Recipe: Crispy noodles with seafood (warning: addictive)

In her book Noodles, our former colleague Emma de Thouars shares 40 noodle recipes, from super-quick 1-minute noodle sauce to buttery breakfast noodles, ice-cold kimchi noodles, and Korean corn dogs with ramen crispies. Mostly vegetarian, and when they’re not, she always provides a vegetarian alternative. 

In Noodles, Emma shows that making a serving of noodles is even easier than throwing together ‘a quick pasta’. Fresh, fatty spring onion and ginger noodles, for example, and instant noodles with a sexy broth. She also explains how to easily make your own noodles, such as homemade biang biang noodles with hot oil. The book also features surprising new creations, such as mapo mac and cheese, an ode to slices of processed cheese, and these delicious crispy noodles.

Crispy noodles at Sea Palace

Emma: ‘When I go for dim sum at Sea Palace restaurant with a large group, I always order a portion of crispy noodles for the table. For years, I wondered how half of the noodles could be so crispy while the rest remained soft. Turns out, it’s incredibly easy. You simply fry cooked noodles in a layer of oil. One side automatically stays soft, while the other becomes wonderfully crispy and crunchy. The thick, cornstarch-like sauce combined with the different textures of the noodles means I always crave this Cantonese classic.‘

How to make crispy noodles with seafood

• Bring a large pan of generously salted water to the boil. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package.
• Drain the noodles, return them to the pan and mix with the sugar, sesame oil and ½ tablespoon light soy sauce
• Cut the scallops in half horizontally so that you have 2 thinner slices from each scallop.
• In a bowl, mix the scallops and prawns with 1 teaspoon cornstarch, ½ teaspoon neutral oil, the Shaoxing and a pinch of salt. Leave to stand while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
• Cut the tenderstem broccoli into 5-centimetre pieces. Finely chop the garlic and ginger.
• Heat a generous layer of oil in a wok or frying pan over high heat and fry the noodles for 8 to 10 minutes on one side until golden brown and crispy. After a few minutes, lower the heat slightly. If necessary, add a little extra oil to the pan from time to time; the noodles really need to fry on the bottom. Use chopsticks to fluff up the noodles on top a little, so they do not all stick together.
• Remove from the pan, turn over and place in a deep plate or on a platter (the crispy side should be facing up). This is a little tricky, because you want the noodles to stay together. I placed my plate in the pan, partly on top of the noodles, and then made a quick movement with my spatula. Good luck!
• Pour enough oil out of the pan so that a few tablespoons remain. Fry the tenderstem broccoli over high heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and take the scallops and prawns out of the marinade. Fry them for about 20 seconds per side over high heat. If necessary, do this in batches so that everything does not steam but sears properly. They do not need to be cooked through, as they will go into the sauce for a little longer. Remove the scallops and prawns from the pan and set aside with the tenderstem broccoli.
• Sauté the garlic and ginger for about 30 to 60 seconds in the oil remaining in the wok. Deglaze with the stock or water, add the oyster sauce and the remaining soy sauce, and bring to the boil.
• Mix 2 teaspoons cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and add. Simmer for 1 minute, until the sauce thickens.
• Add the scallops, prawns and tenderstem broccoli, simmer for another 30 seconds and turn off the heat. Taste and season with salt if you are using water rather than stock.
• Pour the scallops, prawns, tenderstem broccoli and all the sauce over the noodles and serve immediately.

Make it vegetarian: replace the scallops and prawns with fried shiitake or beech mushrooms. You do not need to marinate these first, so you can skip that step. Mushrooms do need a few minutes longer in the wok, so fry them until nicely browned before removing them from the pan.