French Friday with Dorie: Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles

SHRIMP AND CELLOPHANE NOODLES--ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

I had a little fun with today’s Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles.  (And because 2 CUPS of tomato puree sounds gross in a stir fry that is even "just-remotely Chinese"....I went on a search.)

I had read through the recipe earlier in the week and knew that I needed a few ingredients that might be common in a French/Chinese pantry, but not in mine.  I’m always happy when I read through an ingredient list and find that everything I need is in my fridge or pantry...both seem to overflow all the time.  But sometimes it is part of our fun or our learning experience to stretch out into new ingredients and ideas.  For today I did not have the mushrooms, noodles, fresh five-spice powder (threw away a jar that was at least 10 years old), or shrimp.  But I did not write down my needs before leaving the house early this morning for meetings, and thought I could just stop by the market on my way home and pick up a few remembered items.  I did remember “stir-fry,” and to me, that usually means lots of veges and some type of meat with lots of rice or noodles.

So, I picked up a variety of ingredients that I thought sounded good in a stir fry, remembered the noodles, spice and shrimp, and then drove home.  Before beginning to cook, I carefully read the recipe and was a bit at a loss.  Hummm...not my vision.  Hubby, who lived in Singapore for a couple of years just before I met him, was also not tuning into the right vision for Dorie’s stir fry.  He had been getting excited about a different type of stir fry.

I phoned Emy-Lou-Who, my daughter, who a few years ago lived for 18 months in Taiwan and is a great Chinese food cook and her hubby, Tommy was also at home.  His father is from Laos and his mother is Chinese, raised in Thailand.   Emy sounded terrible; has a bad cold, but she was excited to give insights into today’s menu.  I had a few wrong ideas.

First of all, the “slithery, translucent noodles” had only Chinese writing on the package and no directions for cooking, even in Chinese.  I guess these noodles are so common in the Asian culture that the noodle producers assume that those who purchase their noodles automatically know how to cook them.  And how many Arizona Americans actually cook with them?  Only Asians  or adventurous cooks like us.  Not your typical Southwestern fare.  (Chinese food is for take out or is restaurant food...too much chopping and too many unusual ingredients.)  (I had a neighbor ask me last week if I would teach her to cook rice...plain rice.  She is in her 70's, raised two boys, and has yet to learn to cook rice.   Solution:  she went out and purchased a rice cooker at Costco because her first attempt, after I told her simply what to do, failed.)

Tommy advised that I put the noodles that I wanted for immediate use in a large bowl, pour boiling water on them, and let them sit for 30 seconds to a minute, stirring them with a chop stick a few times.  Then drain the noodles and rinse them a few times with cold water which stops the cooking process and also keeps them from sticking together.  The noodles just need to quickly soften and they are ready.

I had googled recipes for "shrimp and cellophane noodles" and found an ingredient list similar to Dorie’s but for a soup instead of a stir fry.  I would basically prepare all the ingredients the same way, but instead of stir frying, I would first make a flavorful broth, then use the same "glass" noodles and Dorie's other ingredients,  but instead, have a soup.  This appealed to me as I listened to pour, sick Emy, and knew I should take a pot of healthy soup to her tomorrow...a stir fry would be good right after cooking but would not keep well.  A pot of  soup would serve a second purpose.

So I explained my idea to Emy and she said, “Oh you want to make pho.” 
“What?”
“Pho. It is Tommy’s dad’s favorite food.  Every time he goes out to dinner, that’s what he orders.”
“How do you spell that?”
“P-H-O.  Pronounced Fu...with a u like how it sounds in duck, pho.”
“Oh yea, the package has the word pho as the middle word in the title for these noodles.”
“They are great noodles.  They make super stir frys and great pho, or soup.  They will be un-pho-gettable.”
“Ha-ha.”
“You can call your soup, ‘Shrimp Pho You.’”
“More ha-ha.”

I asked what they thought about an addition of more vegetable varieties.  I was told that it’s soup, I can add whatever I want.  Or it could be stir fry and I could still add whatever I want.

So, choosing to make the soup, or pho, I made my stock by simmering a whole chicken and flavoring the broth with chopped onion, minced garlic, minced hot chilis, 5 spice power, minced ginger, fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Hoisin sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, lime juice, toasted sesame oil, cayenne pepper, and chili sauce.  (Are you as impressed as I that all these are in my cupboard?)

Then I chopped or sliced scallions, more onion, a carrot, celery, extra firm tofu, cooked chicken, lots of cilantro, zucchini, mushrooms, and I cooked my shrimp.

THE BOWL I LAYERED FOR MY PORTION OF THE SHRIMP AND CELLOPHANE NOODLES--PHO STYLE

As instructed, I used a large soup bowl and added a bottom layer of my cooked noodles.  Then I layered  the raw veges,  the cooked meats and tofu, and finished with a garnish of unchopped scallions  and lots of cilantro.  After all this was in my bowl I poured boiling hot broth over my pho choices, added an additional squeeze of lime juice, and sat down to enjoy my efforts.  (Amazing how my veges became instantly almost cooked!  About the same as with a quick stir fry.)

This dish has many layers of flavors that include spicy, sweet, sour, and salty.  There are also many textures with the fun “glass” noodles, the not-quite-cooked veges, the meats, the garnishes and the broth.  It all comes together in a fabulous bowl filled with ingredients that work together in a way that has become Tommy’s dad’s all-time favorite food.  I’m sure that because many of these ingredients were used in the stir fry the same sensations with taste and texture as well as smell were shared.  I did not use the tomato puree, but did use everything else.

It sounds like a lot, but all this family meal took only 45 minutes to prepare  (after the chicken  had simmered long enough to be viewed as “done” so I could have stock) and to be ready to eat.  Not bad for a very healthy and extremely delicious pho with so many items on its ingredient list.   And, for my first try, I declare that my pho was amazing and, I think, quite beautiful.

I feel confident that my “Asian” kids will also really enjoy this pho tomorrow.  (I chopped extras.  The noodles, I now know take only 30 seconds to cook with boiling hot water.  I’ll drop off all the components, they can re-boil the flavorful broth and build more pho in just minutes.)

Emy educated me that pho is a simple “poor people” food used as an ordinary meal.  It is common that  very few veges are used.  Meat makes this dish expensive, and actually the meats used are commonly the “mystery meats” or tripe.  My pho would be an expensive variety with both chicken and shrimp and a variety of lovely veges.  These same ingredients used in a stir fry are also common “poor people” food, yet most everyone loves these dishes.

It was fun to put a different twist on today’s Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles.  I learned a few things and my results are extraordinary.   I know why most folks order Chinese take out food: the ingredient list is long, there appears to be lots of chopping, and there are many items that are uncommon...the first time I used fish sauce was way back in that beginning Dorie recipe....I’m still using my first purchased bottle. 

Since I went rogue on this dish, I'll be very interested to view your stir fry results.  These are great flavors, I do enjoy more veges, and with some of my tweaks, I'll be making the stir-fry version too...soon!

Have a great weekend!