Chatty Pantry Noodles

Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp fine white pepper (s)
• 1 tsp chilli oil (or more to taste if you are a spicy human) (s)
• 2 tsp caster sugar (s)
• 2 tsp rice wine vinegar (s)
• 2 tsp dark soy sauce (or more tamari/regular soy sauce if you don't have this in your fridge) (s)
• 1 tbsp tamari (or regular soy sauce) (s)
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce (s)
• 200g of noodles - I love dried rice noodles, a pad Thai or wide size, and always have them on hand
• 2~ cups of veggies of your choice! I normally go with a mix of mushrooms, gai lan/Chinese broccoli and water chestnuts (I’m obsessed with the texture of water chestnuts, try them if you haven’t!)
• 1 spring onion (seperate the white and the green, finely slice both)
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 100g of protein - around one chicken thigh diced or tofu crumbled into small pieces works great! I've never tried beef but a bit of thinly sliced rump steak would be *chefs kiss*
• 2 tbsp canola or peanut oil (I prefer peanut for the nuttiness but don’t be giving yourself any allergic reactions please)
• 1 tsp of minced garlic

Method

1. HELLO! If you have an overflowing pantry like mine, you’ll surely have all the ingredients needed for these delish noodles. Inspiration has been taken from my favourite Pad See Ew and Thai flavours! I recommend reading through this recipe and aquatinting yourself with the steps before starting. Once we turn on the heat, everything moves very fast! Make sure your rangehood is on and a window is open because the kitchen is about to get hot and I've set off the smoke alarm with my wok one too many times to admit.
2. Add all of your sauce ingredients (they have an s next to them in the ingredients list) to a small cup or bowl and mix together with a whisk or fork. I recommend putting in the pepper and sugar first to help it all dissolve together quicker and easier.
3. Wash and chop your veggies to your liking. I try to keep my veggies chopped on the smaller size so I can get lots of different ingredients in one bite.
4. Prepare your noodles per the package instructions. Don’t leave them sitting around - there’s nothing worse than noodles that have clumped together.
5. Heat your oil, on high heat, in a large frying pan or a wok. Give it a minute so that the oil will be hot when you put the rest of the ingredients in.
6. Watch for oil splashes - Add your garlic and the whites of your spring onion to the pan. Keep them moving with a wooden spoon so they don't sit and start to burn.
7. Throw your protein of choice in. If it's chicken, cook until its a few seconds away from done.If it's tofu, toss it around till little bits start to brown.
8. Add in your veggies and keep it moving with your spoon. Keep tossing your veggies until the hardest one (e.g. carrot, chinese broccoli) is soft.
9. Push all your veggies to the side, add in your egg and scramble to your hearts content.
10. Add your egg to your pile of veggies on the size of the pan and throw in your cooked noodles. Pour the sauce over your noodles and LEAVE THEM ALONE for 1 minute.
11. Toss everything together so the sauce coats the veg, protein and egg. Leave it to sit untouched for a minute so the ingredients on the bottom can get a nice char on them - that's my favourite part to eat, the charred, caramelised noodles (I'm drooling).
12. Turn off your heat, sprinkle over the greens of the spring onion and there you have delicious noodles made from ingredients you have scattered around your pantry and fridge.

Product used in recipe

• OBENTO - OBENTO SAUCE - RICE WINE VINEGAR