Fried Taiwan noodles

It is a cool evening, heralding the beginning of fall with the leaves rewarding with sights of yellow and orange and red everywhere we turn. Cool weather needs foods that bring comfort. In this all-in-one dinner recipe that was made with available ingredients in the fridge, ginger is added for its warming effect. For the noodles, any white wheat noodles will do. I prefer Hsin Tung Yang’s guan miao noodles.

1/2 lb chicken, cubed
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp garlic, minced or finely chopped
1 tbsp shallots, sliced thinly
1/2 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
2 small or 1 medium sized carrots, cubed
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 skeins Taiwan (white) noodles, cooked according to instructions

Marinate
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp chinese cooking wine
2-3 drops sesame oil
2 dashes white pepper

Serves 2

Marinate chicken for 10 minutes. Coat well with flour. Set aside.
Heat oil and sauté garlic, shallots and ginger till fragrant.
Add chicken and stir quickly , turning over cubes evenly.
When chicken is nearly cooked, add carrots and sauté well.
Stir in oyster sauce.
Add cooked noodles. Avoid adding the liquid from the noodles to the wok.
Toss thoroughly and serve.
Add a dash of soy sauce to taste if needed.

Lately, I am experimenting with pork fat. I sneaked in a couple of pieces along with the ginger, shallots and ginger. After adding the noodles, I felt we needed more veggies since I had not prepared a separate dish of vegetables. So I added a handful of frozen mixed vegetables that I had on hand. At the last minute, I spied my bottle of hay bee hiam (Nyonya fried shrimp) which my family loves on a cool evening, and added a tbsp of that toward the end of the cooking as well.