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Asian noodle sirfry as good as in restaurants

13 years ago

My family loves asian style noodle stirfries like Chowmein and Thai pad kee mow and Pad See Ew. I have tried this at home and finally decent, it has not been as good. The vegetables and tofu are not the correct texture and flavor - Either overcooked or raw and not seasoned enough. Does anyone have a detailed recipe that I can try. I do have a nicely seasoned carbon steel wok and decent fire power.

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Comments (6)

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
13 years ago
My idea about stir frying is more about technique than about recipes.

Given the fact that you have a nice wok and good fire power, the key to good stir fries would be timing, timing of the ingredients. The design of the wok facilitates the arranging of ingredients to different hot spots on the wok, so that everything will be cooked to the degree of done-ness you want.

The reason why your stir fries are not going to taste the same as restaurants' is one word:

MSG

dcarch
jvanderh
13 years ago
Tofu is tricky. Extra firm is usually best, but sometimes there can be a big difference between brands. It might be good to try a couple and see if you find one you like. I can't speak to authentic Thai, but in the "generic Asian sauce" camp, I've found that a combination of hoisin, sriracha, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar and brown sugar tastes good on almost anything :-)
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Lars
13 years ago
I have a good recipe for Pad Thai at home that I will look for. I revised it to my taste and have made it several times, but not recently. It has a lot of ingredients, but is not difficult. I generally use tamarind paste when I make it, but you can substitute more diluted tamarind products for that, although they do not taste as good.

I'll try to remember to look for this when I get home. It started with a recipe from a member here from Seattle - I forget her name - but I made a few changes to it that were rather minor. Maybe someone else has also saved her recipe. I think her name was Lythonde.

Lars
gellchom
13 years ago
Pad see ew is really tricky -- any of the wide rice noodles are tough to stir fry without breaking them. And my favorite, the "fun" noodles that come refrigerated in one big piece folded like a hand towel -- forget it, can't even get it unfolded! :)

I did have good luck with a package of dried squares of rice stick. That gave me the mouth feel I wanted of the fun noodles.

But it does take practice to stir fry them or any rice noodles or rice sticks without breaking them up to smithereens. Keep at it and don't demand perfection of yourself!
jakkom
13 years ago
Any rice noodle takes two things: you don't steam/boil it long, it should still be a little resilient when you stir-fry it. Second is lots of oil. Fun sticks better than Play-Do, lol.

A lot of Asian sauces are canned or jarred. It should be noted there are substantial differences between Japanese and Chinese soys. The Chinese have many more kinds, with very specific uses.

Also, the liquid used in a lot of gravy dishes is taken from the house soup pot. Using chicken broth won't give the same flavor; Chinese prefer pork broths or a mixture of pork/chicken.

Better restaurants don't use MSG. And it isn't necessary, if your ingredients are good quality and your technique is correct.

This post was edited by jkom51 on Wed, Mar 27, 13 at 19:10
lpinkmountain
13 years ago
I would definitely suggest searching for some good videos on YouTube. I have learned a lot of great cooking techniques that way. The ones I have been perusing are about Indian food and artisan breads, but I'm sure there are equally good ones about the dishes you mention.

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