Char kway teow

It’s very important to only cook one serving of this dish at a time so the noodles brown. Rice noodles become brittle if refrigerated, so buy them fresh from Asian food shops. They will keep, sealed, at a low room temperature for up to 2 days after purchase.

Credit: Feast magazine

• serves

  2

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 dried red chillies, seeds removed
• 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, chopped
• 2 small Asian red eschalots, 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 green prawns, cleaned and peeled, tails intact (see Cooking Notes)
• 10 slices fishcake (see Note)
• 2 lap cheong (Chinese sausage) (see Note), thinly sliced
• 500 g fresh flat rice noodles (see Note)
• ½ bunch garlic chives (see Note), cut into 5 cm lengths
• 200 g (2½ cups) bean sprouts
• 2 eggs

Soaking time 10 minutes

Instructions

Soak dried chillies in a bowl with 60 ml boiling water for 10 minutes. Place chillies and soaking water in a small food processor, along with long red chilli and eschalots, and process to form a paste. Set aside.

Combine soy sauces, fish sauce, sugar and white pepper in a bowl. Set aside.

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, stir-frying 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, stir-frying for a further 2 minutes. Add half the garlic chives and half the bean sprouts, stir-frying for a further 20 seconds. Crack one egg into mixture and scramble into noodles for 30 seconds or until egg is cooked. Transfer to a serving plate, keep warm, then repeat with remaining ingredients to make a second serve.

Notes

• Fishcake is commonly used in Asian cooking. It is available in blocks from the refrigerated section of select Asian food shops.

* Lap cheong (Chinese sausage), fresh flat rice noodles and garlic chives are available from Asian food shops and select greengrocers.

Photography Chris Chen

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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.