Crispy noodle pancake with vegetable gravy (Hong Kong pan-fried noodles)
A golden, crackly cake of pan-fried egg noodles topped with bok choy, snow peas and carrots in a glossy soy gravy that softens it just enough.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $1.95 a serving
- 400 calories
- Vegetarian
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 8 oz lo mein noodles
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 carrot, thinly sliced
- 1 cup snow peas
- 3 baby bok choy, quartered
- 1½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp soy sauce, divided
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, divided
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1½ tbsp cornstarch
Each serving has about 400 calories, 11 g protein, 51 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $1.95 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No snow peas? Sugar snap peas work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Bring a pot of water over high heat and cook the noodles as the package says, usually 2 minutes, until just tender. well, with 1 tablespoon soy sauce and spread on a towel to dry 5 minutes.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
High heatTimer: 2 min
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heat
Add the noodles and press them into a flat round.
Medium-high heat
Cook 5 to 6 minutes without moving, until deep and underneath.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Give the pan a shake. When the cake slides around in one piece, it’s ready to flip.Slide the cake onto a plate, flip the pan over it and turn it back into the pan.
1 tablespoon oil around the edge and cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until .
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Slide it onto a platter.
Add the rest of the oil to the pan. Stir in the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds, then add the carrot, snow peas and bok choy and 2 minutes.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Pour in the broth, the rest of the soy sauce and the sugar and 2 minutes, until the vegetables are .
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Tender-crisp. Tender-crisp means vegetables cooked until just tender but still with a little snap. They keep their bright color and crunch instead of going soft and dull.
How you’ll know: A fork goes in with slight resistance, and the color is bright, not olive or gray.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Stir the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons cold water, pour it in and stir about 1 minute, until the gravy is thick and glossy. Stir in the sesame oil.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min
Spoon the vegetables and gravy over the noodle cake, scatter the green onions over and cut into wedges at the table.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
