hi19hi19's Delicious Noodle Recipe

[hi19hi19]

Anyone who has been in the Team Blaze Skype chat or messaged me on AIM around dinnertime knows that I talk about my noodle recipe constantly.
I've been iterating on this recipe for weeks and I've finally got it down to just how I like it, so it's time to share the goodness with you guys!



Ingredient List (with notes)
Egg Noodles -

Using good noodles is important. I use pre-cooked noodles, as making the noodles fresh is a little bit much work for me.
Twin Marquis brand noodles come in convenient 16oz packages, are fairly common in grocery stores around my area, and have a great flavor for this dish.

Sesame Oil -

Nothing too complicated here.
Most grocery stores stock sesame oil these days, but olive oil is a totally acceptable substitute in this recipe.

Kecap Manis / Sweet Soy Sauce -

IMPORTANT- Sweet soy sauce is NOT ordinary soy sauce!
Kecap manis is an Indonesian style soy sauce that is sweet due to having palm sugar mixed in.
It is significantly sweeter and thicker, and much less salty than the ordinary soy sauce most people are used to.
I love ABC Brand sweet soy sauce, and I use it exclusively.

There are likely some other good sweet soy sauces out there, but definitely stay away from the Lee Kum Kee sweet soy.
If you are unable to get this sauce in your area then you can substitute an equal amount of molasses with some vegetable stock stirred in.
This is probably going to wind up sweeter than if you used sweet soy sauce, so go lighter on the brown sugar if you make this substitution.

Oyster Sauce -

Oyster sauce is typically a thick blend of sugar, salt and water, thickened with cornstarch and infused with oyster extract.
This is another somewhat specialty Asian ingredient, but more common than sweet soy sauce.
While there are tons of brands of oyster sauce, Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce is pretty widely available, and it tastes great.

Tahini / Sesame Paste -

Tahini is a paste of ground sesame seeds. There are two types of tahini:
North African, Greek, Turkish and West Asian tahini is made of hulled and lightly roasted sesame seeds, while their East Asian cousin is made of unhulled seeds.
Though my noodles are an Asian flavored dish, I've found the Mediterranean style tahini works better.
Don't sweat it though, as the difference is pretty minor and primarily in texture.
I use Krinos Foods Tahini.

Note that tahini tends to separate- even in the example image above, you can see how the sesame paste has separated from its natural oils.
Make sure to shake and stir the tahini really well before you measure it, and try to scoop down near the bottom of the bottle.

Peanut Butter -

This can be smooth or chunky, but I've tried both and I vastly prefer chunky peanut butter for this recipe.
Brand is up to you, but I use JIF just because it's cheap haha

Fish Sauce -

Fish sauce is... well, it's one of those condiments that it's better you not know how it's produced!
But if you're curious, here's the wikipedia page.
Anyway, I strongly recommend Squid Brand Fish Sauce.

My family has tried a variety of brands and Squid Brand has by far the strongest and most balanced flavor.
You know you have good fish sauce if it smells like rotting fish and ass.
If you have really good fish sauce, sometimes salt crystals form on the sides of the bottle.

Hot Sauce -

This is totally optional if you don't like spicy food, but I find the pepper flavor adds a lot of complexity.
I use Huy Fong Sriracha sauce, as its Southeast Asian style flavor goes best with this dish.

If you can't get your hands on Sriracha, Frank's RedHot is the best Western hot sauce substitute.

Cream Sherry -

Sherry is a type of wine commonly used in cooking.
This helps the sauce come together better, but it's not totally necessary.

Garlic Salt -

Again, not strictly necessary but the added saltiness is to my personal taste.

Brown Sugar -

Normal ol' brown sugar, you can't get this wrong lol

Sesame Seeds -

Because these are just for a garnish, you want the best presentation. I use black and white sesame seeds for contrast.
All colors of sesame seeds taste the same so it's strictly a visual thing.
If you're just serving this for yourself sesame seeds is really not necessary to add at all.

Chives -

Fresh chopped chives are available at nearly every supermarket and add a nice green contrast and a sharp taste when used as a garnish.
Same as the sesame seeds, these are primarily for presentation.

Cooking Instructions
Use a pan large enough to accommodate all the noodles
Add enough sesame oil to thinly cover the bottom of the pan

Use the smallest burner and very low heat

Stirring slowly, add the following: (we start with the thicker ingredients first)
1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons tahini
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon fish sauce
small splash of cream sherry
a dash of garlic salt
hot sauce to taste (1 tablespoon Sriracha gives a very light, flavorful burn)
1/4 cup brown sugar

It's better to stir the ingredients as you add them.
But if you don't have someone to help you with that it's not a big deal, just add them quickly so nothing burns.

Stir the ingredients until evenly mixed. This should only take about a minute.
You will know when the ingredients are properly mixed when the sauce assumes an even brown color.

The only irregularities in the color of the sauce are of course the peanuts from the chunky peanut butter.

When all the ingredients are well mixed, turn off the heat.

Gently wash 16oz egg noodles in a strainer, then add to the sauce.

Pre-cooked egg noodles tend to stay in a clump when taken out of their packaging, like so:


They break up when washed quickly, but if you tried breaking them up after adding to the sauce you will find the thickness of the sauce prevents this from occurring as easily as it does in a strainer.


Once the noodles are totally broken up they are suitable to add to the sauce.


Be sure to let the noodles drain a second after washing. Ideally you get as little water from the washing into the sauce as possible.
While a little bit is totally fine, too much additional water causes the sauce to not stick to the noddles as well.

Stir the sauce into the noodles until the noodles are evenly coated.

If you taste the noodles and want to make changes at this point, that's fine. You can continue adding many of the ingredients at this point.
Really the only ingredients that should not be added after the noodles are tahini, peanut butter, and brown sugar.
If you wish to add sweetness to the sauce at this point use I recommend to use a small amount of honey instead of sugar.

Pour the noodles into a serving dish and garnish with sesame seeds & chopped chives.

Serves: 2 people looking for light fare / 1 hungry person
Serve warm or cool, tastes great either way!

This recipe can be easily doubled or more to suit however many people you want to serve, just remember to use a pan big enough to hold all the noodles.



This stuff goes really well with Thai tea, by the way.



Please post if you make this for yourselves, I really want to know what other people think of the recipe.
Enjoy!