serves
6
prep
30 minutes
cook
20 minutes
difficulty
Easy
serves
6
people
preparation
30
minutes
cooking
20
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
- 12 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 100 g dried rice vermicelli, broken into 3 cm pieces (found in Asian grocers and some supermarkets)
- 500 g prawns, shelled, deveined and diced into 1 cm pieces, shells reserved for stock
- 4 litres neutral chicken stock (a plain stock that has no aromatics infused through it) or a store-bought, Asian-style chicken stock
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornflour
- ½ cup (125 ml) water
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 tsp garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 200 g dried wheat noodles (Meen Seen, found in Asian grocers)
- 3 bunches choy sum, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, coarsely grated
- 1 kg firm tofu, broken into small pieces (from Asian grocers and some supermarkets)
- 2 tsp salt, or to taste
- ½ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp white pepper
Instructions
Soak the shiitake mushrooms in freshly boiled water for about 30 minutes or until soft, then chop roughly. Soak the vermicelli in cold water for about 15 minutes or until soft.
Meanwhile, to make the broth, add the prawn shells to the chicken stock in a medium-large pot and boil for 30 minutes. Pass the stock through a sieve to remove the prawn shells then return stock to the pot and set aside.
Mix the cornflour with the water in a small bowl and set aside.
In a medium non-stick frypan, heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the garlic until slightly coloured. Add the prawn meat and mushrooms and sauté for about 10 seconds, then transfer to the stock. Add both noodles, the choy sum, carrot and tofu, and bring to the boil. Stir through the cornflour mixture to thicken, bring back to the boil and add the salt, sugar and pepper. Taste and season further if required. Serve hot.
Photograph by Randy Larcombe Photography.
Reproduced with permission from the book Same Same But Different by Poh Ling Yeow, published by ABC Books/HarperCollins Publishers Australia, 2014.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
