Crispy Noodle Cake with Saucy Stir-fry

Did I mention I'm going back to school? No? I must have forgotten.

In case you're wondering, I'm getting my teaching credential to be a science educator. So far it's been swell. The instructors are awesome. My classmates are awesome. Everything's awesome except for the damned reading. Lord save me from the reading. If I'm not reading something as exciting as say, The Bourne Identity or The DaVinci Code, I'll be lucky to make it through a paragraph before nodding off. As you can imagine, reading about pedagogy has been slow going.

Anyhow, I decided to put the schoolwork aside for a day and concentrate on stuff I've been neglecting. Like the laundry. Paying the bills. My garden. My poor, neglected blog. Especially my poor, neglected blog. Working on it has always been an outlet, and with all that I've been cramming into my head lately, it's nice to be able let some stuff out.

The inspiration for this recipe came from Martin Yan's China. I was flipping through and I saw the noodle "cake" recipe and I remembered trying something similar at my neighbor's house. The combination of crispy noodles with a saucy stir-fry was great.

It's a pretty easy dish, but there was a fair amount of prep work because you have to boil the noodles and prepare stuff for the stir-fry. The actual cooking was the quick part. I think it took me about 45 minutes to put this on the table.

To flavor the stir-fry, I used fermented tofu with soy beans. I doubt you'll find this at your local supermarket, so a trip to your favorite Asian market is probably in your future. Otherwise, you can use fermented (yellow) soy beans, which your local market might carry. If you're not in the mood to track either down, then by all means, use your favorite stir-fry. I only recommend a very saucy one so the noodles can soak in the sauce.

Crispy Noodles with Saucy Stir-fry

Serves about 4

For the noodles:

• 8 or 9 oz dried wheat noodles (I use a Thai brand) or 1 lb fresh Chinese egg noodle
• 1/2 cup broth (I used a beef broth but chicken or even vegetable is fine)
• a few tbs oil for frying

For the stir-fry

• 2 tbs fermented tofu with soy bean (or just fermented yellow soy beans)
• 2 Chinese cooking wine, divided
• 1 tbs thin soy sauce (or oyster sauce)
• 1 cup rich chicken or beef broth (use a good quality--it makes or breaks the dish)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 4 tsp cornstarch, divided
• 12 oz chicken, sliced for stir-frying
• 1 large zucchini, sliced
• 1 red or yellow bell pepper, sliced
• thumb-sized knob ginger, sliced into matchsticks
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Start by cooking the noodles. Drain and rinse well with cold water and drain again. Toss with a little oil to prevent them from sticking. Set aside until you're ready to fry them. If you can set them in the fridge, even better. They fry better the colder they start.

While the water for the noodles gets going, prepare the chicken by combining 2 tsp cornstarch with 1 tbs cooking wine. Turn the sliced chicken in the slurry and set side.

Make the sauce for the stir-fry by mashing the fermented tofu and soybeans until you get a paste. Don't worry if you don't mash every single soybean. Add 1 tbs cooking wine, the broth, thin soy sauce (or oyster sauce) and sugar. Mix until well blended. Stir in 2 tsp cornstarch. Set aside.

It's best to fry the noodles in two batches. If you try to do it all in one go, you'll probably get a fat cake with a large amount of soft noodle in the middle. Trust me, you'll want to maximize the crispiness. In a non-stick pan (or well-seasoned cast iron skillet), heat a couple of tbs oil over medium heat. Add about half the cooled noodles, distributing them into an even layer. Add half the broth and cook until a nice crispy crust forms and the broth has evaporated. Watch the heat! You wouldn't want your noodles to burn. You may want to move the pan around every so often to distribute the heat better. Flip or carefully turn the noodle cake over and allow a crust to form on the opposite side. When you're satisfied slide the noodle cake onto a plate and keep warm until you're ready to serve.

When you cook the second cake, start heating your wok for the stir-fry. Once it's nice and hot, add some oil and fry the chicken. When the chicken is just about done, remove it and set aside. Add more oil if necessary, then add the garlic, ginger and bell pepper. Stir-fry for a minute, then add the zucchini. After another minute add the chicken back in. Toss well then slowly add your sauce by drizzling it down the side of your wok. Hopefully it will begin to thicken on contact. If it doesn't, no worries. It will once it begins to heat through. Adjust flavor with more soy sauce if necessary. When the sauce has thickened, you're done! Divide the stir-fry over the two noodle cakes and serve immediately. I like to put out chili-garlic sauce as well, for those who like it spicy.

This is my submission for Regional Recipes. We're in China! If you'd like to participate, I'll take submissions until the 20th. C'mon, you know you want to! Send your submission to me at blazinghotwok(at)gmail(dot)com. Be sure to include a photo (about 200x200) so I can include it in the round-up!

Saucy Broccoli and Tofu Stir-fry

We eat a lot of broccoli in this house. It’s one of the vegetables my son will actually eat without a lot of bitching and moaning. It might be a bit boring as far as vegetables go, but it does often save me a trip to the Asian market because it’s a good substitute for Asian broccoli. Not quit as sharp as the Asian varieties, but that’s made up for with a wonderful texture. If you haven’t tried biting into a tender-crisp piece of stir-fried broccoli, the sauce that’s trapped in the floret releasing into your mouth, then you’ve missed out. That’s not an exaggeration.

Try this easy stir-fry and you’ll see what I’m talking about.



I found this stir-fry in Martin Yan’s latest cookbook, Martin Yan's China. He originally presents this as a shrimp stir-fry, but in an effort to eat less meat, I decided to use tofu and broccoli. In fact, if you substitute the chicken stock with vegetable stock or water, this would be a vegan dish! Imagine that?!

Saucy Broccoli and Tofu Stir-fry
Adapated from Martin Yan’s China
Serves 3

• 1 block firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes
• 2 to 3 cups of broccoli (more if you’d like), cut for stir-frying
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• ¼ cup ketchup (see note)
• ¼ cup Chinese rice wine
• ¼ cup chicken broth
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 to 2 tbs chili garlic sauce (see note)
• ½ tbs sugar (more to taste)
• squirt of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce (more to taste)

Note: Those who turn their noses up to using ketchup in Asian cooking should not be so snobby. It can work beautifully, like in this dish. Remember, if it's good enough for Martin Yan, it's good enough for you. Also, if you haven’t figured it out, there is a difference between the Chinese andd Vietnamese version of chili garlic sauce. Lee Kum Kee is probably the most popular Chinese version here in the States. We don’t think it’s very spicy and are able to use the full 2 tbs in this dish. The Vietnamese version is a heck of a lot spicier, and the one I prefer, but if I use 2 tbs in anything, Sonny wouldn’t be able to eat. The choice is yours; both work well.

Start by heating a wok over medium-high heat. Add 2 to 3 tbs oil and when hot add the tofu. Fry the tofu, turning only every minute or so. This will allow it to sear so that the outside is semi-crisp and the inside is soft. It may take 10 minutes to get them browned to your liking.

While the tofu is cooking, make the sauce. Start by dissolving the cornstarch in the broth and soy sauce. Add the ketchup, rice wine, chili garlic sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Adjust the flavor to your liking by adding more of any of the ingredients. Bare in mind that the rice wine may seem strong, but it will evaporate once cooked. Set aside until needed.

Once the tofu is browned to your liking, add the broccoli and stir-fry until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Better to undercook than overcook because you’ll be giving it a little more time at the end. Remove everything to a bowl.

Turn up the heat. To the wok, add another tbs of oil and the garlic. Fry for just a few seconds, making sure it doesn’t burn. Add the sauce mix and allow to reduce until it thickens. This shouldn’t take too long if your wok is hot. Add the tofu and broccoli back in and stir to coat. Cook for about another minute. There should be a nice sauce and it should be quite thick. Remove from heat and serve immediate with steamed rice.


I'm submitting this dish to Weekend Wokking, a food blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks that spotlights a theme ingredient. The host this round is Wiffy of Noob Cook and the theme ingredient is broccoli. If you're interested in participating in the future, check out Wiffy's blog for the round-up, which will be posted on Dec 3. You'll get to see all the delicious entries and the next secret ingredient will be revealed!