5 min scallion-fat noodle

5 min scallion-fat noodle

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WHEN I’M REALLY BUSY.

THIS IS WHAT I EAT.

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Serving: 1

Extremely easy and addictively satisfying, this is a beloved comfort-food in Chinese cuisine, with each region having their own twisted interpretations.  The use of bacon is of course, a Western adaption, but you could also use pancetta or salted pork as substitute.  Whatever you use, you will be amazed at how much flavour and depth you can extract with just these simple ingredients, plus the technique of deeply caramelizing/almost charring the scallions in pork-fat.  It transform the fresh scallion flavour into something, intensely aromatic and worlds-away.

With Asian recipes, I try to provide the exact brand of condiments I used whenever possible.  But this time, I couldn’t find the exact Asian black vinegar I have, so I provided a link to a similar product.  If you already have a favourite brand, or even just regular balsamic vinegar, they should be able to work as good replacement in this particular case.

Thin, fresh Asian noodles work best with this recipe, but if unavailable, dried wheat noodles can work, too.

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Ingredients:

• 1 serving (7 oz/200 grams) of fresh thin Asian noodle, or equivalent amount of dried noodle
• 2 strips of fatty bacon, thinly sliced
• 2 large/5 skinny scallions, cut into thin segments
• 1/2 tsp of ground white pepper, plus more to sprinkle
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp of Asian black vinegar (balsamic vinegar can be a substitute in this particular case)
• 1/4 tsp of light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp of dark soy sauce, for color

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Meanwhile, cook fatty bacon strips in a skillet over medium-high heat, until rendered and browned, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Check if there is about 3 tbsp of bacon fat in the skillet, if not, add more oil to meat 3 tbsp.  Heat the oil over high heat until almost smoking, then add the scallions all at once.  Cook until the scallions are deep-browned and almost burnt (very important in order to get the right flavour), stir in the ground white pepper, then turn off the heat and set aside.  Combine soy sauce, black vinegar, light brown sugar and dark soy sauce in a large bowl.

Cook the noodle according to instructions.  Cooking-time varies, but in general, fresh noodles cook faster than dried noodles.  Drain the cooked noodle and transfer to the bowl with the soy sauce-mixture.  Add the reserved bacon bits, all the caramelized scallions and all its oil.  Sprinkle with a bit more ground white pepper, mix well, and eat immediately.

* The wonderful website surfing in the background is Beth’s Local Milk Retreat.

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