Soy sauce chow mein with bean sprouts and yellow chives
The cha chaan teng classic at home: springy egg noodles stir-fried until dry and toasty with crunchy bean sprouts and yellow chives, using far less oil.
- 20 min
- Serves 2
- Stir-fry
- Easy
Why it suits you: A balanced constitution can simply eat with the seasons. The old saying goes 'dumplings at the Winter Solstice, noodles at the Summer Solstice', so a plate of chow mein is the festive choice. Crisp bean sprouts and yellow chives keep it fresh, and frying it dry with little oil means it won't sit heavily when the heat dulls your appetite.
Method
Prep 10 min · Cook 10 min- 1Blanch the noodles in boiling water for 1 minute, rinse under cold water and drain. Toss with a little oil and spread out to air-dry for 5 minutes so they fry up dry rather than sticky.
- 2Mix the soy sauces, sugar and 2 tbsp water. Heat a little oil in a wok and fry the noodles over medium heat until lightly crisp on both sides; set aside.
- 3Add the rest of the oil and fry the onion until fragrant, then the bean sprouts over high heat for 30 seconds. Return the noodles, pour over the sauce and toss quickly with chopsticks until evenly coloured.
- 4Toss in the yellow chives and spring onion, add a few drops of sesame oil and serve at once, while the bean sprouts are still crisp.
Cautions
- Egg noodles already contain salt, so halve the soy sauces if you have high blood pressure.
Chef's tips
- Air-drying the noodles and frying over high heat gives that dry, smoky wok flavour of a cha chaan teng.
The TCM view
Wheat is sweet and cool, nourishing the heart and easing restlessness. Mung bean sprouts are sweet and cool, clearing heat and draining damp. Yellow chives are pungent and warm, warming the middle and moving qi, and onion is pungent and warm, regulating qi and settling the stomach. The cool sprouts balance the warm chives and onion, and wheat calms the heart fire that runs high at the solstice.
