This recipe was submitted by Stacey Lau, the 2022 Stephen Huahn Memorial Scholarship scholar. Stacey was a junior at Cal State University Los Angeles majoring in food science and technology.
We all have a favorite dish growing up. My grandma Sui Ching Lau, like most, made sure she knew what each of her 12 grandchildren enjoyed most. For my brother, it was the jia choi yolk si tong mai fen, or soup noodles with pork and pickled greens. She still asks if he wants a bowl every time we go to dim sum. Personally, I love my grandma’s fen si, or glass noodles, and luckily, they’re a staple at her house.
She makes these noodles for everything, from festivals to everyday dinners. The beauty in the dish is its simplicity: just chicken stock, oil, garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, soy sauce, a bit of water, and the glass noodles. Sometimes she’ll add ha mai (dried shrimp), slices of pork, or for special occasions, a bit of lap yuk (cured Chinese bacon). Whatever the case, I’m always happy to pile the noodles onto my plate whenever I visit for dinner. Her recipe, which serves 4 to 6, is below, and hopefully, you’ll love it just as much as I do.
Ingredients:
6 bundles of glass noodles, also called mung bean vermicelli, bean threads, and cellophane noodles
Water
1 can of chicken broth
1 tbs dark soy sauce
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp oil
1 slice of ginger, smashed
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
Directions:
1. Soak the noodles in a bowl of water for 15-20 minutes. Drain then cut the noodles to shorten them.
2. Meanwhile, mix the oyster sauce and dark soy sauce with a bit of water to create a sauce.
3. Over medium flame, heat the oil in a wok. Add garlic and ginger to flavor the oil for about 30 seconds.
4. Next, add the noodles to the wok and stir fry for a bit. Then, add the chicken broth and oyster/soy sauce mixture from step 2. Turn the heat to high until boiling before letting it simmer over medium heat. Stir frequently, lifting and mixing the noodles with chopsticks or a metal spatula. Once all the liquid is gone, the noodles should be cooked. If not, add some more water and cook longer.
5. Transfer to a plate and enjoy!
