Real African Dishes: [MC-AllEthnic-Recipes] China Moon Pot-Browned Noodle Pillow

* Exported from MasterCook *

China Moon Pot-Browned Noodle Pillow

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Veggie

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 pound very thing (1/16 th inch) fresh Chinese
egg noodles
2 teaspoons Japanese sesame oil -- scant, or Five-Flavor Oil or Ma-La Oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons finely chopped Chinese chives
1 1/2 Tablespoons thinly sliced green and white scallion
rings
4 Tablespoons vegetable oil -- corn or peanut, to 5 Tablespoons, for pan-frying

Fluff the noodles in a colander to separate and untangle the strands.
Bring a generous amount of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add the
noodles and swish gently with chopsticks until the noodles are al dente
but cooked, about 2 minutes. Drain promptly, plunge briefly into ample ice
water to chill, then drain thoroughly.

Toss the noodles with the sesame-infused oil, salt, chives, and scallions,
using your fingers to distribute the seasonings and separate the strands.
At this point, the noodles may be sealed and refrigerated overnight.

Swirl 2 1/2 Tablespoons of corn oil into an 11 to 12-inch nonstick skillet
set over moderately high heat. When hot enough to sizzle a noodle, coil
the noodles in the skillet and press to even them with a spatula. Cook the
noodles until golden on the bottom, 5 to 7 minutes, adjusting the heat so
they sizzle without scorching. Flip the pillow over (or invert it onto a
plate and slip it back into the skillet browned side up and drizzle the
remaining 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons oil down the side of the pan. Swirl the
pan to distribute the oil under the noodles and brown the second side, 5
to 7 minutes more. Slip the pillow onto a baking sheet lined with 4 to 5
layers of paper towels; let drain.

If working in advance, let the pillow cool on a rack to room temperature
after draining. Place it on a bed of dry paper towels, seal, and
refrigerate for 1 or 2 days. (There is a slight flavor loss, but
pillow-lovers are undeterred.) Rewarm on a baking sheet set on the middle
rack of a preheated 400F oven until the pillow is crisp and hot, about 5
minutes.

To serve, cut the noodle pillow into appealing thick wedges and place
alongside (or underneath) a saucy stir-fry.

Serves 3 to 6

AuthorNote: Every restaurant has at least one dish that customers adore
and the chef (who used to adore it) now hates. Familiarity breeds both
addiction and contempt in the case of this favorite, such that when the
chef even flirts with the idea of taking it off the menu, the customers
don't complain, they cry!

This is our love/hate child, a thick disk of subtly seasoned, thin egg
noodles that is pressed into a hot skillet and browned on both sides.
Called "two yellow faces" in Chinese, we turn them out by the score in our
downstairs kitchen and use them in our upstairs finishing kitchen to
pillow zesty stir-fries. Eaten plain (by our morning cooks, who consider
them great breakfast fare) or topped with a lush stir-fry (by our
customers, who are passionate about them), they are our house favorite and
may well become yours.

You can make either one large pillow, as instructed in the recipe, or two
small pillows using two 7-inch skillets.

Nonstick Pillows: After years of making noodle pillows in cast-iron
skillets - the way I'd learned from the pot-sticker man who lived near our
Taiwan alleyway and cooked on a streetside brazier - I discovered nonstick
cooking and gave up my kitchen aerobics. You still will need to use an
ample amount of oil to achieve proper browning, but the light skillet
makes it a cinch to flip the pillow, and it's thus easy to check the
pillow bottom to see if it's golden.

Flip-Flops: If you're inclined to theatrics but shy about flipping food,
practice with a wet sponge. One large, wet (not sopping) sponge is just
about the right heft to stand in for a noodle pillow, and if you flip it
onto the floor, then will be much less of a mess. Two to three sessions of
sponge-flipping should put you in good shape to try a pillow. Especially
if your dining area adjoins the kitchen, this little bit of drama will
raise applause as well as appetites.

Menu Suggestions: Any saucy stir-fry mates perfectly with a noodle pillow.
You can also serve the golden wedges alongside a big bowl of soup or a
main-course salad. Children are known to like them as much as Big Macs,
and everyone loves to eat them with their fingers.

Cuisine:
"Chinese"
Source:
"China Moon Cookbook by Barbara Tropp, 1992"
S(Formatted by Chupa Babi):
"May 2013"
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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 305 Calories; 17g Fat (50.6%
calories from fat); 6g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber;
41mg Cholesterol; 485mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 0 Vegetable;
3 1/2 Fat.

Nutr. Assoc. : 3395 0 0 0 0 0 0 0