How to Fry Noodles Like They Do on the Street

[00:00] you actually don’t need a wok. But you’ll need  this, secret weapon! (it’s a fan, a box fan). Today we’ll be showing you the technique of  making ‘youmian’. This is the pre-cooked noodles  

[00:15] that’s the mainstay for street style fried  noodles everywhere from Chengdu to Shenzhen. And that’s because this noodles they make  stir frying noodles so easy and quick.   They’re already cooked to begin with,  they fry so nicely, they never stick,  

[00:33] they love to take on flavor, so that stir  fried noodle can come together in no time. And you can make them with literally any noodle  you want. While in China what you’d usually see  

[00:45] is this kind of fresh alkaline noodle… you  can actually just use dried. Or you could   use Japanese style ramen noodles like what  we opted for today, or you could even try  

[00:57] something like angel hair pasta – that actually  works very well as well. Just simply boil your   noodles until they’re al dente, then strain.

[01:10] tray and oil them: drizzle in a couple tbsps  oil, coat it evenly, and place that in front   of our secret weapon box fan – or you can also  use a hand fan or a magazine if you’re skillful.

[01:24] As you’re oiling and fanning the noodles,  jiggle them with a pair of chopsticks in   front of the fan to let the steam escape, or use  your hand if chopstick is a bit hard to control. 

[01:36] Just keep it moving, after it cools  down, about 5 minutes of doing this,   set it aside, and these  youmian are ready to be used. Now my suggestion is to make a larger  batch here. Because these noodles,  

[01:49] they keep really well in the fridge  – we’ve gone up to eight days,   so this can be great for meal prep,  for a couple meals throughout the week. Or, if you have a good Chinese  supermarket around you,  

[02:02] sometimes you will be able to find this  kind of noodles, on the package the   characters are called “油面”, and it seems like  in English it’s called ‘pre-cooked noodles’.  Either way, once we have this  ready, we can chow our mian. 

[02:16] So you can really add anything you want into  this fried noodle. This can be a proper one   person meal, but for your add ins, you don’t  want to push it over the weight of your noodles.

[02:28] So today in our recipe, we’re using the  following add-ins: ham, onion, carrot,   and baby bok choy, with everything cut into  slivers to fit the shape of our noodle.

[02:40] Then besides those, because we’re aiming for  a Chinese street food style fried noodle,   we’re going to need a Chinese  street food style seasonings. So… for the seasoning mix we’ll have 1/8 tsp  each of salt, MSG, and five spice powder… 

[02:54] Then, for that street food flavor,  we can’t miss that 1/8 tsp each of   chicken bouillon powder and the  very important, cumin powder. And together with that we’ll also  have a seasoning sauce – here we  

[03:08] have 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp dark soy,   and 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce… mix well and keep  those on the side until you’re ready to fry.

[03:20] So… wok up first, and don’t worry, we’ll show  you how to switch to a skillet in just a second. But if using the wok, as always, first, longyau. Get your wok piping hot, shut off the heat,   add one tbsp of oil, give it a quick swirl,  then over a high flame add in our noodles. 

[03:38] Spread our noodles out, move it around,  and let it fry on one side for about 1   minute to brown a bit… then flip, quickly  brown the other side for another minute. Now add in the ham, quick mix, then in with  the aromatics – here we have two big cloves  

[03:55] of minced garlic, and one spicy fresh chili. Give it another mix, then add in all of our   vegetables. Mix well with your spatula  and chopstick… or a tong if you prefer.

[04:08] swirl the sauce onto the noodle so that it  doesn’t burn on the side of your very hot wok. Now fry everything together for about another  two minutes or so, then heat off and out. 

[04:24] Optionally place a fried egg on top, and now you  have your Chinese style street food fried noodles. who’ll show you how to make this with nothing  but a skillet over a simple induction stove.

[04:40] So, as we teased in the intro, this it can also  totally work in a non-stick skillet too. Now I   have the generally unpopular opinion that  skillets and especially griddles they can  

[04:52] actually do a really reasonable job stir frying  too. Like… just think about a Japanese Teppenyaki   joint… and similar styles of stir-frying also  totally exist on the street in China too.

[05:04] Now in a home setting skillets, they will have  a couple of downsides – and the biggest one I   think is splatter. Like sometimes if you’re  working in a skillet on a really oil heavy   recipe your kitchen can really end up turning  into a disaster zone? And then you kinda gotta  

[05:19] cosplay Dexter after dinner. But for this  kind of recipe – stuff like fried noodles,   fried rice, that kind of thing – they really  don’t take all that much oil, like we were just   working off of one tablespoon, so that’s not  gunna be a really big problem with this one.

[05:34] With that said though, I do still have  a couple of other suggestions. First,   because skillets they do have a little less room  to maneuver than a big wok, something that you can   do is take about half of your dark soy sauce  and you can mix it with the noodles at first.  

[05:51] This was a technique I picked up from Thai Pad  See Ew making, and it also seems to work pretty   well here. And second, if you’re working with a  non-stick skillet like I was today – definitely   don’t do that whole longyau process like we just  did. Instead, add the oil to a cool pan, turn the  

[06:10] heat to high and then immediately, immediately  go in with the noodles and spread them out. And that’s because non-stick it famously degrades  at high temperatures, but you’re generally still  

[06:23] okay over a high flame so long as you have enough  stuff inside of it. If you’re really worried,   one of these cool little temp guns they can help  make 100% sure you’re on the safe side of 260,  

[06:36] or you could knock the heat back a little  bit, but whatever you do not heat this pan   up empty because it can really go from  zero to midnight in an absolute flash. So for me, on this induction, it takes about  one minute for the surface to dry up a bit, then  

[06:51] I’ll flip, then I’ll go for another 30 seconds.  Then we’ll do the ham, mix another 30 seconds,   then in with the aromatics and give it a quick  mix. Vegetables in, and then fry that all together   for another minute, or until the vegetables  wilt a touch… then we’ll take the skillet  

[07:06] off the flame and toss in the seasoning, both the  dry and the liquid. Quick mix, back on the flame,   and fair warning that mixing this in a skillet can  be a touch of a pain, like here I’m trying to mix  

[07:20] this with chopsticks and my rice cooker spoon  because we don’t have any not-metal wok chuan,   it’s awkward but does the job… a couple flips  can also help, and once that seasoning’s all  

[07:34] good and mixed in, about a half a minute…  out. Non-stick skillet fried noodles, done. So yeah! Skillet frying… I would still suggest a  round bottomed wok if you have the stove set-up  

[07:48] for it, it has all the benefits of a skillet and  a pot with none of the splatter… or at least I   guess a lot less of the splatter… but we also  don’t really sautee or stir fry in a skillet  

[08:02] all that much personally, so if you have any tips  on splatter avoidance definitely let us know down   in the comments because it would be nice if our  recipes could be a bit more accessible to the  

[08:14] wok-less too. But yeah. Huge, huge thank you  to everyone that’s supporting us on Patreon…   we could not make these videos without you –  and subscribe for more Chinese cooking videos.