Chinese Fried Noodles. Quick, Easy and great tasting!

There are many types of noodles available in the shops, ranging from egg noodles (yellow) to rice noodles (white). They also come in different shapes and thicknesses, and as you would expect, recipes will differ according to the type of noodle, as well as the country / region where it is most popular.
This recipe I am sharing is using rice noodles. They are my favourite.
I find rice noodles not too heavy and filling, and extremely easy and quick to prepare. It's such a versatile ingredient, often fried or eaten in a broth.
You can choose your favourite meat, or no meat at all. Also, you can swap any of the vegetables for your favourite ones, or whatever you may have in your fridge.
The main thing is to achieve a Chinese flavour so where possible, try to use the marinade ingredients.
Choose 1 handful amount of 3 of your favourite vegetables, such as peppers, beansprouts, broccoli, courguettes / zucchini, mushrooms. To that you can add what ever meat you wish. Just remember to slice the meat thinly
The trick with making any Chinese food and it's guaranteed success is to prepare everything before hand. You need to get all your ingredients together, chopped, diced, sauces prepared, absolutely everything that belongs in a recipe must be at hand when you fire your wok up to inferno temperatures!

Ingredients:

4-5 blocks of Chinese rice / vermicelli noodles
1 fillet of meat thinly sliced, about 200 g / 7 oz per person
½ Onion sliced length ways (optional)
Handful of mushrooms cut quarters
1 courgette /zucchini cut bite size pieces
1 cm thick piece of ginger finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped

The Marinade
2 teaspoons cornflour / cornstarch
1 tablespoon Light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chicken stock powder
1 teaspoon hot chili flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
½ cup cold water

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Garnish
1 spring onions / scallions
A handful of fresh coriander / cilantro

Instructions

Prepare the noodles
1. Boil the kettle and place the dried noodles in your wok.
2. Pour the hot water over your noodles and separate the noodles, wiggle them around until they become loose. (takes about 2 minutes)
3. Drain the noodles and using scissors or knife, cut the noodles a little so they are not so long.
Set noodles to one side.

Chinese Fried Noodles
Chinese Fried Noodles
Chinese Fried Noodles

Prepare the vegetables & meat
4. Prepare the other ingredients.
5. Start by cutting the vegetables into bite sized pieces and set aside.
6. Slice the meat into thin strips, say ½ cm thick, again bite size

Chinese Fried Noodles

Marinade the meat
7. Add all the ingredients from the Marinade, EXCEPT the ½ cup of cold water to the sliced meat.
8. Add the chopped garlic & ginger to the meat. Mix everything very well, then add 2 Tablespoons of water from your ½ cup of water and combine well.

Chinese Fried Noodles

Cook everything
9. Heat your wok until it is very hot.
TIP: You need to have your wok very hot so that as soon as you add the meat, it will sizzle and seal quickly, keeping it moist and tender.
10. Add the marinated meat and stir until cooked through.
11. Add the vegetables and stir continuously so the bottom does not burn.
12. When the vegetables are almost cooked through, about 2-3 minutes after adding, use the remaining ½ cup of cold water (from the marinade ingredients) and pour the water around the side of the wok.

Chinese Fried Noodles
Cook the meat
Chinese Fried Noodles
Add the vegetables
Chinese Fried Noodles
stir until the water is combined with the ingredients

13. Stir until the water thickens in to a sauce.
14. Add the noodles and combine with all the ingredients. Stir until the noodles have heated through. About 2-3 minutes.
Sprinkle the scallions / spring onions & coriander / cilantro
And serve!

See photos below, I also made a vegetarian option, using some nice baby corn, bean sprouts. You can also use pak choi, choi sum, spinach, anything which will cook quickly!

Chinese Fried Noodles
Chinese Fried Noodles
Vegetarian option
Chinese Fried Noodles
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 
This recipe I am sharing is using rice noodles. They are my favourite. I find rice noodles not too heavy and filling, and extremely easy and quick to prepare. It's such a versatile ingredient, often fried or eaten in a broth. You can choose your favourite meat, or no meat at all. Also, you can swap any of the vegetables for your favourite ones, or whatever you may have in your fridge.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Servings: 4
Ingredients
  • 4-5 blocks of Chinese rice / vermicelli noodles
  • 1 fillet of meat thinly sliced about 200g / 7oz per person
  • ½ Onion sliced length ways optional
  • Handful of mushrooms cut quarters
  • 1 pieces courgette /zucchini cut bite size
  • 1 cm thick piece of ginger finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic finely chopped
The Marinade
  • 2 teaspoons cornflour / cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon Light soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon chicken stock powder
  • 1 teaspoon hot chili flakes optional
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
  • ½ cup cold water
Garnish
  • 1 spring onions / scallions
  • A handful of fresh coriander / cilantro
Instructions
  1. Prepare the noodles. Boil the kettle and place the dried noodles in your wok. Pour the hot water over your noodles and separate the noodles, wiggle them around until they become loose. (takes about 2 minutes). Drain the noodles and using scissors or knife, cut the noodles a little so they are not so long. Set noodles to one side.
  2. Prepare the vegetables & meat and the other ingredients.
  3. Start by cutting the vegetables into bite sized pieces and set aside.
  4. Slice the meat into thin strips, say ½ cm thick, again bite size then marinade the meat
  5. Add all the ingredients from the Marinade, EXCEPT the ½ cup of cold water to the sliced meat.
  6. Add the chopped garlic & ginger to the meat. Mix everything very well, then add 2 Tablespoons of water from your ½ cup of water and combine well.
  7. Cook everything
  8. Heat your wok until it is very hot.
  9. TIP: You need to have your wok very hot so that as soon as you add the meat, it will sizzle and seal quickly, keeping it moist and tender.
  10. Add the marinated meat and stir until cooked through. Then add the vegetables and stir continuously so the bottom does not burn.
  11. When the vegetables are almost cooked through, about 2-3 minutes after adding, use the remaining ½ cup of cold water (from the marinade ingredients) and pour the water around the side of the wok.Stir until the water thickens in to a sauce.
  12. Add the noodles and combine with all the ingredients. Stir until the noodles have heated through, about 2-3 minutes.
  13. Sprinkle the scallions / spring onions & coriander / cilantro
  14. And serve!

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8 thoughts shared

  1. Hi Mary. We call this bihon in Tagalog. The Chinese term is similar right? One of my favourites. Your noodle dish looks so delicious!

    1. Hey! Thanks for the compliments! I’m not sure about it’s name in Tagalog, I only know how to say KUMUSTA!!! In Cantonese we would call this ‘fun’ meaning white noodles, and fried would be ‘chow’, so we would say ‘chow fun’. ‘Chow mein’ usually refers to the yellow egg based noodles, always, fun is the white rice noodles :) Glad you came to visit our site! mary

  2. Comment author image

    Regina Babina

    says:

    looks good and easy! I will have to try it. One question, do you mean cornstarch when you say cornflour? Here in the U.S. we have cornstarch (thickening agent) or cornmeal (granular, you can use on the bottom of pizzas to keep from sticking). Which one would I use?

    1. Hi Regina, glad you like the recipe. yes, it is cornstarch. I usually write that in but forgot! I will go and amend the recipe. It’s used as a meat tenderiser often in Chinese cooking, you will notice the difference when you taste the meat. Very soft and tender!. Thanks for your comments and enjoy your meal!