This New Year dish is made for successful year ahead
As the name suggests, long life noodles signify longevity in life, as well as prosperity and good luck for the year ahead.
Yee fu mein, also known as long life noodles, is a very nostalgic dish for me. My mum would often cook up a Chinese New Year feast with dishes such as kiam chye ak, jiu hu char and braised goose. In addition, she would whip up a platter of these delicious slippery noodles. As the name suggests, long life noodles signify longevity in life, as well as prosperity and good luck for the year ahead.
Try too my other dishes: salt and pepper tofu and Malaysian chicken.
Yee Fu Mein (long-life noodles)
Ingredients
- 300g dried yee fu noodles
- 2 tablespoons neutral-flavoured cooking oil
- 5g garlic, crushed
- 60g spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths
- 30g Chinese garlic chives, cut into 5cm lengths
- 200g canned straw mushrooms, sliced in half (or substitute with other Asian mushrooms)
- 50g fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 250ml (1 cup) vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons shaoxing rice wine
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- Ground white pepper, to taste
- Chilli oil or chopped fresh red chillies, to serve
Method
- Blanch the noodles for 2 minutes in a wok of boiling water to rehydrate. Drain.
- Return the wok to a high heat then add the cooking oil. Fry the garlic for 30 seconds to flavour the oil. Add the spring onions, chives and mushrooms, and fry for 3 minutes. Pour in the stock and allow to reduce slightly.
- Add the noodles and stir well until noodles are evenly coated. Add the shaoxing, soy sauce and oyster sauce, if using, and stir to coat evenly. Add the sesame oil and season with white pepper. Serve with chilli oil or fresh chillies. Serves 4