Char Kway Teow

Ingredients

• 400g fresh flat rice noodles (kway teow)
• 8 raw prawns, peeled and deveined
• 80g cockles or small clams, shelled (optional)
• 1 Chinese sausage (lap cheong), sliced thin on the diagonal
• 60g pork belly, diced small, or 3 tbsp lard
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tsp sambal oelek
• 2 eggs
• 100g beansprouts
• small bunch garlic chives, cut into 5cm lengths
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Before you cook

• Separate the fresh noodles gently with your fingers so the strands do not tear.
• Mix the dark soy, light soy, oyster sauce, sugar and white pepper in a small bowl.
• Line up the prawns, cockles, sausage, garlic, sambal, eggs, beansprouts and chives in bowls beside the stove, because this cooks in under five minutes.
• Pick over the beansprouts and trim the chives.

Steps

1. Set a wok over the highest heat you have and leave it until it smokes.
2. Add the diced pork belly and render it for 3 minutes until the fat runs and the pieces crisp.
3. Add the vegetable oil and the Chinese sausage and fry for 1 minute.
4. Throw in the garlic and the sambal and stir for 20 seconds until fragrant.
5. Add the prawns and cockles and toss for 45 seconds until the prawns just turn pink.
6. Push everything to one side, crack the eggs into the bare wok, and break the yolks with your spatula.
7. Let the eggs set for 20 seconds, then scramble them roughly.
8. Add the noodles and pour the sauce mixture around the edge of the wok.
9. Toss and fold the noodles for 2 minutes, pressing them flat against the wok between turns so they catch and smoke.
10. Add the beansprouts and chives and toss for 30 seconds so they stay crunchy.
11. Taste one strand and add a little more light soy if it needs salt.
12. Serve straight onto plates immediately, while the smoky smell is still in the air.