Chicken Chao Fen (炒粉)

Chinese humor is largely pun-based, probably due to the language being full of homophones. Give a Chinese person a command of English, and the pun-ssibilities are endless. I remember many lunches at my grandparents' house, where grandpa would come out of the kitchen with two huge platters of noodles and ask if we wanted "mean" or "fun." He thought this was hilarious.

Of course, what he meant was chao mian (stir-fried egg noodles, already covered here) and chao fen, stir-fried rice noodles. The central ingredient is shahe fen (沙河粉). These are relatively wide rice noodles, common in various Asian cuisines, most famously Cantonese. I have had a hard time finding these, even at the local Chinese market, and have stocked up in Chicago. Recently, though, they started carrying them. Note that the word is sometimes transliterated as "ho fun." This dish is a simple application of these noodles, using chicken as the main protein. The marinade is easy, came out great, and shows the versatility of fermented beans!

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried shahe fen (Chinese rice noodles)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 cups chopped cabbage
• Several green onions, chopped
• Salt
• Vegetable oil

Chicken and marinade

• 2 lb chicken breast
• 2 Tbs bean sauce
• Five spice powder
• Black pepper
• Soy sauce
• Sherry (I used fino, but go with whatever you have)

Instructions

This dish requires some prep ahead of time. About 2 hours before cooking, start soaking the noodles in warm water. Cut the chicken into small chunks, and combine with marinade in a bag or bowl. The marinade is not an exact science. Give it a good dollop of bean sauce, a few splashes of sherry and soy sauce, and a good dusting with pepper and five spice. Mix well and refrigerate.

After about 90 minutes, chop up the cabbage. Put the cabbage in a bowl and salt liberally. Let this sit for 20-30 minutes, then squeeze out the water (regular readers may have noticed how much I have come to love this technique).

Heat some oil in a wok on high heat. Stir fry the chicken until well-browned and cooked through. Set aside. Add more oil and fry the onion until lightly browned. Add the cabbage and cook for about one more minute, and set all this aside.

Add more oil. This is important to avoid sticking. You don't want the noodles to end up really oily, but stuck noodles means burned noodles and broken noodles. Add the noodles and green onion. Stir fry these on their own for a minute or two, then thrown in the chicken, onion, and cabbage. Briefly cook these together and serve. Although I did not do this, you could also prepare a sauce with some bean sauce, chicken stock, and corn starch.