Singapore Curried Noodles - Recipe and request for help

[Stinky The Clown]

I love these and have made them several times, but always seem to have one thing or another go wrong. I'll get to that in a bit. For now, here's how I make them:

I shave some ginger and garlic on a Microplane. Chopped fine would also work.



The complete mise en place is, clockwise from left, two beaten eggs, 8 oz of fine rice noodles, soaked for about five minutes in hot water, "magic sludge" (1/2 tsp salt, chili powder, black pepper, 3 tsp curry powder, 1 T soy sauce, 2 tsp sugar, 2/3 C chicken or vegetable stock), 1/2 lb shrimps and 1/2 lb squid (tentacles, whole, and body cut into rings), 1 bunch scallions cut into 1" lengths, chopped and soaked chipotle peppers, the garlic and the ginger. Not shown is peanut oil and about 2 C of bean sprouts



Preheat about 4 T of peanut oil in a very hot wok



Add the ginger, garlic, chipotles, and seafood



Allow the fish to cook to about 3/4 done and add the bean sprouts. Cook for a minute of three, until the bean sprouts reduce in volume noticeably




Make a well in the bottom of the wok and add the egg. Scramble it. You may have to add more oil at this step.




Add the "magic sludge" and allow it to get hot. Add the noodles and toss. Add the scallions. Lower the heat and allow to cook until the liquid is absorbed - about 3 to 5 minutes.


No more pictures ..... but the whole thing is supposed to be the noodles with all the goodies mixed in. Its really delish! Note that you can use chicken or pork for this, too.

Now to my plea for help ....... as some of you know, I am not that good at Asian dishes. My problem here is one of technique, not ingredients ......

......... is there a trick to getting those fine noodles to allow everything else to mix in? I always seem to wind up with a lump of coated and flavored noodles, with all the goodies in a separate lump. After a great deal of tossing (and a mess in the kitchen) I **finally** manage to get it all mixed, but there **has** to be an easier way.

[merci_me]

1. Maybe????

Have you tried taking everything you did, up until the noodles, out of the wok, add a bit more peanut oil and swirl the noodles to lift and coat, like I sometimes do with pasta, if I have to hold it for awhile before adding the sauce.

Then add the other ingredients back into the noodles instead of adding the noodles into the other ingredients. Then you also have the advantage of adding it back into the noodles in batches as you mix it in, which is less challenging than the mass of noodles. Just don't try it in front of Joyce Chen, unless you want your knuckles smacked with the chopsticks.

BTW, nice shirt!!!

Mary

[Stinky The Clown]

4. The shirt

I didn't even realize I had it on until I looked at the pictures! I have two of these. I also have two of the DU Hero/Zero shirts that never fail to please wherever I wear them outside ..... except when I happened to be wearing a Hero/Zero on one of the rare occasions when I had to go to Home Depot. No sass, but a few shitty looks from the butt crack/toothless set.

edited for bad spelling, missing words and spelling "shirts" as "shorts" ..... which would have had everyone wondering what the hell I was yammering about!

[eleny]

2. Two thoughts

Ouch! Ouch!

Okay, - first, I think that home woks are small compared to restaurant woks. Too small. So, it's hard to treat the food like you're the boss. Things tend to want to hop out because our woks get too full.

That being said, I would deal with those noddles a little different. I would hydrate them in more than one piece. This way, you can add them one blob at a time incorporating the other ingredients a little at a time. AzDem has you doing something like that. It just amounts to adding the noodles or the other ingredients a little at a time to get them all together in the end.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Hard to tell from the picture, but the wok's 16"

Its the biggest one I've ever owned. To be sure, it is far from the biggest I've ever seen, but its pretty good.

That said, you're very right. Home woks are waaaaay smaller than restaurant woks. And in most restaurants, meals are done one or two portions at a time, even in those huge woks.

[NMDemDist2]

7. pas moi! Merci Me!

i wouldn't ever be so bold as to tell H2S how to toss his noodles

:hide:

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Pleeeeeze tell H2S how to toss these damned noodles!

[NMDemDist2]

10. i liked the coat the noodles then add back the seafood a little at a time

idea, but I dunno :shrug:

BTW the cream cheese/salsa omelet is perfectamundo Thanks!

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Thank you both!

I like the ideas you've posed. I'm thinking that maybe combining them may be just what the doc ordered.

Soak the noodles, add a dash of the peanut oil to them, divide them up, and add the smaller volumes one at a time, mixing all the way.

I'll letcha know if this works. Won't be for at least a month before I try this again.

[merci_me]

6. What a coincidence....

I told Jim about your dilemma and he said he was watching Emeril last night and Emeril was adding the rice noodles to his dish. Jim said he tossed the noodles in in small handfuls, not all at once.

I checked the Food Network site and it looks like the epi was called Ooodles of Noodles. It doesn't say anything about the rerun, but you KNOW it will. There are programs I never watch and I swear, every time I happen across it, it's the one episode I've seen.

Jim's the Food Network junkie and I'm the HGTV fan. LOL, both of us always on the look out for something to hint for the other to do.

Mary

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_em/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9959_20055,00.html

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Thanks!

Emeril ...... the energizer bunny of Chow Teevee ...... seems any time I turn it on, he's on, just going off, or just coming on ......

But ..... rest assured I'll watch for that episode.

[demnan]

11. Nice recipe

I'll try it with the helpful suggestions about the noodles. I also like to add a few frozen peas to my noodle dishes, for sweetness.