, and surprisingly simple dish.



Kway Teow
Makes two servings

Ingredients
400g fresh ho fun (or 200g dry)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100g of bean sprouts
20g (5-6 stalks) of Chinese chives, cut into two inch pieces
100g fish cake or shrimp/chicken/beef/tofu/pork
2 tbsp vegetable oil or canola oil
2 eggs
1 ½ tbsp dark soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp sweetish chili sauce (not too sweet!)
1 tbsp regular soy sauce (or more to taste)

First, lets take a look at some of the ingredients... I certainly wasn't familiar with all of them!



Three types of sauce... to the left, the chili sauce, in the middle, the sweet soy sauce, and on the right, dark soy sauce.



Chinese chives aka garlic chives... they are beautiful and mild tasting, and have a hint of garlic taste.



Dry ho fun. Needs to be cooked like pasta until al dente (probably about 5 minutes depending on what variety you get).



Fresh ho fun. Separate them in warm water.



Fish cake. A commonly used ingredient in Asian cooking. Any sort of protein can be used though.





Prepped fish cake, chives and garlic.

Now for the method. Heat the oil until it's extremely hot, even smoking. Add the garlic, and stir in the pan until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Do not let the garlic burn!





Crack the eggs and add them to the pan. Don't stir until they start to look brown around the edge. Then, break the egg up and stir until cooked through.



Add the fish cake, or whatever protein you are using, and cook accordingly.



The next step is to add the noodles. Be gentle stirring so that the noodles do not break. Heat through.



Next, add the dark soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, chili sauce and regular soy sauce. Stir thoroughly. Taste a noodle to check the seasoning, and look at the color. For more color, add more dark soy sauce. For more heat, add more chili sauce. For more sweet/smokey flavor, add more sweet soy sauce. And for more saltiness, add regular soy sauce.



Add the bean sprouts and stir through. Cook them for about one minute. They add crunch and texture to the dish, so don't cook them too much or they will become soft. Finally, add the chives. Turn off the heat, and stir the chives until distributed evenly. Serve piping hot.

Tofu Noodle Toss with Taylor’s Kick-Butt Peanut Sauce

So we had a fancy fish recipe planned for tonight, but neither of us felt like eating it or cooking it. So, we turned to our designated “leftovers” meal… a yummy noodle stir fry with Taylor’s awesome peanut sauce. A sauce, by the way, that we use as the dipping sauce for our Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Rolls. Delicious and quick!

Tofu toss basically means toss whatever you have left in the fridge in a pan with some tofu and noodles. Mushrooms, onions, peppers, carrots, broccoli… seriously whatever you have in the fridge. The peanut sauce will make anything taste good. Please note that the measurements in the sauce are very rough… Taylor is very ‘intuitive’ when it comes to this peanut sauce, and couldn’t give me exact measurements for the recipe. Just keep mixing things until it tastes good.

Tofu Noodle Toss with Taylor’s Kick-Butt Peanut Sauce

INGREDIENTS
Noodles (rice, soba, spaghetti… whatever)
Tofu, drained and cubed
Veggies (we used peppers and green onions), chopped, sliced, minced, etc.
Canola Oil
Kale, stems removed
Olive Oil

For Peanut Sauce:
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
sriracha chili sauce, to taste
water

DIRECTIONS
Bring water to boil and cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in large skillet. Add tofu cubes and saute until browned. Move to paper-towel lined plate to drain. Add veggie pieces to same pan, and cook until tender. Remove from pan with tofu.

Add a few tablespoons olive oil to skillet. No need to wipe out the pan, all the flavors will be mixed eventually! Add kale and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat and transfer to serving dish.

To make peanut sauce, combine all ingredients except water in microwave safe bowl. Stir well. Microwave for 30 seconds or so and stir until smooth.

Move tofu and veggies back into pan (yes, the same pan!). Add noodles and peanut sauce, toss until coated. Add a few teaspoons of water to peanut sauce if it seems too thick.

Wonton Noodle Soup

This is like the Asian version of chicken soup – rich, comforting, delicious, especially on a cold day. And right now, as I’m watching the snowflakes coming down outside, it sounds just about right. So much for moving out of Colorado to get away from the snow… though I guess I can deal with it a few times a year.

This recipe comes from SteamyKitchen.com, which if you’re wondering the proper technique for folding these babies, check out her post and informational video on the process. You’ll be a pro in no time. :)

For those of you enjoying the last few days of this cold front as we are, this post is dedicated to you…

Wonton Noodle Soup

Makes 4 servings. Recipe from SteamyKitchen.com

INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound ground pork
2 stalks scallion, finely minced
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 pound wonton wrappers, at room temperature, covered with a damp towel
1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1/4 cup cool water (cornstarch slurry)
2 quarts chicken broth
8 ounces dried wonton noodles (or thin, egg noodles)
1/2 pound bok choy, leaves separated and washed well
1 teaspoon sesame oil
chili garlic sauce (optional)

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine the pork, scallion, soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch, sugar and sesame oil. Mix well. Put a scant teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper, brush cornstarch slurry on all edges. Fold over to form a triangle, press to secure edges, encasing the filling. Brush cornstarch slurry on one tip of the triangle. Bring two corners together and press to secure. Place on clean, dry plate in one layer and cover loosely with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Repeat with remaining.

In a large stockpot, add all but 2 cups of the broth and bring to a boil. The 2 cups of reserved broth should be room temperature or just slightly chilled. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the wontons. Bring pot back to a gentle boil. When it reaches a boil, add 1 cup of the reserved broth. Bring back to a boil and again, add the remaining 1 cup of reserved broth.

Keep the heat on the pot on (you still need to cook the noodles and bok choy) while using a spider or sieve to scoop up the wontons and distribute amongst the bowls. Cook the noodles in the pot according to the package instructions. Add the bok choy to the pot during last minute of cooking noodles and let simmer, until cooked through. Ladle broth, noodles and bok choy to bowls. Drizzle just a few drops of sesame oil in each bowl.

Serve with chili garlic sauce if desired.

Tofu and Sesame Noodle Salad

It’s starting to get warmer, and warm weather means avoiding the oven at all costs (unless of course, you’re baking cupcakes – that’s always allowed no matter what the temperature). We’ve been lucky so far and haven’t had to deal with a whole lot of humidity or temperatures much higher than 83, but still, warm weather is warm weather.

And it’s about this time of the year when a meal like this becomes so perfect. No oven required.

It’s healthy. It’s cheap. It’s quick. It’s meatless. It’s delicious to boot. What more could you want in a dinner? I think we’re going to start keeping a block of baked tofu on hand for ‘emergencies’, you know, when the thought of spending more than 15 minutes before you can eat is preposterous (yes, believe it or not, we have those days). Simply cook some rice noodles, chop up the tofu and whatever veggies happen to be in the fridge, whip up the dressing, and voila. Dinner.

Taylor was very impressed with the dressing – it’s a versatile sauce that could be used for just about anything asian, I’m thinking dipping potstickers or spring rolls. The agave gives it a nice sweetness without the overwhelming taste of honey or brown sugar. I’m sure you could use honey or sugar if you can’t find agave nectar (hint: look in the ‘hippie’ section of your local megamart), but it’s divine if you can.

We found this recipe on the Whole Foods website, though the meal was made entirely with ingredients from Trader Joe’s. Shh. Don’t tell.

Tofu and Sesame Noodle Salad

Makes 2-4 servings. Recipe from Whole Foods.

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup reduced-sodium tamari
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
2 teaspoons hot chile sesame oil
Salt to taste
1/2 pound dried pad thai-style rice noodles
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 small carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 (6-ounce) package baked tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
Cilantro sprigs

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk together tamari, sesame seeds, agave nectar, garlic and oil to make a dressing; set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, soak noodles in a large bowl of cold water until pliable, about 15 minutes; drain well. Add noodles to boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 6 minutes. Rinse thoroughly in cold water, drain and transfer to bowl with reserved dressing; toss well.

Add green onions, carrots, cucumbers, peppers and tofu and toss gently to combine. Transfer to bowls, top with cilantro and serve.