Char kway teow

Ingredients

• Wide rice noodles — fresh400 g
• Prawns200 g
• Cockles or squid150 g
• Chinese sausage80 g
• Eggs2
• Bean sprouts150 g
• Garlic chives60 g
• Garlic4 clove
• Dark soy sauce1 tbsp
• Light soy sauce2 tbsp
• Sambal1 tbsp
• Lard3 tbsp
• Sugar1 tsp

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Separate the fresh noodles into individual strips by hand, trying not to tear them.

   8 min

2. 2

   Set everything out beside the hob — the cooking takes four minutes and there will be no time to fetch anything.

   12 min

3. 3

   Heat the wok until it smokes, melt the lard and fry the garlic and sausage for twenty seconds.

   3 min

4. 4

   Add the prawns and cockles and cook thirty seconds, without stirring constantly.

   2 min

5. 5

   Push everything to the side, break the eggs into the centre, let them set for ten seconds and break them up.

   2 min

6. 6

   Add the noodles, both soy sauces, the sambal and sugar and toss them for a minute and a half.

   3 min

7. 7

   Throw in the sprouts and chives, toss for twenty seconds and serve immediately.

   2 min

About the dish

Everything rests on wok hei, the "breath of the wok", a faint smokiness that comes off searing metal. It appears only at a temperature where the oil smokes, and on a low flame the dish simply does not exist.

It is cooked one or two portions at a time. A full pan drops the temperature, the noodles start steaming and you get boiled rather than fried.

The bean sprouts go in for the last twenty seconds. Longer and they wilt, where what is wanted is crunch against soft noodles.

Worth knowing

• — Fresh noodles break when cold. Leave them at room temperature for an hour, and only then separate them.
• — Lard gives a flavour vegetable oil does not. In Penang it is used on principle, and it is part of the dish.
• — A home hob will not reach the required temperature. Cook a single portion and heat the wok as hard as it goes — that is the only way to approach the street result.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

780 kcal

Protein

36 g

Fat

34 g

Carbs

84 g

More from Malaysia

• Laksa lemak — Noodles in a coconut broth built on a rempah paste, with prawns and tofu. The paste is fried until the oil separates.
• Roti canai — A flatbread stretched translucent and crumpled before frying. The layers come from air rather than butter.
• Nasi lemak — Rice cooked in coconut milk with pandan, served with sambal, anchovies, egg and peanuts.