(Shanghai) Stir-Fried Noodles with Julienne of Vegetables

Stir-fried noodles in Shanghai-style have some features that are very different from Cantonese one - Shanghai style the noodles are bigger, the sauce is darker, it uses cabbage and a bit of sugar which both give out a very mild sweetness in taste. This style surely brings you a nice change from salty Cantonese noodles with bean sprouts.

It is sad that the family-run Shanghai restaurants are found less and less in Hongkong. Their dishes are hundred times tastier than the chain restaurants'. Besides, there could be many interesting things going on in a tiny restaurant, like, ladies and children (usually relatives of the owner) taking over the biggest table for making dumplings, or some 'clogging' sound - the chef wearing wooden clogs - was echoing around the tiled-walls... The owner and workers were always Shanghaiese, whether their cooking different from their home town's I couldn't tell, but their dishes were very shinny (as a lot of oil) and always carried some wine and sweet taste, I just love that!

Recipe of Stir-friend noodles in Shanghai-style:

(for 2 persons as one of the dishes in a meal)

• 150 g shanghai noodles (or Linguine as alternative)
• some salt
• a big pot of water

for the vegetable:

• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 very small carrot
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• cabbage, 4 - 5 big leaves,
• 1/4 tsp chicken powder
• a half cup of water (adjustable)
• oil and salt

for the sauce:

• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce (or more)
• 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/8 or 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp Chinese rice wine (or white table wine as alternative)
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• salt (optional)
• veg oil

Steps:

• Bring a big pot of water to boil, add a pinch of salt and the noodles, cook until just right. Drain and rinse the noodles under the tap immediately, drain and set aside.
• juilenne the carrot, green pepper and cabbage. Set aside
• In a big skillet, pre-heat some oil and stir-fry the carrot and pepper with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes, scoop them on a plate and set aside.
• Use th same skillet to stir-fry the garlic, cabbage, oil and a pinch of salt until the veg looks soften, then add a small cup of water and the chicken powder, cook the cabbage over medium-low heat until it cooked. Raise up the heat and stir in carrot, pepper, noodles and the sauce until everything heat through. Taste and re-season if necessary.
• Serve hot, it goes well with any Chinese dishes.

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