Recipe: Stir-fried Hand-torn Noodles with a Smoky and Savory Onion, Cabbage, and Garlic Butter Sauce
An original recipes with roots in China, Hungary, France and Germany
Smoky, salty, and savory pork lays the foundation along with garlic in this fried noodle dish. Cabbage, onions, and dried apricots provide some sweet balance, and mushrooms bring the earthiness. Flavorful butter sauce coats the noodle melody and makes for a filling dish that makes us feel at home.
Learn more about the inspiration for this dish and the story behind it: Nostalgia From All Around the Globe
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: Serves two
Ingredients:
Noodles (recipe from Chinese Cooking Demystified)
1 1/4 cups of AP flour
1/3 cup of water
1/2 tsp of salt
Flavor base
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/8 pound of salty, smoky, and fatty pork (pancetta, bacon, guanciale, etc. all work)
1/5 of a small cabbage
1/2 of a small yellow onion
1/2 cup of chopped mushroom of your choice
2 cloves of garlic
2 dried apricots
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan (optional)
squeeze of lemon (optional)
white wine (optional)
parsley (for garnish, optional)
Tools needed:
mixing bowl
bowl
pot
knife
cutting board
pan
Suggested directions:
Wash your hands and set up your workspace with your tools and ingredients.
Start with the noodles. Pour the flour and salt into the mixing bowl, and mix it around to disperse the salt.
Slowly pour in water about a tablespoon at a time and mix with the flour with some chopsticks. Do this until the dough looks and feels sort of shaggy. If there is a lot of loose flour, add some more water in to moisten it. If it’s pasty, add some more flour in to dry it up a bit.
Knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes or until smooth. Cover with a bowl or plastic wrap and optionally coat the dough with some vegetable oil to reduce dehydration. I start kneading in the bowl to roughly squish everything together, then I go to town on a countertop or cutting board. Use the palms of your hands or your knuckles. You should be using a lot of elbow grease. Make sure you are not hurting your wrists.
Wash the cabbage and cut out a fifth. Then remove the core. Peel the onion.
Slice the onion and cabbage thinly, anywhere from 1/4 to 1/8 inch slices. The thinner you go with the slices, the more quickly the cabbage and onions will break down. I like my veggies with a bit of a bite, so I’m going with ~1/6 inch slices, but you can go thinner if you’d like a more tender result.
Chop up the pork into 1/4 inch wide and 1 inch long strips or 1/4 inch cubes. Both work.
Mince the garlic and the apricots (you shouldn’t have this much apricot).
Chop up the mushrooms into small pieces.
In a pot, put about 8 cups of water to boil on high heat.
Fry the pork on medium-low heat in a non-stick pan to render out some fat until it’s a bit crispy and there is a good amount of fat rendered. Sometimes I put in a few tablespoons of water to aid in rendering the fat without crisping it up to avoid burning. Also, I usually start with the fattier cut, then throw in the lean bits.
Remove the pork but keep the fat in the pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and fry the mushrooms until a bit crisp.
Once the mushrooms are crisped up a bit, remove them while keeping the excess pork fat around. Throw in the cabbage and onions. I like a slight char, so I would turn the heat up to high. Stir every couple of minutes to ensure even color.
Once some color develops on the onions and cabbage, mix everything around with the dried apricots, garlic, pork, and mushrooms for about a minute. If you have white wine, splash some into the pan to deglaze it and help lift off those crispy bits and contribute to the flavor. Set aside the mixture and turn off the heat.
At this point, the water should be boiling, and our dough has rested about 10-15 minutes. Let’s form and cook the noodles.
Take the ball of dough, stretch a bit off the edge, and tear it. Make sure it’s not too thick. You can use your thumb to press it out.
I do this in batches of ten and cook them for about 3 minutes each batch. When the 3 minutes is up, remove the pasta with a strainer and place in the pan with the vegetables. Do this until you run out of dough. It should take about three batches.
Put the pan on medium heat with 1 Tbsp of butter. Stir fry for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until there is some golden brown color on the noodles.
Optionally, top it off with more butter, a small squeeze of lemon, and few tablespoons of fresh grated parmesan. Plate it up and it’s ready to enjoy.