Thai — Stir Fried Noodles w/Broccoli

Greetings!

I took a thai cooking class in Feb – 3 saturdays worth.  We got 6 recipes out of the deal, all of them wonderful, but this is one of the best.  I’ve made it 2 (3?) times since class, and it’s really good.

Now, several of the ingredients for this one – I’ll admit, I get them at the local thai grocery.  The Notes at the end talk about the special ingredients and what you can substitute for them if the thai versions are not available to you.

And some vegetarian mods are after the notes.

I’ll post some of the others in the coming days. 

 

Stir-Fried Noodles with Broccoli and Soy Sauce

Serves 2-3 (large servings) or 4-5 (with other dishes).  Prep time: 15 minutes once things are chopped.

Read all directions and notes before starting.  Have all your ingredients chopped and ready before you heat the pan, cause it goes pretty quickly after that. 

Use a wok if available, usually on med. high heat.

Instructions for the vegetarian options are at the end.

 

Ingredients

12 oz. wide noodles (wide rice noodles – see notes)

10 oz. or more chicken or seafood.  (or pork or beef)

4 oz. Chinese broccoli (see notes) (can substitute western broccoli or even green cabbage)

1 – 2 oz. carrot, cut into 1 inch pieces (see directions)

1 can baby corn – cut per directions

1 tbsp chopped fresh garlic

2-3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce (see notes)

1-2 tbsp sugar

4-5 tbsp oil

ground white pepper (or black)

2 eggs, beaten (optional)

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1-3 fresh chilis (see notes), sliced diagonally OR ground chili peppers

 

Directions

1. Cut the noodles per the note, put them in a bowl and splash with a few tbsp soy sauce.  Stir the noodles up so they all get coated, they need to soak up the flavor.

2. Chop all solid ingredients to have them ready.  Have the liquid sauces ready.  It goes quickly from here out.

3. Stir-fry the garlic in oil until golden, then add the meat/seafood and continue frying until cooked, a few minutes.  Stir continuously. 

4. (optional)  Push the meat/seafood to the side of the wok, pour the beaten eggs into the middle of the wok.  Once they begin to set, quickly scrample them with the meats.
Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes and reduce heat to medium level. (allows flavors to be absorbed)

5. Add the noodles and continue frying for 3-4 minutes.

6. Add vegetables (carrots, baby corns, broccoli).  Add all the seasonings.

7.  Stir-fry ingredients until well-mixed and well cooked – you’re looking for the noodles to start getting some dried crunchy bits to them – that’s really the good part.  Turn off heat, sprinkle with ground white pepper, serve.

 

Notes

Rice noodles:  Thai markets.  A pack of rice noodles about 6 inches x 6 inches.  Slice them into 1” wide strips, separate them all.  Other noodles can be substituted, I wouldn’t recommend any kind of wheat pasta.  Any kind of rice noodles would be the best option, regular pasta second option.

Chinese broccoli:  Thai markets, some oriental markets.  Really different, wonderful flavor compared to regular broccoli.  Cut off the extreme ends of the stalks, cut everything else into 1” pieces.  If the bottom of the stalks are too wide, cut them lengthwise.  Cut up everything from stalks to the small heads, including the leaves. They’re wonderful.

Carrots:  if you want to use baby carrots, split them lengthwise into quarters.  if you want to use regular carrots, cut them into lengths about th

e same as baby carrots and do the same. 

Baby corns:  1 can.  Drain.  Cut them into bite-sized pieces, about 3/8” long.

Fish sauce:  Thai markets, some other oriental markets.  If you are vegetarian, there is a vegetarian mushroom sauce available from importfood.com that works.

Chili peppers:  Thais use several kinds of hot peppers, available at thai markets.  There are the long peppers (green, about 5-6” long), and the bird peppers (green/yellow/red, about 1 ½ “ long.  Bird peppers are much hotter.  Cut on long diagonals, so that they can be seen easily in the dish when served.

Vegetarian Options:

Obviously, no meat.  If you like those meat substitutes, any of the chicken fillet type products works very well.  Lately, we’ve been using Quorn’s "Naked Chick’n Cutlets". Now, these come frozen, 4 to a box, but no internal wrapping or anything, so if you’re not going to use them immediately, I’d recommend opening the box, putting them in a ziploc, then back in the box & freezer to avoid freezer burn.

Or, you could substitute a can of bamboo shoots and a can of slice water chestnuts, I think.  Make sure they’re drained so you don’t get too much moisture in the mix.

Do not use fish sauce when cooking vegetarian. It really is made out of fish.  Seriously dead fish.  Use good old rice vinegar instead.  Or the vegetarian mushroom sauce instead, which is also a good substitute for oyster sauce.

More thai recipes to follow.
Have fun, and happy cooking!  And happier eating!!
-Jude