Penang Char Kway Teow

This is a yummy Malaysian hawker’s delight. I was very pleased it turned out great on first try. Moist and tasty just like from my favourite hawker’s stores back in Kuala Lumpur or Penang!. We cooked this on our BBQ stove in the garden, and it was great as we didn’t have to worry about the splitter splatter of oil which made the cooking fun!

For 2p
300g of bean sprouts
1 bunch of chives, cut into 3 cm length
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 shallots, sliced finely
4 eggs
400g of thick rice noodles i.e “pho” or “kway teow”
12 fresh prawns
1 chinese sausage
Two cubes of speck or lard, sliced very paper thin.
1/3 cup of peanut oil

Seasoning sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp of dark soy sauce
1tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of raw sugar

Have all ingredients prepared and placed next to the wok, as the “wokking” process happens quickly.
The dish has to be fried individually, so that the ingredients gets maximum wok surface heat, so that the the ingredients are well fried and flavours released (otherwise, the ingredients ends up being “steamed” and the flavour is not the same). When frying, swirl around the wok surface to get max wok heat directly onto the ingredients.

Use half of the above ingredients for each dish of kway teow.

Add peanut oil to wok and heat up wok on high heat.
Add garlic and shallots, speck and sausages and fry all till fragrant. Do not burn. Speck should turn crispy and fat part translucent.
Add prawns and fry till half cooked. This is to prevent prawns from overcooking by the time the whole dish is cooked.
Quickly add the noodle, and stir for about 30 seconds just enough to get oil to coat the noodle. Then drizzle the seasoning sauce all over the noodle, and stir to combine evenly.
Push the noodles aside, to create a “space” in the middle of wok, crack 2 eggs into the space, and scramble till half cooked. Then fold the noodles back into the centre and fold into the eggs.
Throw in the chives and beansprouts and give it a quick wok, like 30 seconds, they cook quickly.
Turn off the heat, and serve immediately.

Note: I love cockles on my char kway teow, if you can find some fresh one it is great! Deshell it, and then just add on at the last minute as you are folding the noodles into the scrambles eggs. Cockles cooks quickly, and overcooked cockles are not nice. It loses its lovely texture and flavour. Or just replace with pipi or clams.

Bon Appetit!