Sep 19, 2011
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Char Kuey Teow (Stir-Fried Rice Noodles)

Shrimp, Chinese sausage, chiles, and chives bring intense flavor to these wok-fried noodles, a popular Malay street food. This recipe first appeared in our October 2011 issue along with Jayanthi Daniel's article Hungry City.
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Char Kuey Teow Enlarge Image Credit: Todd Coleman
SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp. dried shrimp paste
3 dried chiles de árbol, stemmed, torn into pieces, and soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes, drained
3 tbsp. peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
12 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
1 6″ dried Chinese link sausage, peeled and thinly sliced
1 10-oz. package fresh broad Chinese rice noodles, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp. double black soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 egg
4 oz. mung bean sprouts
6 Chinese chives or scallions, cut into 2″ lengths

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place shrimp paste on a small piece of foil, and wrap around paste to form a packet; heat broiler to high and broil packet until fragrant, about 8 minutes. Let paste cool slightly, then transfer to a cutting board and add drained chiles; using a chefknife, cut and mash paste and chiles together until a smooth paste forms; set paste aside.

2. Heat oil in a 12″ wok or nonstick skillet over high heat. Add paste, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add garlic, and cook, stirring, until just golden, about 30 seconds. Add shrimp and sausage, and cook, flipping shrimp once, until barely pink, about 1 minute. Break noodles apart with your fingers and add to wok along with soy sauce and sugar; cook, stirring often, until noodles are evenly coated and heated through, about 1 minute.

3. Make a well in the center of the noodles; add egg, and cook, without stirring, until the white is half-set, about 45 seconds. Add sprouts and chives, and stir noodles and egg until evenly incorporated and sprouts and chives begin to wilt, about 1 minute. Serve immediately.
Char Kuey Teow

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #141

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Ratings & Reviews (5)

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For an authentic char kuey teow, you need to use kecap manis- a heavy, sweet soy sauce, rather than double soy. If you can't find this, use a dark soy but add palm sugar to add sweetness to balance the sour and salty flavours. Also, a key ingredient is a bunch of garlic chives. 4 oz of bean sprouts looks rather mean but they need to be added last to maintain crispness. Any variety of cabbabge (chinese,savoy etc) can be shredded and added last in replacement of bean sprouts.
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Tasty dish with many variations. Mandarin-style is initially frying the chilis in the oil until they just begin to turn very dark maroon color, then remove to cool and set aside. This makes "hot oil" to begin the stir-fry. If you prefer more veggies, try ONE piece of Bok Choy cut in half length-wise and/or black mushroom cut in quarters - but that's it - or you'll overload it. Bean sprouts must be added last to keep crunchy, and break-up the brittle chilis that were set aside for garnishing on top. They are no longer very hot, but add a rather BBQish flavor to the noodles.
Kecap manis! I've tried and failed for years to reproduce the authentic flavour of this fantastic dish (as interpreted, Penang-style, by Malay Satay Hut in Redmond, WA), and turns out kecap manis was the final missing piece, so many thanks to J1952HILL above. I agree with the other reviewers that the ingredient list is not (remotely) cast in stone.

(Now, if only I could figure out the ingredients for the curry paste they use in their Curry Chicken Noodle Soup, I could die a happy man.)
Well, this cannot actually be called a Malay street food, since it contains pork. It is a Malaysian Chinese street food. Malay refers to the ethnic group, while Malaysia is the country.
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This is happy info for OUTRIAAGE, you can now buy the curry paste for the Curry Chicken Noodle Soup (Curry Laksa. http://www.asiansupermarket365.com/Tean-s-Gourmet-Malaysian-Curry-Laksa-Paste-p/s0013.htm
Enjoy!
Char Kuey Teow (Stir-Fried Rice Noodles) 4 5 3 5

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