Chow Mein with Soy Sauce(䜴油皇炒麵)

Introduction

In Hong Kong, people eat various Western and Eastern food for their breakfast. Besides bread, Chow Mein with Soy Sauce(䜴油皇炒麵), Hong Kong food, is a popular choice in Hong Kong. You can see many restaurants, fast food shops, takeaways, frozen food, convenience stores and even bakery shops selling Chow Mein in Hong Kong.

Moreover, Chow Mein with Soy Sauce(䜴油皇炒麵) is stir fried with noodles and few vegetables and soy sauce only, so it is so economical that it is one of the favorite food to the working professionals. As few ingredients and flavorings are used for stir frying the dish, some people prefer cooking it at home. So it can be served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The ingredients and flavorings can be easily bought in the supermarkets and grocery shops in Hong Kong. Hongkongers are very obsessed with food, so besides buying dried noodles in the supermarkets, they buy dried noodles in the shops specialized in dried noodles and rice noodles.

Usually these shops are run by families and each family has their own style of dried noodles which contain different ingredients and flavorings during their making process of noodles. So the noodles in their shops can be different in texture and flavor. Noodles specialized for stir frying are one of their popular noodles on sale, so you can easily buy the dried noodles in their shops. Once Hongkongers think the noodles are tasty in a shop, they will introduce this shop to fellow Hongkongers in the mass media like TV programmes, newspapers and magazines. So many Hongkongers will take public transport and drive their cars to buy noodles in the shop.

There are different versions of cooking the Chow Mein with Soy Sauce. In the following I will introduce the simplest version of cooking this popular Hong Kong dish:

Ingredients

• 200g Bean Sprouts
• Spring Onions
• Dried Noodles
• Light Soy Sauce
• 6 Garlic Cloves
• 4 Shallots
• 1 tablespoon Cooking Oil

Cooking Steps

1. Separate and soak the dried noodles in the boiled water for 2 minutes. Separate the noodles and soak for another 2 minutes. Remove the water in a colander and cool down the noodles under room temperature
2. Soak the bean sprouts in a bowl of water for 15 minutes and remove the water with a colander
3. Dice the spring onions and shallots. Crush the garlic.
4. Heat the wok with 1 tablespoon cooking oil. Stir fry the bean sprouts, crushed garlic , white spring onion strips and shallots until the bean sprouts are shrunk under medium heat. Put the ingredients onto the plate for later stir frying.
5. Heat the wok again with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Adjust the stove to medium heat. Fry the noodles for 30 seconds on both sides.
6. Adjust the stove to low heat. Use a pair of chopsticks to separate and stir fry the noodles with cooking oil for 3 minutes until the noodles are a bit dry and its smell comes out of the noodles
7. Add the sauce bit by bit into the noodles and do the stir frying with a pair of chopsticks at the same time until the noodles are mixed with the color of the sauce
8. Adjust the stove to medium heat and continue the stir frying until the noodles give the smell of sauce.
9. Stir fry the noodles with the ingredients using a pair of chopsticks on the dish for 30 seconds.
10. Stir fry the green strips of spring onions with the noodles for 30 seconds and serve

Cooking Tips

1. Strips of Carrots can also be added in this dish
2. Chinese chives are also commonly added in this dish
3. The bean sprouts should be dry enough before stir frying
4. Make sure the noodles are cool and a bit sticky enough before frying it
5. Frying the noodles for 30 seconds on both sides is to make sure that some parts of the noodles are a bit burnt and make the noodles smell good and tasty
6. The successful stir frying is that the wok should be dry after serving the dish
7. Pig’s oil is also good replacement for cooking oil because it gives a better flavor in this dish

Places of buying the Ingredients

1. The Chinese dried noodles for stir frying should be used for this dish. They can be found in Chinese supermarkets
2. Other ingredients can be bought in the supermarkets

Replacement of Sauce for Vegans

Light soy sauce and dark soy sauce

Oyster Sauce

Chow Mein with Soy Sauce(䜴油皇炒麵) is a representative of Hong Kong cuisine because it shows Hongkongers’ respect and enthusiasm to food. Many Hongkongers prefer eating less salty and greasy food, so no salt is added to the soy sauce so this dish is not salty. In addition, not too much oil is used for stir frying and the sauces can be replaced by vegan sauces, so it is healthy overall.

Last but not least, I hope this Chow Mein with Soy Sauce(䜴油皇炒麵) will bring you lots of joy after you cook and eat them!

Previously Posted in Medium