Char Kway Teow

One of my mom’s favorite dishes is char kway teow, specifically the one from Madam Kwan’s. Their char kway teow is indeed very good – a very savory, flavorful sauce, generous amounts of chicken and shrimp, and wonderful wok hei. The problem is, ordering Madam Kwan’s too often can make a visible dent on our wallets, so I decided to try making it myself.

In my research, there are several ways to make char kway teow. Arguably the most iconic version is Penang-style, which is seasoned with sambal (chili paste) and a soy sauce mixture. Most of the best Penang-style char kway teow is also most definitely non-halal, using ingredients like lard and chinese sausages. I am still quite keen to attempt a halal-ified version of Penang-style char kway teow at some point, but that’s for another post. The other version I usually see uses shrimp oil and animal fat, and is seasoned with just a soy sauce mixture. This seems to be the version we get from Madam Kwan’s, and was what I attempted in this recipe.

I used multiple sources for inspiration to come up with this finalized recipe. In my experiments, I incorporated shrimp oil and played around with the ratios for the seasoning sauce, but the end result just wasn’t quite there. Finally a friend suggested I add some chicken fat, and that was what finally perfected this dish. Similar to Madam Kwan’s version I used chicken and shrimp, but substituted fishcakes for the squid. I needed to go easier on the high-cholestrol stuff.

You may notice that the measurements for the sauce mixture in the recipe is very specific. I’ve tested this recipe a few times using rough measurements (agak-agak), but felt that the sauce always didn’t turn out quite right. This specific measurement really hit the sweet spot. Kudos to RecipeTin for coming up with the magic formula. Most importantly, my mom gave her seal of approval and said this was just how she likes it. Success!

Step by Step

First, make the shrimp oil. Briefly rinse the shrimp heads and shells under cold water, and drain.

In a large wok over medium heat, add the oil and shrimp shells. Heat the oil until bubbling around the edges, then lower the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the oil has turned an intense, deep orange, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, strain the oil into glass jars, and discard the shells.

Prepare the sauce. In a medium-sized bowl, add all the sauce ingredients, and stir to combine. Set aside until ready to use.

Next, prepare the noodles. Bring the kway teow to room temperature, then gently separate into individual strands. It is important that the noodles are at room temperature and not cold, else they might break when we try to separate them. If you want to speed up the process, gently warm in the microwave in 30-second increments until you reach the desired temperature.

Now, make the noodles. Before starting, have all the ingredients ready on hand. In a large wok over high heat, heat the chicken fat and shrimp oil, until smoke starts to appear.

Flash fry the shrimp and chicken, stirring constantly, until just cooked, 1 to 2 minutes.

Push the ingredients to one side of the wok. Add the garlic and chili if using, and cook, 30 seconds.

Add the fish cakes and continue stirring, 1 to 2 minutes.

Pour the sauce mixture, and stir to combine.

Make some space in the wok, and add the eggs. Sprinkle with some white pepper, and let set for about 30 seconds. Break up the yolks and stir to combine with the egg whites, then toss together with the rest of the ingredients and the sauce.

Add the kway teow and toss a few times in the sauce to coat.

Add the chives or green onions and the bean sprouts, and toss a few times until just combined. Ideally, char kway teow should be tossed sparingly, as the noodles are delicate and fall apart very easily. Turn off the heat.

For a bit more wok hei, I would spread the kway teow in a thin layer over the bottom of the wok and leave it on the stove for about 1 minute. The residual heat from the blistering hot wok will gently char and caramelize the soy sauce on the noodles directly in contact with the wok.

Serve immediately.