thebigfatnoodle

It’s noodle time: crispy mah mee with chicken and prawns

Posted by thebigfatnoodle on September 16, 2011 · 1 Comment 

Crispy noodles, crunchy vegetables (and lots of it!) with a creamy, glossy sauce

It’s noodle time: Crispy mah mee with prawns and chicken

Ok, it has been waaaaaayyy too long since thebigfatnoodle posted anything with noodles in it.

This time, I haven’t taken my inspiration from the hawker stalls from home but from the classic Chinese restaurant. Crispy fried mah mee is one of my mum’s favourite noodle dishes but I don’t think it’s something most families will cook at home. Instead, it’s the kind of plate of noodles you’d order when you’re at a Chinese restaurant at a big family splash-out dinner.

Now that's what I call a golden fry

But this crispy mah mee noodle dish is, to me, classic Chinese food at its very best – really clean flavours, simple ingredients, and very, very easy to prepare.

The base is made with egg noodles which have been cooked, drained and then fried till crispy. They are then set aside to wait for what is effectively a ‘wet’ stir fry to be poured over it.

Crispy egg noodles fried till crunchy

I've never known a child to refuse to eat their vegetables when they're served this dish, and it has six vegetables in it!

One of the things I love about this dish is that I can pack it full of vegetables, with the odd prawn or piece of chicken/pork forming an extra special bite.

This bias towards vegetables is again very typical in chinese cooking – meat/seafood is great but you’re not meant to eat it in great quantities. As a kid, I always thought of the meat/seafood as the occasional ‘bonus’ mouthful, the mainstay of the meal was always the vegetables and rice/noodles.

If you’re cooking on a budget, Chinese is certainly one way to go… it’s extremely economical dining. For example, instead of eating a whole steak to yourself, we’d slice a steak into strips and stir fry it with lots of vegetables to turn it into a meal for four instead.

You can make this crispy mah mee with any combination of meat, seafood or vegetables you like. Today, I’ve chosen to cook chicken and prawns to go with onion, french beans, mange tout (snow peas), carrots, mushrooms and baby corn –that’s six types of vegetables, yum! I chose these particular vegetables purely because I love their sweetness and crunch. If you’re a vegetarian, you can leave out the meat/seafood entirely or replace it with tofu.

Packed full of crispy, crunchy vegetables in a lovely, glossy sauce

Home-made pickled green chillies

I would normally class this as another one of my quick and easy 30 minute meals apart from the extra 10-15mins you’ll need for preparing the noodles first.

For me, these noodles wouldn’t be complete without a dish of pickled green chillies and soy sauce. I make my own but here’s a trick, if you can’t get hold of green chillies or you’re pushed for time, just buy a jar of sliced/pickled green jalapeno peppers. These are usually also pickled in vinegar and if you put them in a dish and put 1 tablespoon of the pickling vinegar and one tablespoon of soy, the taste is almost identical – the jalapeno peppers are simply bigger and chunkier than if you make them with green chillies from scratch.

Crispy mah mee with chicken and prawns

If you love noodles as much as I do and would like to try making this crispy mah mee, you can try my recipe by clicking here.

if you love noodles, i guarantee you'll LOVE this dish 🙂

Have really lovely weekend and lots of love

thebigfatnoodle