The Cheese Stands Alone for Noodles
Vegetarians rejoice! This fobby post is for you. I probably make this twice a month because I love it so much--it's not only delicious and nutritious, but also super easy for a weeknight meal. It is the Chinese equivalent of spaghetti with meat(less) sauce. We call it "noodles with gravy" | 打卤面. However, I tend to only make this when White Boyfriend is out of town. This has less to do with how he feels about the dish and more to do with the garlic cloves pictured next to the noodles. Today, he is in town, but out watching football. I took advantage of this opportunity to include the garlic. More on this later.
Before you do anything else, get the wood ear soaking in hot water. Wood ear is a type of mushroom and white people usually recognize it from hot and sour soup. When it's been reconstituted, it just looks like a slimier, wetter version of its former self.
To begin, lightly beat a couple of eggs with a little salt. Heat up a wok and add oil. I remember when Nainai (my grandmother) would scramble eggs, she always said that "eggs eat oil," meaning that they soak up oil and taste the best when cooked in a generous amount of it. You want these eggs to cook more like an omelet than scrambled eggs. Remove from heat when they're still a little under because they'll get cooked more later.
The veggies are pretty flexible. I tend to stick to ones that will cook down fairly fast, so I stay away from carrots, green beans, green peppers, etc. Other days it's just based on what's in the fridge. You can also add tofu to give it a little more protein. Today I'm working with the following bounty:
Get everything chopped up before you start, because once the oil heats up in the wok you're just going to dump everything in and stir-fry it up. When the veggies begin to soften, add water, wood ear, the rest of the wet ingredients, and let it cook down. You can also include the water that the wood ear had been soaking in; it'll have incorporated some nice flavor in the process. Leave the bottom that has little bits in it though. I'm pretty sure that's dirt.
Meanwhile, mix together cornstarch and a small amount of water. This will give the sauce a gravy consistency. Once the veggies cook down, add the eggs and the cornstarch mixture. Stir until boiling and then quickly remove from heat. Add green onions and salt generously because the flavor will be less pronounced once you add plain noodles. I also like to add some cilantro at the end. I didn't have any today and going to the store seemed like quite the undertaking when one is still in her pajamas.
This is the point where you can take the easy way out on a school night and throw dry pasta in boiling water. If you want to really test yourself, you can make your own noodles!! And if you don't have a pasta machine, you may end up cursing halfway through the process. FYI, I don't have a pasta machine. #&%()#@%^*(#&%!!
Begin with a simple water/flour dough. If you've made my meat pancakes, you know the drill. This dough needs to be harder than that one though, so use cold water and change up the ratio.
The rest of the steps are pretty self explanatory in pictures. Work with a small piece of dough at a time and dust constantly with flour so your noodles don't stick together. This is tedious work without a pasta machine. I put The Biggest Loser on Hulu to help pass the time--and felt like the biggest loser because I was still in my pajamas at 3pm when these people were working out really hard.
Drop your noodles in boiling water and they'll be done in a flash. Chinese people also like to drink the water after removing the cooked noodles. Serve noodles with a heaping ladleful of veggie gravy. But wait! Don't forget the garlic and salted duck egg, which are great complements to this dish. If no one is home to judge you, you hold the chopsticks in one hand and garlic in the other. You slurp the noodle, bite the garlic, and repeat--pausing only to sample the duck egg.
Just beware that when White Boyfriend gets home he will suddenly turn into a garlic-sniffing canine (he will also be incredulous that you haven't left the house all day). No amount of mouthwash or teeth-brushing is going to keep him from sniffing you out and declaring that you cannot sit next to him on the couch for the rest of the evening. But for the love of noodles with gravy, the cheese will happily sit alone tonight.
For the straight-up noodles with gravy recipe, click here.