Quick Meal - Cantonese Fried ( 广府炒)

This quick meal was not to be for today's dinner but a last minute decision to eat in. We just took whatever ingredients were available. Well it turned out that the meals were deliciously done. Ahem!

Decided to blog it sharing with friends/visitors how to prepare a delicious noodle meal.

Cost per serving is about a dollar plus, and more important we know what things go to the meal. The only drawback for this Cantonese version of frying rice-vermicelli is that a lot more cooking oil is used compared to other noodles done in this blog earlier.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
1). Rice vermicelli (米 粉) noodle: 400g - soak in water for a few minutes or until the noodles are soften. Drain the noodles. Good to store extra packets as it can last weeks compared to wet noodles.
2). Tomato: 1 or more (sliced)
3). Old Ginger: about 40 gm (removed skin & thinly sliced)
4). Fresh Garlic: 30g (removed skin & minced)
5). Cooking oil: about 4 or 5 tablespoon
6). Meat (boneless): about 50 gm per serving. Any type of meat will do. In our case, we use chicken meat, prawns and some beef. Marinate them with a table spoon of soy sauce.
7). Water: about 400 cc (or chicken broth)
8). An egg: Beat it for a minute with a fork
9). A cube of chicken stock (optional for the stew)
10). Tapioca Flour: 1 tablespoon, mixed with a bit of water (for thickening the gravy)
11). Black Vinegar(黑醋): 1 tablespoon (optional - the idea is to make the gravy a bit sourish; ordinary white vinegar can be a substitute too)
12). Salt and pepper to taste
13) Mint leaves (optional)

Method:
Making stew

Use a non-stick pot so that cooking oil can be minimised. Heat (medium) up the oil, then put in the ginger and stir for a minute, followed by the minced garlic, until they are light brown. Put in marinated meat, slice tomatoes; stir them for a few minutes; then finally add in the water (leave some water behind, about 100 ml). Stew it for about 15 minutes. Finally add in the balance of the water, chicken stock, egg, starch paste, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Turn fire to low and leave aside.

Making fried noodles

Here use an ordinary frying pan (do not use non-stick pan) so that noodles can be easily burnt slightly on both sides. Put in tablespoon (15ml) of oil and heat it up; then add in about 100 gm of the thin noodles, and spread the noodles evenly over the pan. Stir occasionally until it is slightly burnt. It should be like those shown (pix). Then turn over the noodles, and add in another tea-spoon of oil. Turn the noodles around. Take out when ready and place it on a serving plate. Repeat the rest of the noodles.

Mamma Mia!

Pour the boiling stew over the noodles. Place mint and serve hot.

Yes, we can!