What's up everyone?
Today, we're making Braised E-fu Noodles.
You’ve probably had these at fancy Chinese banquets,
but if you’re like me,
you might not know how easy this is to make at home,
and you’d be surprised at how few ingredients
go into something so deliciously epic.
First, my dad’s going to share his special technique
to prepare the star of this dish:
the noodles.
Also, thanks to Bokksu for sponsoring this video.
More on them later!
Hello, everyone!
Today, we're learning how to make Braised E-fu Noodles.
One noodle cake
is about 12 oz,
this kind that I'm using.
For 1.5 orders of this dish,
I'm using about 1 lb.
Cut it in half.
Okay.
The other ingredients are very simple.
First on our list of veggies
is my dad’s favorite variety of garlic chives,
yellow chives.
We're going to cut the yellow chives first.
Cut them to 1 inch lengths.
Next, we’ll chop up two kinds of mushrooms
for the umami flavor and texture.
These are shiitake mushrooms.
I rehydrated them in advance.
These are dried shiitake mushrooms.
For dried shiitake mushrooms, soak them in warm water
for half an hour to an hour, and they'll look like these.
I have 8 mushrooms here.
I'm cutting them into thin strips.
If you want more, you can use more.
King oyster mushroom.
Slice them thinly first.
Then, thin strips again.
Now we’ll add some carrot for some color
and my dad’s going to share a tip
for how to chop carrots safely.
Carrots will be thin strips, too.
When you cut carrots,
cut one slice and then put it cut side down.
Then it won't roll around.
It's flat, right?
It's easier to cut like this.
Then cut like this.
Make sure to have a firm grip on the carrot
and turn the blade slightly away from your fingers.
It also helps to have a sharp knife or cleaver.
I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our
wonderful Patreon supporters to help bring this video to life.
If you enjoy our videos and are interested in supporting us directly,
Head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more!
Garlic.
Lastly, we’ll peel, smash, and mince one clove of garlic.
Now that all our ingredients are prepped,
my dad will walk us through how to boil the noodles
and why it’s a critical step.
To cook the noodles, we’ll need a deep and wide wok
filled with enough hot water to submerge the noodles.
Now, we're prepared all the ingredients.
Turn on the stove.
We're going to cook the noodles first.
Pour the boiling water in.
When we cook the noodles,
we use lots of water.
They'll cook faster.
They don't have to soak in the water as long.
The water's boiling, so let's put one in.
Push it down.
It's very fast.
Did you know that e-fu noodles might have been invented by accident?
There are many origin stories, but by one account,
a chef mistakenly dunked these noodles in hot oil instead of water.
E-fu noodles, or yee mein (ji min) in Cantonese,
are noodles made from wheat flour and egg,
which is then deep fried.
Because baking soda is also used in the making of the dough,
the resulting texture of the noodles is uniquely chewy and spongy,
perfect for soaking up any delicious sauce that’s added to it.
like in our lobster yee mein recipe.
In Chinese culture, long noodles symbolize a long life,
and since ji min is usually very long,
it is traditionally served for special occasions
such as birthdays, weddings, and Lunar New Year.
We have to cook and soften the noodles before we can stir-fry them.
Also, we can cook out some of the oil.
Sylvia and Dorothy were asking
if you could use an alternative noodle.
Instant noodles.
Ramen.
Instant noodles are also fried,
but the texture is different.
These noodles are chewier.
Cook them like this,
add these ingredients,
and it's possible, yes.
Don't boil them for too long.
They just need to loosen up.
We’ll let the noodles cook until they are completely soft and separated,
or around 2 minutes on our setup here.
All right, they're ready.
They've separated.
Turn off the stove.
Then we’ll take out the noodles and put them in a strainer.
And how do you prevent this from becoming super soggy?
Don't cook the noodles for too long.
Use more boiling water, and then add your noodles.
Press them down, and once they've separated, take them out.
If you're not stir-frying right away,
rinse the noodles in cold water.
I didn't shock them in cold water because I kept cooking right away.
Do you see the oil?
This is oil.
Now that our noodles are cooked,
we’re ready to put all the pieces together.
But first...
So! This is Bokksu.
You guys remember Bokksu?
Yes!
My favorite snack!
Every month, they send us a new box.
This is our third box.
Each month has a new theme.
Every box has premium snacks from Japan.
and they partner with people
who have made snacks for hundreds of years,
snack artisans, who are masters of making snacks.
So, let's try it!
This one is a mini red bean cracker!
Red bean cracker? Oh, my favorite!
So that is seaweed tempura.
Seaweed tempura, mm!
Analyzing it...
You like it?
Is that good, baby?
Having been to Japan,
Bokksu captured the magic that my wife and I felt being there,
and it was really fun for our family to bond over trying something new.
If you are looking for a great gift idea,
you should totally check out Bokksu.
You can click the link in our description
and use the code "MADEWITHLAU" to get
$20 off your first Bokksu subscription.
Now, we’re ready to stir-fry all of our ingredients together,
which is straightforward but pretty quick,
so pay close attention to how my dad does it.
We're going to turn on the stove and start cooking now.
We’ll heat the wok first for only 15-30 seconds,
then add our oil.
Add 1 tbsp of oil.
Let it heat up.
The noodles won't stick to this wok.
Put the garlic in first.
After heating the oil for 30-40 seconds,
we’ll add our garlic (10 seconds).
When the garlic is fragrant,
add the mushrooms.
And then quickly follow with all the mushrooms (10 seconds).
The carrots will go in next.
Put all of it in.
After stir-frying for a bit, now we're going to add water to cook it.
After about 40-50 seconds of stir-frying our ingredients,
it’s time to add hot water.
It depends on how many noodles you have.
For more noodles, add more water, or for fewer noodles, add less water.
I have 1.5 noodles here,
so I'll add 1.5 cups of water.
We’ll let the ingredients boil in the water for about a minute
before adding our seasoning.
All right.
Now, we’ll turn off the heat briefly
and add 2 tsp of vegetarian oyster sauce,
1 tsp of light soy sauce, 1 tsp of dark soy sauce,
1 tsp of sugar and a 1/2 tsp of salt.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
to guide you as you make the recipe at home.
All right.
Turn the stove back on.
With the seasoning all mixed in,
we’ll turn the heat back on high
and have a taste of our sauce.
Taste it, and make sure that's it's flavorful enough.
Yummy!
Once the flavors are to your liking,
it’s time to add our main character, the noodles.
Put all the noodles in.
We're going to cook out all the liquid.
I love yee mein because yee mein has a very smooth texture,
and they're also a little tough.
But, with soy sauce chow mein or regular chow mein,
the texture is chewy,
and you have to chew it.
But this one, you just slightly chew it,
then you can swallow it.
Like Hong Doy's age, or Daddy Lau's age,
any age, this noodle is good for them.
Almost done.
The noodles have almost finished absorbing all the sauce.
After 2.5 to 3 minutes,
or when the noodles have absorbed all the sauce,
we’re ready to add our final seasoning.
All right.
Turn to medium heat.
Add 1 tsp of sesame oil.
Add a little oil too,
so the noodles are smooth and shiny.
Now we can turn the heat off.
Can you make this with meat?
Yes, you can make this with a lot of meat!
Restaurants have Combination Yee Mein.
What's Combination Yee Mein?
It has shrimp, chicken, char siu, and shiitake mushrooms.
It's cooked the same way.
Combination.
Combination Yee Mein.
Put yellow chives in.
Yellow chives don't need to be cooked much.
We’ll mix in the yellow chives with the noodles,
which will cook them just a bit,
leaving their delicious aromatic flavor intact.
Son, come have a taste.
Have a taste!
Isn't it great?
Yeah! It's awesome!
Now we’ll plate and
see if Cam Cam loves them just as much as I do.
Hong Doy!
Come and eat yee mein!
Look at him!
Oh my gosh!
Who loves noodles?
Who loves noodles, bud?
Wow! That is good!
Did you have this growing up?
We didn't get to eat this in China, right?
We didn't have this kind of yee mein.
Sure, we did!
You just didn't eat it.
We had it, yee mein was very common.
That's why you have such a long life.
All right, friends, Braised E-fu Noodles are complete!
I hope you all enjoy!
Hong Doy, have noodles! Cheers!
That is good!
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