Noodle Party: Spicy Vegetable Dang Myun (Yam Noodle)

Heard of that thing called twitter? I was refreshing my twitter homepage last week and saw that Steph at Momofuku for 2 had retweeted an open invitation to a virtual Noodle Party hosted Christine at Christine and the Big Scary Kitchen, Shao at Fried Wontons for You, and herself.

Noodles? Party? I'm there!

Of course, with my recent self-inflicted (but often self-sabotaged) meat ban, I made this a vegetarian noodle (although if you omit the fish sauce it makes it vegan...).

The only condition of the noodle party was that everyone began with dang myun / dang myeong, a Korean yam / sweet potato noodle that is usually featured in Japchae, noodle banchans, or Korean glass noodle soups. Wanting to veer towards a more East Asian flavour profile, but wanting also to inject the recipe with lots of veggies, I prepared a flavour base of garlic, shallots, and chilis and tossed everything in a mixture of soy and fish sauces.

Thank you to Christine, Shao, and Steph for coming up with the idea for this noodle party, I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone cooked up!

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 shallots, minced
1-3 dried chilis, minced
About a quarter of a lump of palm sugar
Salt
White pepper, ground (or black pepper - I made do)


3 T light soy sauce
2 t dark soy sauce
1/2 t fish sauce
2-3 drops sesame oil

1/2 carrot, julienned
1 small bell pepper (any colour, I used a combination of orange and red), sliced
1 green onion, cut into 1" sections
1/2 rib celery, sliced on the bias
1/2 zucchini, sliced into ribbons
200 g diced tofu (medium firm to firm) - alternatively, I'd use about 100g of tofu puffs.
(If preparing a meat version, include thinly sliced beef, shrimp, or sliced chicken in place of tofu)
~150-200 g of dried dang myun / yam noodles

Method
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place dang myun into water and cook for 5-7 minutes, or as per package instructions until just done. Drain, rinse with cool water, and set aside.

If necessary place garlic, shallots, chilis and palm sugar into a food processor and pulse until uniform in shape and the palm sugar is incorporated. In a large pan or wok, heat 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat until hot. Heat chili mixture, stirring occasionally until mixture is fragrant and translucent. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

Combine light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce. and sesame oil in a small bowl.

In the same wok or pan, heat additional oil if necessary and cook tofu or other protein over medium heat. Baste with 1-2 teaspoons of soy sauce mixture and cook until tofu is warmed through or until meat is cooked. Transfer to small dish and set aside.

In the same wok, cook vegetables 1-2 minutes over medium heat. Baste with a teaspoon of the soy sauce mixture. Transfer to small dish and set aside.

Finally, heat 2 teaspoons of oil in the same wok. Cook noodles and toss with tongs or chopsticks to loosen and heat through. Drizzle 2-3 teaspoons of the soy sauce mixture and stir. Add half of the reserved cooked chili mixture to the pan and taste for seasoning. Add the remaining chili mixture if necessary. Add veggies and tofu and toss until warmed through. Plate and enjoy!

On subsequent visits to refills at the wok, I added a knob of cashew butter to the wok and heated until *just* melted. I stirred this into the noodles and it really kicked it up a notch.

While this was good as is, the cashew butter helped it out. May I say that this was the first recipe since the meat ban where I miss the meat? I've made it before with different noodles (even rice!), but with the presence of meat. The meat just adds flavour - especially with Chinese sausage and a proper fluffy egg omelette prepared in the wok, julienned and sprinkled over the finished product.

Anyways, welcome to the veggie portion of the noodle party! :) Thanks again to Steph, Shao, and Christine!

Click through for their recipes:
Steph - Braised Short Ribs with Dangmyeong 
Christine - Vegetarian (yay!) Japchae
Shao - Fried Wontons For You
Jeroxie - Beef Short Ribs DangMyeong
Lovelylavin - A twittered noodle party!
Noodle Party - Spicy Pork Japchae