Stir-Fried Egg Noodles with Shrimp & Vegetables
It is usually during a film scene that my longing for stir-fried noodles gets the best of me. It will either be a couple of New York cops sitting in their car... scooping up mouthful after luscious mouthful of goopy noodles from a box, that never seems to empty. They chew on and on and lick their lips and it drives me insane... I always want to have them too... so badly!
And then I see people eating them in real life and think they look so greasy! And usually they are. Which is why I probably hadn't eaten them in years... until this evening I decided to make some of my own... and to make them as tasty and wonderful as they always seem in the movies... and then some!
Although I am calling this a stir-fry, there was actually very little oil involved- or even necessary for that matter. And that was the whole point of me making this dish- I wanted to see how much it would lack in flavor or "fun factor", by cutting the oil right down... and the answer was of course that the result was pretty delicious without! And I made it like this...
I started off by boiling the egg noodles for 5 minutes, after which time I added the shrimp and let them sit for a further 3 minutes at a low simmer. But during those 8 minutes, I had plenty of time to prepare the other ingredients... and no, I didn't use a wok I used a regular frying pan. A wok is an absolutely wonderful thing- it can indeed most probably replace all of your other pans... only I don't have one at the moment- but that's another story!
So, into a HOT frying pan, went some finely sliced ginger, carrots, celery and peppers... these are the ingredients that take the longest to cook. I added just a few drops of peanut oil- that was all it took, and tossed the vegetables about until they were lightly coated. After 2-3 minutes I added the Shiitake mushrooms, which I halved, the snow peas and some sliced shallot. These all went in and so did the flavorings... a couple of tablespoons of oyster sauce, a splash of fish sauce and a light sprinkle of 5-spice powder. I added heat in the form of a hot chili sauce and about a half teaspoon of Hoisin sauce to give a bit more depth to the seasoning... and then drained and added the noodles and shrimp- hiss! The moisture from the noodles helped bring up the good flavors from the pan, and after tossing everything together a couple of times, everything was coated in a lovely, glistening coat of yumminess. I added a little finely chopped cilantro and a few drops of sesame oil, simply for the flavor and then served the noodles up nice and steaming and hot! I sprinkled them generously with more cilantro and some toasted sesame seeds and dinner was served! No fat? No problem! Just plain, good food!
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