Meals for the homeless – sweet Potato Noodles with Chinese mushroom and vegetables (gluten free option, vegan)
I first enjoyed potato noodles in 1990s. I was puzzled by its rich flavors and unusual texture – soft, firm and bouncy. Not until many years later I realized these wonderful noodles were actually made of sweet potato starch, not potato.
I love these noodles – easy and cheap to make, yet so versatile you can add anything to it and the noodles will soak up all the beautiful flavors.
Last Saturday I made a huge batch of noodles. We served it slightly chilled as part of a street banquet. I hope our friends enjoyed the noodles as much as I did.
Recipe is as follow:
Ingredients
(Family size, serves 4)
- 250g sweet potato noodles (available at Asian grocery stores)
- 1/4 leek or 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
- 100 g common cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1/2 red capsicum, cleaned and thinly sliced
- 1 small carrot, julienne
- 4-6 Chinese mushroom (or a few wood ear fungus), soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, remove stalk, thinly sliced
- a few stalk of green shallot (scallion), thinly sliced
- cooking oil
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce (use a gluten free soy sauce for a GF option)
- 1 tsp light soy sauce (use a gluten free soy sauce for a GF option)
- a little sugar
- pinches of salt & white pepper
- 2 tsp toasted sesame, to garnish
Method
- In a large sauce pan, cook the sweet potato noodles in plenty of hot water; add a generous dash of cooking oil in the water to avoid the noodles sticking together; stir occasionally; cooking time depends on the noodles, would probably take about 10 minutes.
- Once the noodles are cooked, drain the noodles in a colander over the kitchen sink; run the noodles under cold water until the noodles cool down completely; drain off all the water; transfer the noodles to a large mixing bowl, add a dash of sesame oil, stir well.
- In a frying pan, add a little cooking oil, bring the oil to medium heat; add leek (or onion) and Chinese mushroom, saute for a minute; add cabbage and sugar, saute for a few minutes; add carrot and capsicum, add a little salt and pepper, saute briefly; transfer the vegetables to a plate to cool down
- In the hot frying pan, add a little cooking oil, add green shallot, toss briefly (a few seconds), transfer to a plate to cool
- Toss the noodles with the vegetables, add dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil and 1 tsp of sesame seeds, mix well.
- Transfer to a serving plate, garnish with remaining toasted sesame seeds
