Taiwanese Stir-Fry Noodles

Tiffy Chen, the TikTok content creator behind Tiffy Cooks (@tiffycooks) shares some of her family’s most cherished recipes in her first cookbook Tiffy Cooks: 88 Easy Asian Recipes from My Family to Yours. Chen says that if there’s one dish her grandma makes better than anyone else, it’s her stir-fry noodles. It has the perfect balance of flavours and textures and is packed with vegetables. All her friends and relatives request it when they visit her. “At first my grandma didn’t want to share this recipe with me because it’s her secret recipe. But she came around, and now she’s excited to share Taiwanese cuisine with the world,” Chen writes.

Taiwanese Stir-Fry Noodles

TikTok star Tiffy Chen shares her grandmother's recipe for chao mi fen – Taiwanese stir-fried noodles.

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Ingredients

• 300 g rice vermicelli noodles
• 1½ tsp olive oil
• 450 g cabbage (1 large cabbage), sliced
• 1 cup Chinese celery cut into 2-in (5-cm) pieces
• ½ cup thinly sliced carrot
• 1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
• ½ cup sliced fresh black fungus
• ¼ cup light soy sauce
• 3 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 tsp white pepper
• ½ tsp granulated sugar
• 2½ cups water approx
• 1 tbsp shallot oil see note
• 1 tbsp fried shallots see note
• fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Instructions

 

• In bowl, cover noodles with cold water and soak for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
• Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add cabbage, celery, carrots, mushrooms and black fungus. Cook, stirring, until mushrooms start to sweat, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Stir in soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper and sugar. Add water and bring to a simmer. Add noodles and, using chopsticks, loosen them to prevent breaking. Mix to evenly coat in the sauce.
• Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. If noodles are still firm, add more water, 1 tbsp at a time, until they’re fully cooked. Gently stir in shallot oil and fried shallots.
• Transfer to large serving plate and garnish with cilantro. Serve immediately.

Notes

To make fried shallots, thinly slice 450 g of shallots (about 25 shallots) crosswise. Heat 4 cups of vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until it reaches 325°F on a deep-frying thermometer. Fry shallots ½ cup at a time for 8 to 10 minutes, until they start to brown and crisp. Keep an eye on them because they cook quickly and can easily burn. Using a slotted spoon, transfer shallots to a paper-towel-lined plate. Let cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 1 month. Yields 3 cups.

Don’t throw away the oil you use to fry the shallots! Store it in a jar in the fridge for up to 1 week. It’s super fragrant and delicious. Drizzle it over steamed vegetables, and they will instantly be packed with flavour.

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Excerpted from Tiffy Cooks by Tiffy Chen. Copyright © 2024 Tiffy Chen. Photography and illustrations by Vanessa Wong. Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.