It seems that my injured shoulder is recovering fairly well as I could cook this stir-fry pretty fast. While the minor injury has kept me from carrying heavy objects, it also leads me to repeat dishes that are simple and easy to prepare. This is one of them.

It is also my humble version of stir-fried udon, somewhat like the Japanese yaki-udon (yaki means grilled, broiled or pan-fried; and udon noodles are thick wheat noodles). To me this is a more convenient version as the sauce mainly consists of soy and oyster sauce.

I often do stir-fried noodles in wok, here I use a cast iron balti. Smaller though, it doesn’t seem to under-perform a Chinese wok for making a stir-fry.

Like cooking with a wok, I heat the balti to the point when it is just able to caramelize the foods, yet not burning them. It might be a bit tricky, but if we get it right, the wok or balti will impart flavors on the foods with its “breath”, called “wok hei 鑊氣” in Chinese. Wok hei may be best practiced in professional kitchens however, we may do it in our home kitchens too. I’m going to share some little tips.

• Ingredients
• 1 pack frozen udon noodles, ~230g
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cabbage, shredded
• 1/4 carrot, shredded or shaved into long strips
• 3-4 fresh black mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• pinch of salt to taste
• 1-2 servings

• Sauce
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce (you may turn this recipe into a vegetarian dish by using vegetarian oyster sauce)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cooking wine
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp water

Coating the noodles with a beaten egg will make them less sticky to wok

Stir-fry vegetables and mushrooms until they are about half-way cooked

Tips
Udon noodles
* You may use fresh or dried udon noodles, but they both need to be cooked first according to package instructions but are 70-80% done. Also drained dry until no more water drips.
* Whichever noodles are used, they need to be drained dry or blotted dry, otherwise they might turn out soggy. Excess water will also dilute the flavor.

Vegetables
* If you rinse the cabbage and carrot, let them drip-dry in a colander. They can be somewhat damp, but with no more water drips out when added into wok.

Oil
* Use oil with high smoking point, like peanut oil or camellia oil.

Wok
* Apply few droplets of water in wok, if it is heated enough they should roll around immediately on contact (than simply bubble) . You may want to adjust heat from medium to higher level to prevent overheating.
* Do not over-crowd the wok or balti, fill it about one-third full. Therefore,if you need to cook for more than two servings of this, use a larger wok.

This crisp fried dim sum is easy to miss in Hong Kong nowadays.

Perhaps, it is to blame the diminishing use of moving carts in restaurants, where dim sum ladies pan-fry foods, like pan-fried stuff tofu and this taro cake, in front of her guests (now you tick the dim sum sheets and waiters will bring you the foods directly from their kitchens).

Its popularity, however, grows during the Chinese New Year since it is also considered an auspicious food, symbolizing achieving higher in the coming year. Because the pronunciation of “cake (gao)” is the same as “high” in Cantonese.

Like another popular Chinese New Year snack, turnip or radish cake (Law Bak Gou 蘿蔔糕), this is made the similar way with rice flour, Chinese sausage, dried mushrooms, dried shrimps.

Yet because taro is far more starchy than a turnip, the wheat starch added in this recipe would make the cake turn out somewhat elastic, balancing the floury texture of taro and rice flour.

Whether or not you will be celebrating the Lunar New Year (on coming Thursday, Feb 19), it is good to make taro cake within these few weeks, when it is still in season before the weather gets warmer.

Taro always comes in a large size, but no worries, there are plenty ways to cook with it, say, with rice, with braised meat or even as a dessert or finger food.

• Ingredients
• 300g taro, peeled and cut into ~1cm cubes
• 60g rice flour
• 15g wheat starch 澄麵 (or see tips below)
• 1 pc Chinese sausage
• 3-4 pcs Chinese dried black mushrooms
• 1-2 tbsp dried shrimps
• 3-4 shallots, finely chopped
• 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 3/4 C water from soaking mushrooms
• 1/2 C chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp roasted white sesame for garnishing
• some chopped green onions, optional
• yields 28 slices, of about 1cm thick, 5x4cm rectangles

• Seasonings
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp ground white pepper (for garnishing)
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Enjoy!

And Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!

Tips
* When peeling taro, do wear rubber gloves, otherwise you may feel itchy after touching it.

* For added flavor (which is what most Chinese will do), I’d suggest soaking 2 to 3 pcs dried scallops with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water until softened. Then, tear them into strips, and sauté them with sausage, reserving the liquid for mixing with flours (same way as preparing radish cake).

* If you need to replenish water to the steamer midway, add boiling water.

* The cake can be stored in the fridge for up to a week. That is why we Chinese like to make this (usually double the ingredients to make more servings) in advance during Chinese New Year.

* If not using wheat starch, you may simply replace it with same amount of rice flour too.