Overseas Chinese Cuisine · FFET10309
Fujian chao mian (Hokkien fried noodles)
The Kuala Lumpur style: thick yellow noodles braised in a dark sauce with lard, pork, shrimp and cabbage.
A deep white porcelain bowl holds thick yellow noodles coated in dark brown sauce, with pork fatback, pork belly, pink shrimp, pale napa cabbage leaves and garlic, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
Food carried abroad by Chinese emigrants and still regarded as Chinese, with dishes abroad of clear Chinese origin.
The Kuala Lumpur way of making Fujian chao mian is to braise thick yellow noodles in lard and a dark soy sauce with pork, shrimp and cabbage. This entry covers just that style; Singapore has a fried noodle of the same name made with prawn stock, which is a different dish and is not covered here. The Kuala Lumpur fried noodle began around Petaling Street and is not found in Fujian itself; a 2012 account mentions that an old shop on Petaling Street opened in 1927, selling soup noodles before fried noodles. That is the year of the shop, not of the dish, and no dated text was found for the dish.
What
The Kuala Lumpur style of Fujian chao mian is thick yellow noodles braised in a dark soy sauce with lard, pork, shrimp or squid, and cabbage.1,3,8,9
When
No dated text was found for this dish. A 2012 account mentions that an old shop on Petaling Street opened in 1927 and sold soup noodles before fried noodles; that is the year of the shop, not of the dish.1,4
Where
The Kuala Lumpur fried noodle began around Petaling Street and is not found in Fujian itself. It belongs to a group of Southeast Asian noodle dishes with Fujian roots, with different versions in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Medan; the Singapore dish of the same name is fried with prawn stock, is a different dish, and is not covered here.1,2
How
The 3 recipes for the Kuala Lumpur style all brown pork belly, add shrimp and cabbage or other greens, and cook the thick yellow noodles in a dark sauce for a few minutes: 2 use lard and crackling (1 rendered from fatback), and the third mixes a sauce of soy sauces, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and starch. The Kuala Lumpur noodles are dark, sweet and heavy with pork fat; a 2012 account mentions that the old shop used a broth made from shrimp shells, lard and a charcoal fire.3,4,8,9
Impact and influence
It belongs to a group of Southeast Asian noodle dishes with different versions in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Medan; the supporting entry carries a notice that it lacks citations.2
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the Kuala Lumpur style of Fujian chao mian that I make at home. Singapore also has a fried noodle of the same name made with prawn stock, but that is a different dish and I do not make it. The amounts follow one signed recipe: 500 g of thick yellow noodles, 250 g of pork fatback rendered into lard, 100 g of pork belly, 100 g of shrimp, 60 ml of caramel sauce and 250 ml of stock; braising the noodles in the sauce for 3 to 4 minutes is also that recipe's timing. I did not follow two other signed recipes: one with crackling, three soy sauces and two kinds of cabbage, and one that blanches the noodles and fries them in a sauce of several soy sauces and oyster sauce with gai lan; I mention the second in the tips. The amount of garlic, the kind of stock and how much lard I leave in the wok are my own home choices.
Ingredients
- Thick yellow Hokkien noodles 500 g
- Pork fatback, for rendering into lard 250 g, cut into small pieces
- Pork belly 100 g, thinly sliced
- Shrimp 100 g, peeled and deveined
- Napa cabbage leaves 3, cut into pieces
- Garlic 3 cloves, minced (my own amount)
- Stock 250 ml (I use chicken stock)
- Dark caramel sauce 60 ml
- Soy sauce 2 tablespoons
- Sugar 1 teaspoon
Steps
- Put the fatback in the wok over low heat and render it slowly until the fat runs clear and the crackling is crisp; that recipe says this step takes about 30 minutes. Lift out the crackling and keep it, leave about 2 tablespoons of lard in the wok (my own amount), and set the rest of the lard aside.
- Heat the lard in the wok, brown the sliced pork belly until it changes color, add the minced garlic until fragrant, then add the shrimp and cabbage and cook until the shrimp are pink and opaque and the pork is cooked through.
- Pour in the stock, caramel sauce, soy sauce and sugar and bring it to a boil.
- Add the noodles and keep turning them for 3 to 4 minutes, until the sauce thickens and clings to the noodles. That timing follows the recipe.
- Scatter on the crackling, toss, and serve hot.
Tips
- Caramel sauces differ in color and sweetness, so I start with three quarters of it, taste, and add the rest if needed; this is my own way.
- Another signed recipe blanches the noodles beforehand, fries them, and adds gai lan at the end for 2 to 3 minutes. When I buy yellow noodles I read the ingredients, because some contain egg.
Allergens: wheat, soy, shellfish