Prawns Ee-Fu Noodles
It is tradition every year during Chinese New Year that I cook braised ee-fu noodles. This year I’m making prawns ee-fu noodles. As far as auspicious symbolism goes, prawns (shrimps) is a symbol of happiness (laughter) while the long strand of noodles represent longevity.
If I make these noodles outside of CNY, I will stir-fry the prawns and use tetra-pak chicken stock for the noodle sauce. But since it is the festivities, I made a little more effort of using real prawn stock as the base sauce for the noodles. The taste of this prawns ee-fu noodles made with real prawn stock has an added umami depth to it :)
More Ee-fu Noodles Recipes:
See Also:
Prawns Ee-Fu Noodles Recipe
If you don’t wish to make your own prawn stock, skip step 2. Instead, stir-fry the prawns until cooked and set them aside on a plate, to be used as topping on the cooked noodles. At seasonings (A), add 250 ml rich (tetra-pak) chicken stock & reduce the light soy sauce to 1/2 tsp.
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp + 1 tbsp cooking oil divided
- 100 grams (2 bundles) dry ee-fu noodles (伊府面/Yi mein)
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 300ml water
- 12 medium prawns (shrimps) de-vein with shells-on by cutting along the back of the prawns
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 100 grams fresh straw mushrooms* see note below
- 100 grams yellow chives (韭黃/gau wang) cut to 2 inch (5 cm) lengths
- 1 tbsp Chinse wine (Shaoxing wine/Hua Diao)
(A) Seasoning Sauce
Add this to the prawn stock in step 2 of the recipe. This will be the seasoning sauce for the noodles.
- 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 dashes white pepper powder
Directions:
- Pre-cook noodles. Bring a small pot of water to boil with 1 tsp oil. Add ee-fu noodles and cook until the noodles are just separated (still firm and under cooked). Drain the noodles and run through tap water to cool. Coat the noodles with sesame oil. Set aside.
- Prepare prawns & make prawn stock. In a small pot, add 300 ml water and bring to a boil. Add the prawns and boil briefly until just cooked. Filter the prawn stock through a fine sieve. Peel the prawns if preferred. Add seasonings (A) to the filtered prawn stock.
- Add mushrooms and chives. Heat remaining oil in wok. Add garlic and stir fry briefly until fragrant. Add mushrooms and chives. Drizzle Chinese wine at the sides of the wok. Stir fry for about a minute.
- Make ee-fu noodles. Add noodles and pour prawn seasoning sauce evenly over them. Stir to coat the noodles evenly in the sauce. Simmer on low heat for 3 minutes, or until the noodles have just soaked up most of the sauce. Stir in the cooked prawns while the noodles are hot. Garnish with spring onion/coriander and serve immediately.
Cooking Note:
If using fresh boiled straw mushrooms (I bought mine from Sheng Siong), blanch them in boiling water for about 2 minutes before using, to get rid of the sourish tinge. If using canned mushrooms, rinse and drain before use.