Fried Noodles in Wok

Velveting Meat

The process of pre-cooking chicken breast filets (or other kind of meat in general) so that they retain perfect soft texture preferably moderately long time after being fried is called velveting. You may have noticed the texture of meat in chinese restaurants and how the meat is cut in certain shape. We will be using a technique in velveting called coating. We will be using this technique that leverages coat formed by starch around meat to retain moisture inside the meat while and after it is fried.

To start, cut the meat parallel to muscle fibres. You will find elaborate tutorials in youtube about how to do it and therefore I will be tangentially explaining it here. Start with tip of the filet, make sure you have pieces that are palatable and not huge chunks. Make sure to half the pieces in that case but perpendicular to muscle fibre.

After you have cut the meat, wash the meat with water (trust me on this one) and drain the excess water so there is only moisture left on meat surface. The remaining water will be useful for binding starch to meat. Put some starch into the meat and mix until all surface area seems to be covered. Do not use excess starch as purpose of starch is not to marinate the meat like a deep fried chicken recipe.

Pour 1 tbsp of Shaoxin Wine, 1tbsp of thick soy souce, 1 tbsp of Hoisin sauce and 2 tbsp of thin soy sauce into a small bowl and mix well. Now pour this mix into meat soaked in starch and mix well. 

Rest this mixture for at least an hour in fridge.

Preparing Noodle

Put some salt and water in a pot and bring it to boil. Put noodle into the water. If you are using spaghetti, wait for around 12 minutes as noodle needs to be soft and not al-dente. If you are using Udon or some other variant, refer to packaging. Usually this takes around 3-6 minutes in boiling water.

Frying

Bring a wok to searing temperature with high heat and put about 2 tbsp of oil. Throw meat mix into the oil and spread it evenly on the surface. It will be very sticky because of starch but that is quite normal. Wait a bit and you can stir it properly after starch comes to golden brown colour. Fry meat for around 2-3 minutes and extract meat without oil and put it in a bowl. If you want to use eggs, throw eggs and stir until eggs turn into chunks. Throw first ginger and garlic and the rest of your vegetable into the mix and fry well. Now meat can be added back and mixed up with everything properly. By this time your noodles must be done and you can rinse them with cold water and add into the frying wok together with other items. Make sure to taste and add thin soy sauce and salt accordingly.  

Summary

With this technique, I have been able to produce perfect and restaurant alike taste of fried noodles. You have full control of vegetables and other substances like MSG being used and can perfect the recipe depending on your own taste.

If you would like to suggest some improvement or contact me, you can mail me anytime at bijay@regmi.dev. If you would like to be notified about my new recipes and photography articles, you can subscribe to my newsletter.