ruthless cooks: February 2011

porps has been making this dish for me for the past 31 years. it was also my aunt's favorite dish growing up!

prepping & cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 package (16oz) rice stick. we usually use Chao Ching Rice Stick: ~~$0.89 a package~~ ($1.49 at Ranch 99 as of 4/1/13)
1 small-ish head (or 1/2 of a big head) of green cabbage. prefer the short, squat kind to the round kind because the core is smaller
2 chicken breasts with the ribs/bones attached
2 eggs
2 carrots
salt
soy sauce
sugar
1-2 tsp yellow curry powder
oil
1 tsp rice cooking wine
2 ginger slices
green onions

1) Submerge the dry rice noodles in a bowl of water and soak for 10-15 minutes, or until soft. Important: then take them out of the water and put in a colander; don't over-soak or else they will be soggy when you fry them later. Wash the cabbage and chop into ~0.5 inch wide strips. Remove the bones/ribs and slice the chicken breasts into thin slices, then cut the slices into ~0.5 inch wide strips. Marinate the chicken strips in a bowl with 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp soy sauce, and 1/2 tsp sugar. Submerge the bones/rib in a pot of ~6-8 cups of water, bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 30 minutes to make a simple chicken stock. Shred the raw carrots and set them aside.

2) Beat the eggs in a bowl. In a hot pan, add 1 tsp oil. When the oil is hot, pour in the eggs and fry them as flat as possible, like a pancake. When the egg is cooked, remove from heat and slice into strips. Set aside.

3) Remove the bones from the chicken stock after 30 minutes. Add cabbage to the stock and cook until the cabbage is just cooked through; about 5-7 minutes. Remove the cabbage and set aside.

4) Add 1-2 tsp oil into a wok. Wait until the oil is super hot, then throw in 2 ginger slices. The ginger slices should be jumping in the oil. Add chicken strips and stir fry. Add 1- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tsp rice cooking wine, and a little water. Fry until the chicken is cooked; remove chicken and set aside.

5) In a small bowl combine 1 tsp salt, 1 full soup ladle of soy sauce, and 1-2 tsp of dry yellow curry powder.

6) Add 1 tsp of oil to the wok. When the oil is hot, add in the noodles and stir fry. Continue stirring as you add in 2 rice bowls full of chicken stock and the sauce that you created in step 5). Add more chicken stock as needed to keep the noodles from sticking to the wok, around 5 more soup ladles full. Add 2 chopped stalks of green onion. The noodles are done when soft. Add the cabbage, chicken, carrots, and eggs back in; stir and serve immediately. Enjoy!

See the full album of pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/ruthannwang/022011WenzhouTsaoMiFun?authkey=Gv1sRgCLjRpL3fx7_I0gE#