Saigon noodles

April 21, 2003
Filed under Asian cooking

saigon noodles

Whenever we get bored with rice, we switch to pasta or Chinese-style noodles. With the available variety of pasta and noodles and what you can do with each kind, well, you can have pasta and noodles everyday for a month without repeating a single recipe.

When we first bought flat rice noodles, we used it for a soup inspired by something we tried at a Vietnamese restaurant (check the archives for the recipe). When I saw the quality and texture of the noodles, I knew they would be equally good in a stir-fried recipe. So I came up with Saigon Noodles. Why Saigon? I don’t know. The result look and tasted Vietnamese to me–light in color, texture and taste.

Just a few notes before we go to the recipe. First, in addition to flaked chicken meat, I used a variety of “balls” in this dish–pork balls, chicken balls and squid balls. You can buy them frozen in groceries or oriental food stores. They are tasty, easy to use and easy to store apart from the interesting look they give to the cooked dish.

Second, the cooking directions in the package of the rice noodles said cook in briskly boiling water for two minutes. I cooked them for only a minute then later cooked them again in the sauce together with the rest of the ingredients. That way, they absorbed more flavor.

Third, as I have said in the past, don’t scrimp when buying oyster sauce. It is a little expensive, but a tablespoon of oyster sauce goes a long, long way when it comes to flavor. The cheaper kind, called “oyster-flavored sauce” tastes like monosodium glatamate. Honest. I tried it once and never again. I threw out the bottle, still three-quarters full, after using it that one time. Check the label. The ingredients are enumerated there. If it doesn’t say real oysters, don’t buy it.

Fourth, use good stock. When you boil meat, poultry or fish, add a whole onion, a whole garlic, some leeks, carrots, peppercorns and ginger. Keep whatever you won’t use in the fridge or the freezer. Don’t use commercial broth cubes. Well, unless nothing else is available.

Lastly, don’t feel limited by what a recipe says. If a recipe says a teaspoon of salt but you find the dish too bland or too salty, then make the necessary adjustment. It is you and your family who will eat what you cook, not the author of the recipe. So follow your own taste and preferences; the measurements given are just guides. Really, that’s the key to becoming a successful cook. An adventurous spirit is a real gem in the kitchen.

Ingredients :

150 g. of dried flat rice noodles
1 tsp. of minced garlic
1 onion, minced
1 c. of cooked chicken meat, flaked
5 beef balls, quartered
5 chicken balls, quartered
5 squid balls, quartered
1 tbsp. of cornstarch dispersed in 1/2 c. of chicken stock
1-1/2 c. of chicken stock
2 tbsp. of oyster sauce
1 tbsp. of light soy sauce
1 tbsp. of hot chili sauce
1/2 tsp. of sesame seed oil
1/4 c. of finely sliced onion leaves (you can substitute leeks, white part only)
2 tbsp. of cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Cooking procedure :

Boil the noodles until half-cooked. Drain and set aside.

Pour cooking oil into a preheated skillet. Saute the garlic and onions. Add the pork, chicken and squid balls. Stir for about 3 minutes. Add the flaked chicken meat. Stir. Pour in the chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch mixture, soy sauce, oyster sauce, hot chili sauce, salt and pepper. Stir until the sauce thickens a little (it won’t be too thick). Add the noodles and onion leaves to the sauce. Toss well to coat the noodles with the sauce. The noodles will absorb most of the liquid. When very little sauce is left (about a minute), turn off the heat. The noodles will be completely cooked at this point. Add sesame seed oil and stir one last time. Transfer to a serving platter and serve hot.