[Modified version of http://rasamalaysia.com/char-kuey-teow/2/]
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Serves: 6-7 portions
Ingredients:
- 500 grams of fresh tiger prawns (shelled and submerged in ice cold water with 2 tablespoons sugar for 20 minutes, then drained completely)
- 500 grams of fresh flat rice noodles/'kuey teow' (completely loosened with no clumps, drained completely)
- 500 grams of fresh bean sprouts (rinsed with cold water and drained completely)
- 100 grams of Chinese chives (remove about 1-inch from the base and cut into 2-inch lengths)
- 8-10 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
- 7 teaspoons of ‘chai por’/preserved turnip (rinsed and drained completely) – this ingredient is key to get the best taste out of your Char Kuey Teow
#htNOTE: It is important that all your ingrediants are drained completely, to ensure that your Char Kuey Teow is dry; unless of course, you’re experimenting with a variation of ‘Kuey Teow Basah’.
Optional extras:
- 2 Chinese sausages/'lap cheong' (sliced diagonally)
- 500 grams of fresh cockles (shelled)
- 8 eggs (1 per serving)
- Banana leaves (cut and cleaned) for food presentation
For the Chili Paste:
- 1 oz./28 grams of dried red chiles (soaked in water, then seeded and drained completely)
- 2 fresh red chilies (seeded)
- 3 small shallots (peeled and sliced)
- A pinch of salt
For the Sauce (mix well):
- 5 tablespoons of light soy sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons of dark soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon of fish sauce
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 2 dashes of white pepper powder
- 1 tablespoon of white sugar
#htNOTE: Dip your finger into the sauce (after thoroughly mixing) to taste and see if you’re okay with the taste. If you’re like me and prefer it to be a tad sweeter, add an extra ½ tablespoon of sugar.
Chilli Paste Preparation
- Grind all the ingredients of the chili paste in a food processor until fine.
- Heat up a wok with 1 teaspoon of oil and stir-fry the chili paste until aromatic. Dish out and set aside.
#htNOTE: After cooking the Char Kuey Teow, you can store the remaining chilli paste (if any left) in the freezer for over a month.
Cooking
#htNOTE: The following instructions will guide you on making 2 portions at a time. If you’re trying this at home for the first time, I’d recommend you do this (as opposed to putting everything in for all 7 servings) so that you’ll still have enough ingrediants to make a fresh batch in case you decide to adjust the taste/do things differently the next round.
Also if you don’t plan to cook all 7 servings at once, the ingrediants can be stored in the fridge for when you need them at a later time.
- Clean the wok thoroughly and place over high heat until it starts to smoke. Add 1 tablespoon of oil/lard into the wok followed by 1 tablepoon of chopped garlic, and do a quick stir.
- As the garlic starts to brown (within the next few seconds), turn the heat down a notch and throw in 1 tablespoon of ‘chai por’. Stir immediately to avoid the ‘chai por' from “popping” out of the wok (if it gets too intense and unmanageable, just turn the heat down).
- Add in a few slices of Chinese sausage (optional) and stir for a few seconds.
- Add in 5-6 prawns and stir for a few seconds until the prawns start to change colour, dish out the prawns immediately and set aside to avoid overcooking them.
- By now you should smell the aroma of the Chinese sausages.
- Bring the heat back up a notch and add in 2 handfuls of bean sprouts, and immediately follow with 2 large handfuls of the flat noodles (I’m assuming 1 large handful = 1 serving, so adjust the size of each handful according to your desired portion)
- Add 2 ½ tablespoons of the sauce into the wok and stir vigorously to blend evenly with the noodles.
- Using the spatula, create a little crater in the centre of the wok (push the rest of the contents aside), and crack 2 eggs into the empty area.
- Immediately use the spatula to break the egg yolks and stir to blend with the egg whites for a few seconds.
- Mix the noodles with the eggs and keep flipping the noodles until the eggs are distributed evenly.
- Add about ¼ to ½ tablespoon of chili paste (depending on how spicy you like it to be). Do a quick taste check and add a bit more sauce if you prefer the taste to be more intense/salty.
- Throw in the cockles (optional).
- Stir-fry and continue to flip the noodles off the bottom of the pan (so that nothing gets burnt) until the egg is cooked and clumped onto the noodles. If you’re using a non-stick pan, you can afford to do this a little longer to get that slightly charred “streetside wok” aroma.
- Add chives, throw in the pre-cooked prawns and mix in/flip the noodles a few times then dish out and serve immediately.
- Repeat this whole process to make another 2 servings of Char Kuey Teow using the remaining ingredients.
Use the comment box below if you have any questions and do let us know how your Char Kuey Teow turns out. Happy experimenting fellow foodies! :-D