My xao region

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 1 pack of noodles (“quick cooking noodles” without egg), Asian store
• 250 ml oyster sauce
• 6 tbsp tapioca flour, Asian store
• 1 bottle of soybean oil for frying
• 1 bag/s Pak Choi or Thai spinach, approx. 300 g
• 100 g chicken breast, optional

Instructions

Working time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Fried noodles with pak choi sauce, Vietnamese

First, heat the oil in a pot until it’s hot enough when you insert an unpainted wooden chopstick into the pot until it bubbles up against the wooden stick. Add the quick-cooking noodles in batches to the oil and poke them with the chopsticks to loosen the noodles, allowing them to cook better and prevent them from becoming a hard lump. The noodles shouldn’t become dark, just airy. When they’re done, remove them from the oil with chopsticks or a slotted spoon and place them on kitchen paper to drain. For the sauce, wash the pak choi or Thai spinach and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Be careful not to cut them too small, as the vegetables will shrink. Pour about 1 liter of water into a large pot, add the oyster sauce, and bring the water to a boil. In a cup, first mix the tapioca flour with a little cold water to avoid lumps, then add it to the sauce while stirring to thicken. For Europeans, a more slimy consistency is preferred so that the sauce adheres well to the noodles. Once the sauce has thickened, add the vegetables and cook until soft and slightly translucent. If you prefer the sauce with chicken, fry the chicken pieces in a large pot beforehand, then add the water and oyster sauce. Pour the sauce over the noodles and let it simmer for a while to soften the noodles slightly. A spicy sauce from an Asian store called “Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce” goes well with this, the one with the green lid.