My Chinese soy noodles with mushrooms and garlic

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 250 g instant noodles
• 250 g mushrooms, brown
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 spring onions
• 1 tsp chicken broth powder
• 250 ml water
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tbsp kebab manis
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 ½ tbsp soy sauce
• some dark sesame oil for flavoring
• some vegetable oil for frying
• 2 tsp sesame seeds, roasted
• Salt and pepper, white

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 50 minutes

aromatic-sweet

Chop the mushrooms medium-finely. Roughly chop the garlic. Slice the spring onions, reserving some of the green parts for garnish. Prepare the sauce. Dissolve the chicken stock powder in hot water and gradually add the other sauce ingredients. Although this already seems spicy enough, season the sauce with salt and white pepper. If you like it a little sweeter, add a little brown sugar or sweet soy sauce, or both. Then gently toast the sesame seeds in a wok over medium heat. You have to be careful here, as they burn easily. Stir frequently or swirl the wok around until the sesame seeds are delicately fragrant and evenly browned. Place the sesame seeds in a small bowl and store for later. Now cook the noodles. It’s best to do this according to the package instructions. I always add a little salt to the water for flavor. The noodles usually take about 3 minutes to cook. IMPORTANT: Take the noodles out a little early, as they need to absorb enough sauce later! Strain the noodles, rinse them with cold water, drain them, and set them aside. Add a little oil to the wok and fry the mushrooms, spring onions, and garlic over medium heat. Sprinkle with salt, if desired. Then add the noodles on top in one go. Pour the sauce over everything. This will look like a lot of sauce, so you’ll need a bit of patience and, above all, perseverance at this point. The noodles should cook down gradually, and you have to stir, stir, stir until every last noodle is bathed in the sauce. When the sauce is almost gone, turn the heat down immediately or remove the wok from the stove and flavor the dish with the dark sesame oil. Please don’t let it get too hot, or the wonderful sesame oil will lose its flavor! And besides, it was expensive. Arrange everything in two decorative Chinese bowls or something similar and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and spring greens. Enjoy! TIP: It makes things easier if you break the noodles in half before cooking. Long noodles symbolize a long life, but we can always make up for that with the next batch of spaghetti.