Chinese Braised Shrimp E-Fu Noodles (Yee-Mein)

| By: Sarah Hanson |

I always thought Chinese noodles were out of my amateur cooking’s reach, but this recipe provides a way to capture the flavors of the ocean even when working with minimal skill. Each ingredient adds its own powerful flavor to create a dish rich in fresh, salty, and satiating tastes.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon ginger, crushed (start with a whole ginger root—makes the dish more fun and fresh)

• 1 garlic clove, minced (start with a whole garlic clove)

• 2 bunches yellow chives, cut to 1-2 inch lengths (start with uncut bunches)

• 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

• ½ teaspoon sugar

• ½ tablespoon sea salt (not necessary; preferably left out)

• ¼ teaspoon sesame oil (plus more for the pan)

• 1 dash ground white pepper (start with whole peppercorns)

• ½ cup chicken stock (start with condensed chicken stock)

• 10 shrimp, deveined (start with whole, frozen shrimp)

• 1 packet 4 oz. E-Fu or Yee-Mein noodles (start with a 16-oz packet of noodles)

Utensils:

• 1 paring knife

• Measuring cups, teaspoon, and tablespoon sets

• 1 wok or large pan (as large as you have available)

• 2 cooking pots

• 1 pasta strainer

• 1 spoon or other mixing utensil

• 1 garlic press

Cooking Instructions

Part 1 - Prepare the Ingredients:

1. Crush the ginger by removing a large bulb from the ginger root, and use a paring knife to cut the bark off the bulb. Cut the peeled bulb into a couple of smaller pieces and crush each piece into pulp using a garlic press.

2. Remove one clove from the garlic bulb. Cut the clove at each end and peel off the skin. Then mince the garlic by using the paring knife to cut the clove into very small pieces.

3. Use the paring knife to slice the two bushels of chives into bunches of 1-2 inch long segments; stop slicing near the top of the chive stalks and use only the cut segments in the noodle dish.

4. Cry because you forgot chives were in the onion family ---------------------------

5. Defrost the shrimp, then use the paring knife to cut off the tail. Then, slide the knife underneath the shell to separate the shell from the body. With the shell removed, cut the shrimp along the length of its back and hold it under running water. Rub your finger long the cut to remove the vein, then place the deveined shrimp on a plate for later use.

6. Soften the noodles by placing them in a pot of hot water until they are soft but undercooked, then drain away the water and save the noodles in a strainer. The pot can be reused to make the sauce later.

7. Prepare the chicken stock in a cooking pot by dissolving a small amount of condensed chicken stock in 2 cups of warm water heated over the stove. The ratio of condensed chicken stock to water should be 1 g. chicken stock to 40 mL water.

Part 2 - Cook the Herb Seasoning:

1. Heat the wok or large pan over the stove on high. Pour a small amount of sesame oil into the pan and coat the pan with the oil by swirling it around. The exact amount of oil you use here is arbitrary. Can also use avocado oil, canola oil, or other cooking oil depending on what is available.

2. Test that the pan and oil are hot enough by sprinkling in a few grains of minced garlic. If it sizzles immediately, they are ready.

3. Add the rest of the garlic and ginger to the wok and stir fry for about 10 seconds. Then add the chives and the Shaoxing wine and stir fry for a short while longer (about 10-15 seconds) before moving the wok off the heat. Set aside briefly as the sauce is prepared.

Part 3 - Prepare the Sauce:

1. In the pot previously used to soften the noodles, prepare the sauce by adding the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, sea salt (though it’s really better without the salt, in my opinion), sesame oil, white pepper, and chicken stock. Mix together thoroughly.

Part 4: Cook the Noodles:

1. Put the wok with the herb seasoning back on the heat (medium heat this time) and add the sauce prepared in part 3. Bring the mixture to a simmer (evident when steam starts to rise from the pan).

2. When the mix is simmering, add the shrimp and sauté until cooked (evidenced by the shrimp curling in on themselves and taking on a pinkish/orange color).

3. Add the softened noodles to the wok and mix everything together until the sauce becomes thick, which should take about 5 minutes. Make sure the noodles and other ingredients do not stick to the plate by constantly stirring.

4. Take wok off the heat and serve the noodles immediately. Enjoy!

Notes

• Where the find the ingredients: Most ingredients should be easily found in your local grocery store. Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, and noodles can be purchased in an oriental market or store, which are easily found in big cities such as Atlanta. If you do not live near a city or are unable to shop in public due to quarantine regulations, ingredients can be ordered online or replaced with substitutes.

Ingredient substitutes and tips for quarantine shopping:

• Ginger need not necessarily be crushed. Can also be sliced or purchased pre-made. If you live near a local Asian restaurant, you can also order ginger with take-out food and preserve it for your own cooking.

• Garlic is easily purchased pre-minced and packaged from any local grocery store; one can purchase a whole bulb for maximal freshness and interaction with ingredients or use the pre-minced version to conserve time. It is also often found hiding in the recesses of your fridge from a previous but possibly forgotten grocery trip.

• If you cannot find Shaoxing wine or do not have access to an oriental market, you can substitute this ingredient for another rice or cooking wine more commonly stocked.

• If you cannot find oyster sauce, you can replace this ingredient with soy sauce (though this will make your final sauce thinner and saltier) or fish sauce (though this will add more of a fishy flavor). A 1:1 mixture of soy sauce and hoisin sauce will also result in something acceptably close to oyster sauce.

• Although I used pure cane sugar in my recipe, which is usually the easiest to find in any grocery store and likely stocked at home as well, many different types of sugar would suffice depending on what you have available or your dietary preferences.

• Sea salt can be replaced with regular salt or other varieties (such as Himalayan pink salt if you want to be creative). However, when making this dish, I discovered that the salt can easily (even preferably) be omitted altogether, as the soy sauce provides plenty of saltiness to the dish itself.

• Dark soy sauce is thicker and less salty than regular soy sauce, but if you have no access to this variety, regular soy sauce will do can is easily found in grocery stores or in supplement to Asian take-out food.

• Sesame oil is important to the flavor of the dish, so try to include it if possible. However, you can use any cooking oil available (peanut, avocado, canola, olive, etc.).

• If white pepper is unavailable, use what pepper you have.

• Replacement for chicken stock include vegetable stock, fish stock, and beef stock (but be careful as this can have an overpowering taste, so you may need to use a more dilute version). In a real pinch, you can just use water mixed with some butter or oil.

• You can purchase pre-deveined shrimp; it is not necessary to prepare them yourself.

• The E-Fu or Yee-Mein noodles are important to the dish. However, instead of purchasing them from an oriental market, it is possible to make them yourself (requiring water, flour, eggs, salt, and baking soda). If you must, linguine can serve as an acceptable substitute.

Recipe yield and other tips:

• Recipe Yield: The recipe above makes enough for 4 small side-dishes. If you want these noodles as your main meal, multiply all ingredients by 3—this will serve a family of 4-5 as the main dish.

• The recipe above makes a final product with a very strong and distinct salty taste. Removing the sea salt will temper this intense saltiness, as enough salty flavor is already provided by the soy sauce.

• Do not leave the noodles out and exposed to the air for too long or they will become dry and unappetizing. To preserve, cover noodles with plastic to retain moisture and refrigerate. Can be reheated in microwave, though it is really best served fresh.