Taiwanese Stir-fried Vermicelli
My favorite foods are noodle-type foods and so growing up, my mom made me plenty of noodle dishes. Taiwanese stir-fried vermicelli is one of my favorites (but I honestly don’t know which noodle dish would not be one of my favorites…) and ever since my mom taught me how to make it a little over half a year ago, I’ve been making it whenever I can get the ingredients. It is incredibly easy, quick, and delicious!
Ingredients (yields up to 5 servings):
- 1 lb of chicken
- 6-7 shiitake mushrooms (add more if you love these!)
- 1 whole shallot
- 2 cups of cabbage
- dried shrimp (optional as this has a strong flavor)
- 4 tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 bag of Taiwanese vermicelli (I like the brand that is shown in the picture – you can find this at 99 Ranch!)
- a dash of white pepper
- salt to taste
- 2 cups water or chicken broth
Directions:
Step 1: Soak the mushrooms, dried shrimp, and vermicelli for a few hours.
Step 2: Prepare the ingredients! Drain the vermicelli, mushrooms, and dried shrimp. Cut the mushrooms, chicken, and cabbage into thin slices. Mince the shallot. Marinate the chicken in some soy sauce and sesame oil (I like to use ~2 spoons of soy sauce and 1 spoon of sesame oil).
Step 3: Heat up some oil in a large wok and sauté the shallots until fragrant. Feel free to be a bit generous with the oil as this is stir fry. Once you smell the fragrance of the shallots, add the mushrooms. And once the mushrooms release the fragrance, add in the dried shrimps.
Step 4: Next add the marinated chicken.
Step 5: Once the chicken is cooked, add 4 tbsp of soy sauce. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly with the soy sauce. Then add either two cups of water or chicken broth.
Step 6: Bring the water or broth to a boil, and then add in the vermicelli. Mix the vermicelli thoroughly with the ingredients while making sure to let the vermicelli slowly soak up the broth or water evenly throughout. Once the vermicelli soaks up all the water and turns a translucent color, taste test it – if the vermicelli still feels a bit hard, or if you just like softer vermicelli, add more water or broth until you get to the consistency you like.
Step 7: Once the vermicelli is cooked, add the cabbage.
Step 8: When the cabbage is cooked and everything is mixed through evenly, add a dash of white pepper and some salt to taste.
Enjoy as is or with some chili sauce, which is both Vinayak’s and my brother’s favorite!
