Long Life Noodles (伊面)

06/10/2020

Long Life Noodles (yī miàn, 伊面) or yi mein, symbolize longevity and can always be found on the banquet table at Chinese celebrations. Usually, each banquet will end with a plate of Long Life Noodles, I remembered we used to be so excited with the finale during our late grandma birthday’s celebration. We will feed her a couple of strings of noodle (as there are 40-60 family members queues to feed her) for well-wishing and blessing. Sadly, these days not many hotel or restaurants served a good plate of Long Life Noodles – I think people tend to overlook the small details and it became the unwanted dish.

Filled with disappointment, we decided to find ways to master our own. Now, we love to make this at home, it is super easy to make with just reachable ingredients. Follow our method and you can never fail with this dish.

Unlike the pasta, the most important take away is to focus – like the Hong Kong Styled noodle (yī miàn), they are soft and thin, they can be easily ruined if you accidentally overcooked it. So We will suggest you prepare the ingredients ahead and stay focus when you cook the noodle, drain it and stir-fry again.

It’s suitable for vegans – we didn’t use any proteins, as we wish everyone will enjoy!

For this recipe, you just need 3 main ingredients to make it happen. The noodle, mushroom and vegetable. Many other recipes you see out there will recommend you to use spring onion but I insist to have allium tuberosum, 韭菜 (common names you can see it refer as garlic chives, Oriental garlic, Asian chives, Chinese chives or Chinese leek). This beautiful garlic chive is crunchy and sweet, unlike the green chives. It gives your noodles so much texture in it’s flavour.

For those who prefer to have some protein, you always could add in some shredded chicken or pork or sweet-tasting prawn (recommend to slice into half).

Noodles

The noodles only require – 3 to 5 mins to cook in the boiling water otherwise it will be soggy. While you are cooking your noodle, quickly stir them well, making sure the noodle does not suck on each other. Add a pinch of salt into the boiling water helps to retain the colour and texture of the noodle. Drain and rinse the noodle under the cold tap to prevent the noodle from a further cook.

Condiments

Unlike steak that required just black pepper and salt. The simplest dish for Chinese food could use up to 5- 6 different kinds of condiments. But that is the reason why food can be so flavourful and delicious. Every aspect of the sauces makes this dish a unique one. We keep the ratio of the sauces into 1:1 ratio, in this case, we use a tablespoon each.

Sesame Oil
Oyster Sauce (or Vegetable Sauce)
Light Soya Sauce
Dark Soya Sauce
White Pepper

After all the preparation it is time to combine them. Start by heating up your pan, make sure it is hot enough before you add in the oil. Next, we stir fry the garlic, chives and mushroom, mix well and cover it up and steam it for a minute. If you are cooking meat or seafood, we recommend you to cook the separately beforehand as we don’t want to overcook them. When the ingredients are soft enough add in the noodles, sauces with 2 tablespoons of hot water, mix it well before steaming them for 3 minutes to let the ingredients absorb the flavours of the sauce. Not so long these dishes compete and now you can serve them hot.

Today is #NationalNoodleDay as noodle’s lovers, we are getting ready to celebrate by doing the best thing possible with noodles… eating them! This is a very simple dish to make during your busy day. Hope you enjoy them!

xoxo, Angela