Chinese Crispy Noodles with Shredded Pork

Chinese Crispy Noodles with Shredded Pork

• February 12, 2019

I've had this blog post sitting in my drafts since 2013 (yes, 2013 dammit!) so you may notice the difference in worktop counter and photography style compared to my usual recipe posts, haha! I still want to share it though as this is a really good recipe and one that I make at home quite regularly. 

I'm sure most of you have had shredded pork on a bed of crispy noodles at Chinese restaurants before, so now you can give it a go and make this at home yourself. The noodles are always deep fried in the restaurants since this is the fastest and easiest way for them to achieve the crispy noodles, but my home version uses a healthier pan-crisped method instead. 

This is a recipe passed onto me by my dad, one that I loved to eat growing up and would request for all the time. The classic style uses finely shredded pork, beansprouts and a little Chinese chives, but you can use just about any meat and vegetable combo you like. 

Fine noodles are a must for this dish, the thicker egg noodles won't work. I like to use the Sau Tao brand or the Hong brand fine noodles. You can get both from Chinese supermarkets or online, I don't recommend the thin eggs noodles from Western supermarkets like Sainsbury's and Tesco's as there is a big difference in texture. These two particular brands have a good chewy bite to them.

I'm using Chinese mushrooms 'dong koo' which need to be rehydrated, along with beansprouts, celery and spring onions for the veggies. Fresh shiitake mushrooms, pak choi, preserved Chinese vegetables are all good options too. 

Ingredients:
400g pork shoulder or chops
6 Chinese mushrooms
400g beansprouts
2 stalks of celery
2 stalks of spring onion stalks
2 cloves of garlic
9 thin noodle rounds
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp light soya sauce
2 tsp cornflour mixed with 4 tsp water

1 cup of water

Pork marinade:
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar 
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp light soya sauce 
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp shaoxing wine
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp water
Dash of white pepper

Directions:
1. Soak the Chinese mushrooms in hot water for 1 hour to rehydrate, if using
2. Wash all the vegetables, and slice the celery and spring onions. Mince the garlic
3. Cut the pork into strips and marinade with salt, sugar, sesame oil, light soya sauce, oyster sauce, shaoxing wine, oil, cornflour, water and white pepper
4. Boil the noodles for 2-3 minutes until they loosen up and only just cooked, al dente style. Drain all the water and rinse with cold water to stop it from sticking together and from cooking further
5. You'll need to make the crispy noodle base 1 portion at a time. In a non stick frying pan, add some oil and turn heat onto high. Lay 1-2 fist full (depends on the size of your pan) of the cooked noodles in a large flat pancake shape and wait for the underside to crisp up, roughly 3 minutes. And if you dare, flip it like a pancake onto the other side! Turn the heat down to medium and add a tad more oil around the rim of the non stick pan and crisp the noodles for another 3 minutes. Once both sides of the noodles are golden brown, transfer directly onto a plate and repeat until there are no noodles left. You should get around 4 plates of noodles
6. Add oil to the pan and when hot, add in the mince garlic for 30 seconds and then add in the marinaded pork. Stir fry for 3 minutes until the pork is half cooked, then throw in all the vegetables and stir fry for another 3 minutes
7. Add in 1 cup of water and let it simmer for 2 minutes, then put in 1 tsp soya sauce. When the pork has fully cooked through, add in the cornflour mixture and stir continuously until it all thickens into a sauce
8. Turn off heat and spoon some pork and vegetables over the crispy noodles. Tuck in straightway! You can serve this with chilli oil/sauce and extra soya sauce

You can find more of my recipes here, enjoy!