Vegan Char Kuey Teow
We used to eat this ALLLLL the time…. And we still do, especially when we can get our hands on fresh rice noodles. Char Kuey Teow is perhaps the ultimate street food in Malaysia, and it’s mesmerising to watch it cooked outside in a massive wok over a roaring flame – you can almost taste that smokey flavour before you even take your first bite! But if you can’t just pop out onto the streets of Malaysia to get your fix, this dish can be made at home in a normal pan too :)
Char Kuey Teow is usually cooked with a mixture of seafood, chicken and egg but in support of Veganuary we’re offering up this vegan alternative. If you’re a bit of a purist, don’t worry all the flavour is still there – we wouldn’t make it if we didn’t think it was a worthy companion to the original!
Over our cooking journey we’ve really enjoyed the challenge of taking popular Malaysian dishes that often have egg or meat and making them plant-based.. we want to make sure that no one misses out on the yummy goodness!
It may seem odd, but what really brings this dish together is garlic chives and you can generally find these in most Asian supermarkets – such a blessing! They’re tangy and bold in flavour.. don’t hold back! Tofu is also a very important ingredient as it not only gives that ‘eggy’ texture but if you can find smoked tofu it works even better, helping to recreate that deep smokey flavour you find from a street food stall.
Give this a go and let us know how you get on!
Serves 2-3 people
Ingredients
2 tablespoons of neutral oil, such as sunflower
400g fresh rice noodles, sometimes called hor fun. Can be found in the fridge section in Asian supermarkets
3 shallots, cut into slices
4 garlic cloves, minced
100g garlic chives, chopped into 3 cm lengths
200g beansprouts
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon kicap manis
1 teaspoon The Sambal (add more or less depending on spice tolerance)
1 teaspoon white pepper
Firm tofu (smoked tofu works even better if you can find it)
0.5 teaspoons turmeric
0.5 teaspoon black salt
Method
Separate your noodles by hand and set aside
Measure and mix the soy sauces and white pepper in a small bowl
Mash tofu, turmeric and black salt with a fork in a separate bowl
In a frying pan or wok, fry the chopped shallots and garlic in the oil
Add tofu mixture when the shallots start to go soft and mix well
Add in noodles and sauce mixture
Fry for 2 minutes, until noodles start to soften and they are well coated with the sauce
Add in beansprouts and garlic chives, fry for a further 2 minutes
Once cooked, serve immediately with extra The Sambal on the side
MAKAN!
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