Quick char kway teow

This is hands down my favourite noodle dish. It's super important to cook small portions of the recipe at a time so the noodles get the charred flavour and look to them. That’s the key!

Credit: Adam Liaw

• serves

  2

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 dried red chillies, seeds removed
• 60 ml (¼ cup) boiling water
• 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, chopped
• 2 small Asian red shallots, peeled, chopped
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• ¼ tsp white pepper
• 125 ml (½ cup) vegetable oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 8 large raw prawns, cleaned and peeled, tails intact
• 10 slices fishcake
• 2 lap cheong (Chinese sausage), thinly sliced
• 500 g fresh flat rice noodles
• ½ bunch garlic chives, cut into 5-cm lengths
• 200 g (2½ cups) bean sprouts
• 2 eggs

Instructions

1. Soak the dried chillies in the boiling water for 10 minutes. Place the chillies and soaking water in a small food processor, along with the fresh red chilli and shallots and process to form a paste. Set aside.
2. Combine the soy sauces, fish sauce, sugar and white pepper in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat half the oil in a wok, heavy-based frying pan or skillet with high sides over high heat. Add half the garlic, half the prawns, half the fishcake slices and 1 sliced lap cheong and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add half the noodles and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until golden and coated. Add half the reserved chilli paste and half the soy sauce mixture and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add half the garlic chives and half the bean sprouts and stir-fry for another 20 seconds. Crack one egg into the wok and scramble into the noodles for 30 seconds or until the egg is just cooked. Transfer to a serving plate, keep warm, then repeat with remaining ingredients to make a second serve.

 

Photography by Adam Liaw.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.