VeganMoFo 2014: #1 Char Kway Teow

"Oh wow, Em, look at all these new visitors. They look hungry -- I'm scared."

"Don't worry, Lu. They're just people from VeganMoFo. Put your best face forward, maybe they'll throw us some veggie scraps."

For my first VeganMoFo post, I'll share my favorite stir fry noodle. Char Kway Teow is a popular dish in Singapore. It uses flat rice noodle, which you can buy fresh in Asian markets or you can buy dry and boil it. Fresh is better of course!

Don't let the dark color turn you off. The sauces used give it a very robust taste. The meat version usually has some sort of seafood and eggs. In this vegan version, we omit the seafood and use tofu to substitute the egg.

Ingredients:

Flat rice noodle

a block of tofu, pressed & crumbled 

Asian greens 

handful of bean sprout

1 tbsp garlic 

1 tbsp shallot 

1 green onion

oil for frying

Sauce:

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp dark soy sauce 

1 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)

1 tbsp vegetarian oyster mushroom sauce

1 tsp sugar 

5 tbsp water

Direction:

1. Mix together the sauce.

2. Heat oil in large pan or wok. Add garlic and shallot and stir until golden. 

3. Add noodle and sauce. Stir for a minute. 

4. Push noodle to one side of pan and add crumbled tofu. Fry 1-2 min. 

5. Add vegetable and bean sprout, cook another minute. 

6. Add green onion. Mix well. 

For an authentic taste, serve with vegan belachan (a chili paste) if you can find it. A friend brought us some from Singapore. I can't take spice and this dish tastes just as delicious without!