What is char kway teow?
Char kway teow is a Malaysian dish made of fried flat rice noodles, seafood and Chinese sausages.
It is also found in Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore with a number of regional variations.
This noodle dish is usually served on a banana leaf, which makes its presentation original and also makes it possible to do without a plate. More recently, this dish is also found in Australia and New Zealand. In Asia, it is often eaten for breakfast.
What is the origin of char kway teow?
Char kway teow could literally translate into strips of fried rice cake. Flat rice noodles (河粉), hé fěn in Mandarin, can be of different widths, ranging from half a centimeter to one centimeter.
Their texture is slightly rubbery and differs from wheat-based noodles. These noodles are usually blanched in boiling water and then sautéed or fried in a sauce.
In the case of char kway teow, the sauce is richly spiced with soy sauce, chili paste, shrimp paste and the dish has a large number of toppings such as shrimp, clams or cockles, soy sprouts or Chinese sausages and spring onions. The chili paste added to the dish makes it more or less hot and above all very fragrant.
Char kway teow can also contain eggs which are generally of hen but can be replaced by duck eggs, highly appreciated in Asia. This dish, once reserved for fishermen, has now become widely available and is found on the menu of many restaurants around the world.
Char kway teow could find its roots in Chaozhou in the Chinese province of Guangdong like many Asian dishes often originating from China and having traveled over time throughout the continent and as far as Oceania.
How to prepare char kway teow
Char kway teow is prepared by sautéing food in vegetable fat or lard, melted pork fat. It has become rare over time because it is considered harmful to health.
Generally, chili paste obtained by mixing fresh and dry chili peppers, shallots, oil and garlic is prepared in advance and in large quantities as this paste is used in the composition of many dishes. It keeps quite well in the refrigerator.
The sauce is obtained by mixing soy sauce and dark soy sauce to which sugar, fish sauce, shrimp paste called belacan, salt and pepper are added.
The shrimps are marinated in sugar and soaked in ice water to firm them up. The clams are opened by hand or by heating a pot with a lid to steam them. Prepared this way, they are easier to shell.
To use the wok properly, it must be smoking when you add oil to it, so it becomes naturally non-sticky. The garlic, shrimps and sausage slices will be fried in the oil. It is at this time that you add some of the drained noodles and the soy sprouts.
The soy sauce gives the white noodles an almost immediate coloring. They then become a pretty golden brown. Then you push the preparation on a part of the wok to be able to cook the egg by mixing the yolk and the white as for a scrambled egg. You then cover it with the hot noodles to cook it quickly.
Finally, the chili paste, clams and the rest of the ingredients are added and sautéed. The dish is served hot on a banana leaf.
What are the variants of char kway teow?
The filling of char kway teow differs from country to country, the most famous version being the Penang version based on shrimp, clams and sometimes crab meat. This version is more peppery and contains local seafood. The noodles are cut with a chisel (kut kyae in Burmese).
In Hong Kong, char siu pork can replace sausages.
In Indonesia, the dish called kwetiau goreng is sold by street vendors. The soy sauce is sweetened and the dish also contains sambal, a local spicy condiment. As the country is predominantly Muslim, there is no pork fat or bacon, the latter are more generally replaced by beef or poultry.
Finally in Thailand, this dish is called phat si-io.
Char Kway Teow
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- 15 shrimps , peeled
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1 lb fresh flat rice noodles , cooked and drained
- 1 lb cockles (or clams), extracted from their shells
- 2 Chinese sausages , diagonally cut
- 6 oz. fresh soy sprouts , rinsed in cold water and well drained
- 4 large eggs
- 1 bunch Chinese spring onion , cut into pieces of 2 inches (5 cm)
- Pork oil (or fat)
For the chili paste
- 1 oz. dry red chili peppers , deseeded and rehydrated
- 2 fresh red chili peppers , deseeded
- 3 small shallots (or pearl onions), peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the sauce
- 5 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1.5 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- ½ teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon belacan (shrimp paste)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS
Chili paste
- Using a pestle and mortar or a food processor, grind all the ingredients of the chili paste until a homogeneous paste is obtained.
- Heat a wok and add the oil. Sauté the chili paste until it releases its aroma. Set aside.
Sauce
- Vigorously mix all the ingredients for the sauce. Set aside.
- Cooking Char Kway Teow
- Cooking should be done in two steps.
- Plunge the shrimps into iced water and then add the 2 tablespoons of caster sugar. Mix well, let stand for 30 minutes and then drain well.
- Heat a wok over high heat until it starts to smoke.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of oil or lard into the wok and add half of the garlic then stir quickly.
- Add half of the shrimps and half of the sausage slices to the wok.
- Stir quickly with a wooden spoon until the shrimps start to brown.
- Add half of the soy sprouts and half of the noodles.
- Add 2.5 tablespoons of sauce and stir vigorously to mix well.
- Using a wooden spoon, push the noodles to one side, add 2 tablespoons of oil to the empty area and break an egg over it. Use a spatula to break the egg yolk and stir to mix with the egg white. Cover the egg with noodles and wait about 15 seconds.
- Add about ½ tablespoon of chili paste and half of the cockles or clams.
- Continue sautéing for a few minutes and then add the spring onion.
- Stir vigorously.
- Repeat the same operation with the rest of the ingredients.
- Serve on a banana leaf.
Video
Esther and Morgan are the two foodies behind Renards Gourmets. They are based in Paris where they develop four-handed recipes and culinary photos.
Caleb says
A very satisfying dish made of fried flat rice noodles, seafood, and Chinese sausages.