Penang char koay teow is made of flat rice noodles stir-fried with shrimp, bloody cockles, Chinese lup cheong (sausage), eggs, bean sprouts, and chives in ready mixed soy sauce and chili paste. The spicier it is the best the char koay teow will taste satisfying delicious. The dish is deemed a national favourite in Malaysia.

The koay teow noodles have to be really fresh noodles and not even refrigerated to break them into strips by microwave for 1 – 1 1/2 minutes. Buy them when you are making it on the day itself. Along with fresh prawns, bean shoots, fish cake and Asian chives. Today, I am making it with bought chili sauces.

My char koay teow don’t have bloody cockles, couldn’t get it here. It’s still satisfying, a tiny bit darker, and delicious even though it’s not spicy enough for me and I don’t have the big stove like the Hawker stall man with big fire and wok. Let’s cook!!!!

Ingredients

Noodles and fresh ingredients

1 packet about 500 g fresh flat broad rice noodles, completely strips
2 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 kg fresh prawn, shelled and removed veins
2 lup cheong, sliced diagonally
1/2 packet of fish cake thinly slices
350 g fresh bean sprouts, washed, stem removed
2 large eggs
1/2 bunch Asian chives, removed the bottom section and cut into 2-inch lengths
5 Tbs chili sauce extra hot (bought)
4 Tbs siracha chili sauce (bought)
3 Tbs sambal prawns paste (bought)
2 Tsp XO chili oil (OPT)
oil

Dark sauce

7 Tbs soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbs oyster sauce
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs dark caramelised soy sauce
1/2 Tsp salt
6 dashes ground pepper powder
1/2 c water

Method

Mix the dark sauce ingredients together in a bowl. In a shallow pan add 1 Tbs oil and cook lup cheong until brown and cooked. Remove from pan, now add in another 1 Tbs oil and then add prawns, and fish cake cook until prawns turn orange and fish cake is cooked.

Heat wok over high flame until it starts to smoke. Add 2 Tbs oil into wok and add 1 Tbs garlic into the wok and do a quick stir for 10 seconds. Add 2 1/2 Tbs of the prepared sauce into the wok and stir actively to blend well. Add koay teow, then using spatula and chopsticks, to separate koay teow: don’t want them to stick together. Then toss around about 4 times until coated with sauce and oil.

Add back prawns, lup cheong and fish cake into wok with koay teow, gives a couple of stir to mix well and then add in bean shoots, stir to mix well. Using the spatula, push the noodles and the other ingredients to one side, and add a little oil on the empty area  in the middle and crack the eggs on it. Use the spatula to break the egg yolks and stir to blend with the egg whites. Flip the noodles and cover the eggs and move it around, chopped eggs until cook about 1 minute.

Now add chili sauce extra, siracha, sambal prawns paste, XO chili oil into wok. Pour the remaining sauce in too. Continue to stir cook and make sure the eggs are cooked through. Add Asian chives, do a couple of quick stirs, dish out and serve immediately.

Note: my wok can cook for 4 people. If you can’t take too spicy omit XO chili oil, cut down your chili sauces. Char koay teow should be medium brown in colour. It shouldn’t be too dark with too much dark soy sauce. You can make your own chili paste. See my link at the bottom for making chili paste and to cook spicy koay teow.

https://helenscchin.com/2022/01/29/penang-char-koay-teow-not-spicy/

 For Penang char koay teow with extra spicy: https://helenscchin.com/2021/01/25/penang-char-koay-teow/

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